Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-11

wears past has exceeded $666,000!
II paid by the week, as most girls
are, her pay envelope every saturday
would contain $153,S46!
Sundays and holidays included, she
receives $21,s7S every day In the
year, which is equivalent to $s1l.eS
an hour, or $15.1s for every minute OF
her time, whether she Is awake or
sleeping.
Every second ticked off by the clock
means that Bertha Krupp Won Bohlen
is 25 cents richer. Today she Is the
richest woman in Germany, having in
creased her fortune in three years
from s45, 900, 900 to $70,00O,o00.
Although her recently acquired hus-
band poses as the nominal head Of
the great Krupp gun works at Essen
Germany, to Bertha Krupp belongs all
the credit for the enormous increase
in capital and earnings Of the plant
during the last few years. None OF
her army Of 10000 employees knows
more about the delicate mechanism OF
modern death-dealing weapons than
she does, and no military expert OF
Europe, or Of any other great power,
is better posted in gunmaking.
That is why "Fraulein Bertha" as
her townspeople still affectionately
call her, is capable Of earning $s,-
100000 a year. Before her marriage
every day saw her down at the fac
tory, good and early" and since that
time she has spent almost as many
hours in working as formerly.
If a visitor to the Krupp plant
should happen to see a slendr young
woman, dressed in the thicker yellow
overall" Of a farm girl, in one Of the
workshops he probably would not
recognize her as the owner Of the
greatest gun factory in the world.
The fierce heat that belches from the
furnaces, the binding glare of the
glowing metal, and the deafening
roar of the great guns on the testing
grounds have no terrors for Our
Lady Of the Cannon" who thinks
nothing of spending hot morning In
the workshops following every stage
Of the work there.
At the time Of her marriage to
Baron Gustave Won Bohlen and Bal
bach she made her entire trousseau
with her own fingers much to the dis
gust of the fashionable dressmakers
of all Germany.
Ever since her fathers death,
when he bequeathed his forty-million-
dollar plant to his seventeen-year-
old daughter, Bertha Krupp has
been queen, socially and economically,
of a city Of more than a quarter mil
lion people, nearly every inhabitant
of which is dependent for a liveli-
hood on the mammoth industry she
controls.
BY the provision of her fathers
will, the city of Essen virtually became
Bertha Krupp's private property. In
addition to the 10000 men employed
in her gun works others are toiling
for her in the numerous outside
Krupp holdings, and 1t is estimated
that practically the entire population
Of the city is more or less dependent
upon her for a living, taking into ac-
count the families of the workers.
For many years after Bertha's birth
it was a source of grief to her father
that he had no son to inherit his
vast fortune and take charge Of the
immense industry he had developed.
But by the time his eldest daughter
was Is years old he had completely
changed his mind.
Bertha has the brain Of man"
said he, "and my son, If had one,
might not be so steady as I know she
will be-"
That she has exceeded even the
fondest hopes Of her father has been
proved by her success in conducting
the plant and its allied industries so
that the annual earnings are now
more than $S,000,000. From early
girlhood Bertha was trained with the
one idea in view that some day she
would be in control Of the great
Krupp properties.
While her father was her real in
structor in gunmaking and in the
technical side of the business, she re-
ceived a thorough general education
under tutors at home. But it was
from her grandfather, founder Of the
Krupp industry, that she inherited
the indomnitable energy and force
of character that have won her sue
cess.
After a morning spent in the work
shops it is not unusual for the fore
man Of a certain department to be
summoned to the private office Of the
girl who dictates the policies of the
vast institution. There he will dis
cover that his feminine boss has
evolved a minute plan for the i'm
provement of some existing system
either for the better expedition of the
work or the safety Of the workers
There is no more humane employer
in the world than Bertha Krupp, ant
she constantly is seeking to improve
the conditions under which 10000
employees labor. That is one of the
secrets of her success and helps ex
plain how a girl can earn $S,000,00(
a year.
Every weapon manufactured in th'
Krupp plant. whether it is rifle Of
16-inch gun, is tested in the grea
tunnel which mainly is built under
ground, and on days when these test
are made the whole city reverberate'
as the giant cannons are fired.
The thunderous crashes within th'
tunnel are appalling and many mer
have been known to cover in terror
when they stood for the first time II
the terrible place and heard the awfu
roaring of the big guns.
All during her fathers life. Bertha
was not permitted to enter the tunnel
but after she became sole owner O.
the plant she made known her inten
tion of attending trial of big guns
Despite the pleadings and protesta