The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-20
From the New York Post.

From the New York Post.
"HE hundredth anniversary of the
founding of the great firm of Fried
1 rich Krugg has been celebrated in
Germany much as If 1t were branch OF
the government, as in a sense it is. The
Kaiser himself took part in the celebra-
ton, together with the Prussian minister
ter of commerce, and many decorations
were distributed among the leading en-
ployees. The firm divided ss,500,000 among
its army of workmen. The newspapers
devoted column upon column to the his
tory of this great enterprise, the rise of
which is so bound up with that of the
German empire itself Indeed, the century
that has passed since the first Friedrich
Krupp started in business marks the mod
ern development of this greatest OF the
continental nations. A hundred years ago
Germany was just beginning to throw OIL
the Napoleonic yoke she had begun to
feel the first STRINGS of that national
life which was to flower at Versailles IN
1871 and to that Towering the krupps Oh
that period contributed enormously by the
munitions of war which they had pro-
duced for the wars of 1866 and 1870. Ger
many has proportionately grown not more.
If as much. than the company which is
today, as for decades past, the greatest
maker OF war materials the world over.
The founder of the firm, the first Fried
rich Krupp, began the iron and steel busi-
ness with a handful of men, initiating
English methods and practices. OF fam
lily already we'll to do for that period, he
would none the less have failed but Tor
the aid and counsel of his grandmother-
women have played a distinguished part
in the story of this vast concern. The
founder himself died in 1926, before achiev-
ing any material success. Indeed, the
firm was insolvent when his widow, Their
ese Krupp, with her 14-year-old son AL
fred, undertook to carry 1t on. But
Therese Krupp's determination was speed
ily reinforced by the discovery of her sons
remarka BILE scientific and business talents.
shouldering while still boy the tremen-
dous cares and responsibilities which were
his sole heritage, he had by 1887 an estab-
lishment of 55 workmen, with receipts of
approximately $4,000 in that year. Grad
uallly he forced his way into the field of
high grade machinery, and in 1877, a year
before he bought out the other members
of his family. he sent to the military au-
thorities three FOUNDER, breechloading
cannon, which was the beginning of his
connection with the military affairs of
Germany. 1t was not long thereafter
that he obtained the existing monopoly of
the supplying of munitions of war, for the
German government has never built arsen-
ais or ordnance works to compete with
him. An return the krupp firm has never
stood still; their improved cannon OF 1865
not only helped to subdue Austria. but
gave to the German artillery distinct
superiority over the French in 1870
Today every German military or naval
cannon is a product of the Essen works.
and the Krupp devices and system have
been adopted by Austria Hungary. Itafy
and Russia as the basis of their artillery.
Up to 1902 alone, the Krupps had sold
40, 600 cannon to no less than 60 states
enough to make them great believers In.
the necessity of armed peace. But guns
were not their only product. Steel rails
and all sorts of railroad and machinery
quantities. and every invention in the steel
or iron Industries has been promptly
adopted, and often improved upon No
where else has the union of applied science
and industry been more marked or more
serviceable. In the perfectly equipped
Krupp chemical and physical laboratories
5o0.o 600 analyses are made annually m d.
rect connection with orders and routine
business, quite aside from any expert
menting. With the tremendous expansion
of his work, Alfred Krupp gradually be-
gan to buy coal and iron mines, notably
in the north of Spain. And as the German
navy and mercantile fleet developed, the
company, not content with furnishing the
arn,or and guns. established the great Ger
man shipbuilding yards at Kiel to compete
for vessels OF war directly, and also