New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-02


! said:
"Do you wonder that we want TO
work hard for this fathcrland Of ours.
and die for it if we have to die?"
1t was II hard trip, too. We went by
way of koln. Paderborn. Hanover,
Magdeburg, Brandenburg and Potsdam,
making the -Padenborn stage at
the end of the first day and reaching
Brandenburg long after midnight of
Monday. The stages were long, and 1t
was only when he thought he discov-
cred that Mrs. Bennett was showing
signs of cold and fatigue that our host
would consent to call halt for the
night.
The stage from Magdcburg to Bran
denburg was an especially trying one,
| remember, being covered in snow
storm between midnight and 3 in the
morning, but at o'clock Mr.. Names
mann was up and ready for another
start.
From Berlin the cars for the wound
ed were taken on to Noremburg and
inspected by the King of Bavaria, who,
like the Berlin War Office, was i'm
mensely pleased with them.
Along with an absolute passion for
thoroughness, a lofty spirit Of scrupu-
lous dealing distinguished Mr.. Names
MAINS business life.
lie and his brothers had, and the
brothers still have, vast interests IN
Morocco Of both mining and an agri-
cultural nature. The dubious politics
and the Oriental evasions characteris-
( tic Of public and commercial life in
( that country sometimes involved the
operations of the Mannesmanns in ex-
asperatng delays-delays, no doubt,
which high handed dealing on certain
occasions and the giving of yelled
brides on others would have obviated.
In this kind of man9uvring the
Mannesmanns would never engage.
/ Their agents, engineers and mining ex-
| perts always received the most positive
| instructions to conduct negotiations
with the native chiefs and land owners
on the same basis of open and scrupu-
lous dealing which had given the firm
its great name on the continent of
! Europe.
These representatives were also in
! formed-and the warning was often re-
! iterated-that any deviation from these
principles of business would result in
their instant dismissal from the SER
vice of the company. The result was
that the people OF Morocco were much
more ready to accept the word OF
Mannesmann-M ulae-such was the firm
name-than they were to trust certain
governments.
1t was because Mannesmann interests
| in Northern Africa were imperilled that
Germany and France were nearly in
volved in war two years ago. Mr..
Mannesmann more than once told me
that it was only the pacific and con-
cliatory attitude of the Emperor which
prevented an outbreak of hostilities at
! that time.
Was Adored by Children.
Though Mr.. Mannesmann was un-
married. he was essentially a family
man. On the numerous children OF
his brothers, and, indeed, upon every
body's children. he lavished great ten
derness, and children in turn adored
him.
we'll remember how the house rang
with delighted cries when, on the trip
| from Aachon to Berlin. we reached the
| villa of one of his brothers in Rem
! schield, where the Mannesmann tube
works are located.
Uncle Max has comet Uncle Max
has GOMEZ" rang through the great
| house. which contains the finest collec-
ton Of Moroccan antiquities and handi-
craft in the world. and for half an
! hour there was whirl Of frolic and
endearmcnt.
Again, when we stopped in Hanover
for bite of luncheon. he gathered up
groups of wide-eyed German school
| children who had collected in the street
7 to lock at the little cars for the
wounded, which they regarded as some
new kind of war toy, and he loaded
them into the cars for a ride toward
the outskirts Of the town.
Anxious as he was to reach the War
| Office. and full as his mind was OF
/ plans for the service of his country.
| he had time for this pretty deed.
AS we glided down the street with
our train of happy children he leaned
back in the car and listened to their
sQueals of excitement and pleasure
with a look Of utter content, and |
shall never forget how he said:
"Ah, how little it costs to give hap
piness in this world"
He was a great inventor and great
man Of business, but he was essentially
simple. | have heard him give orders
with lightning-like rapidity to three
people at once, and | have seen his
crisp, autocratic ways when there was
business to be pushed forward.
And yet there was blended with the
man of business the quaint, gallant
ways Of an Old World beau. He al
ways kissed the hands Of the ladies at
meeting and parting end his manner
toward them, as toward children, was
beautifully gentle.
One of his contentious, which he
loved to discuss and amplify, was that
people ate too much, paid too much for
their pleasure and had mostly lost the
, capacity to enjoy sunset, which, he
insisted, was the greatest show in the
world, and never twice alike. He had,
of course, a great deal of money, but
few men Of his fortune ever spent less
on themselves.
Originator of a Phrase.
One other thing / must recall about
Mr.. Mannesmann. He was the origi-
nator Of the phrase, "the industry Of
war" phrase which was much quoted
in America after | had recorded il in
enc Of my dispatches. The remark in
which it was imbedded ran thus:
eve Germans have been giving the
! last forty years TO the perfecting OF
our industries of commerce. At the
same time we were bending our minds
TO perfecting the industry of war. And
so when war came we were convinced
we would win"
And so the brave, eager, pleasant
gentleman has gone. For seven months
he has been toiling and thinking in
cessantly. 1--WE must harden ourselves!
| We must not spare ourselves!" were
his watchwords. Well, he would not
consent to spare himself. He was past
fifty and that determination of his in
volved the ultimate sacrifice-a sacri-
flee which, had he known it impended,
/ helieve he still would have faced with