The Winslow mail., 1913-06-21

has stopped to the bribng of oficials-a fact ad-
mitted by the Krupp firm, after the charge had
been made in the reichstag-and that it had been
supplying French newspapers with material for
war-scare articles. to induce the German
government to buy more armament from the
Krupps, is more to Germany than a scandal 1t
Is a catastrophe.
The charges made in the reichstag by DR..
Liebknecht, the Socialist deputy, and in the col
umns of the Vorwaerts, the Socialist newspaper.
1t is coincidence that it was that newspaper
which ten years ago printed another scandalous
story about the Krupps, which caused the death
of the then head OF the works. Friedrich Alfred
Krupp.
1t impossible to refute him, because the
minister of war, Gen. Won Heeringen, obliged
to admit then and there that an inquiry going
on which had already revealed that 'one of the
Krupp officials" had bribed officers to reveal GER
tain information The following day the Krupps
issued statement in which they admitted that.
their representatives in Berlin had maintained
friendly relations" with their former comrades"
OF the war department for the purpose of obtain
Ing business information, and had bestowed
small present "on certain under officials"
1t Friday that Liebknecht exploded his
bomb and forced Won Heeringen to reveal that
secret inquiry and Saturday that the KrGPPs
made their admission of bribery. On Sunday the
Vorwaerts published the text of the instructions
sent by the Deutsche Munitions und Waffenfabrik
to persuade popular French newspaper to
publish a statement that France intended to dou-
bic her orders for machine guns. The object
to get the German government to order machine
guns from the Deutsche Munitions und Wafen-
fabrik.
On Tuesday the popular indignation had risen
so high that Gen. Won Heeringen's plea for sus-
pension of judgment until his private inquiry had
done its work was forgotten The budget commit
tee of the reichstag voted to appoint parliamen-
tary commission of inquiry into the scandal This
commission, however despite the protests of the
Socialists was not vested with power to send for
persons and papers
Although the Krupp works date from 1870 when
Friedrich Krupp established his forge at Essen it
his son, Alfred Krupp, who the real
founder of the industry. Friedrich died practical
ly bankrupt in 1926, leaving little more than the
secret of his caststeel process to his son. and it
was 80 years before any striking results were
achieved
1t in 1910 that Friedrich Krupp purchased
a small forge in Essen, where he devoted himself
to the problem of manufacturing cast steel, but
though the article was put the market by him
in 1915 it commanded but little sale, and the firm
anything but prosperous. He employed only
three workmen
Alfred Krupp was born April 26, 1912, and at
the time of his fathers death was only fourteen
years old. His mother carried on the works until
Alfred reached his majority so that twice in the
history of the works have they been managed by
women The present head of the industry is
Bertha Krupp, the granddaughter of the woman
who became its manager in 1925.
The Krupps had little money that Alfred,
his fathers death, compelled to leave school
to assist his mother. He displayed phenomenal
aptitude for the foundry business, and the works
developed with increasing rapidty after his in
huence was felt in their management. By 1S48
the firm had expanded SO that 122 workmen were
employed.
AS late as 1S48 the year in which his mother
relnquished the sole management of the works
into his hands, he melted the family plate to pay
his workmen Today the mighty industry fur
of three cities and dozen coal and iron mining
towns. The ships built from it, equipped with
its steel, and armed with its cannon, are on all
Krupp is known. The capital Of the firm now is
about $50, 900.
1t was in 1S47 that Krupp scored his first real
success, when he made a three pounder muzzle-
loading gun of cast steel. At the great London
exhibition of 1851 he exhibited a solid fawess
ingot of cast steel weighing two tons, thus estab
fishing the fact that important firm existed in
Germany capable of turning out samples of excel
lent workmanship. The Essen works were every
where spoken Of, and the output watched with
the closest interest The manufacture of weldless
steel tires for railway vehicles another in
vention which followed soon after.
The making of heavy ordnance which has made
the name of these works famous the world over,
was not then a prominent part of the business.
One of the first large orders he got for firearms
came four years after the London exhibition. when