Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-04-14
The Ruhr:: Crippled Power
Plant OF Broken Empire

WASHINGTON April 1.-THE
Ruhr basin was the power plant OF
Germany's former industrial machine
and mighty war engine, hence 1t Is
not surprising France should be sus-
picious Of any movement which might
lead 10 jockeying by 'junkers' to re
gain control there" say a bulletin
from the Washington headquarters Of
the National Geographic Society.
1.-THE peace treaty stipulation thai
Germany must not construct fortiti-
cations within so kilOmeters to the
East Of the Rhine lOosens her abso-
Lutte control over n OF h richest
coal fields in the shattered empire,
over Ruhrert. which had the largest
river harbor in Europe. ovcr the once
busy factory cities along the Ruhr's
crooked course, and, above all, over
Essen. city of the krupp cast steel
and cannon.
''The confluence Of The Ruhr and
the Rhine was the geographic factor
in making Ruhrert, though only one
twelfth the size of mi own PITTS
burgh, comparable IN economic i'm
portance to that municipal child or
the Ohio and Allegheny rivers. The
entire region might be likened to
western Pennsylvania.
Between the Rhine and the Ruhr
IS D%uisburg. city of rolling mills,
IOulAlfi6H anu AdCtOIAESs CAASp ms
pcolive Of industry was a university
town and a grimy memorial fountain
TO Gerardus Mercator, latinized form
of Gerhard Kremer, is a m
thai the inventor of the famous map
projection method was associated
with Cassander who nearly four cen
turtles ago. was commissioned to
found the University OF Duisburg.
Kremer was not German IL should be
noted. but a Flemish ~geographer who
studied at LouVain.
but the crown jewel of the 'kultur'
which drove the earlier culture OF
university life out or the Ruhr basin
was Essen. Essen. too, experienced
q Transformation for It originally was
xhe site of a Benedictine convent. For
three centuries preceding It's incorpo-
tion in Prussia, Essen was governed
by the Abbess. who became ex-oh-
co. a princess. Duisburg IS connect
ed with the Ruhr by a canal.
Though the Krupp works were
founded In 1912 the year 1S4s saw
them with only seventy employees. But
with the advent of railways and east
steel guns the Krupp works expanded
rapidly and their subsequent story Is
world famous-or infamous-for
their incubation of wars.
"Mulheim is q railway center seven
miles northwest of Essen, where con-
NGiEeltf OF ran ana N1NtL 49,
brought an enormous traffic. -Four
miles east Of Essen is another Ruhr
river port, Steele, a mining town with
iron and steel works, also noted Tor
its freproof bricks.
Farther up the Ruhr is Witten,
important not only for steel, but also
for beer. soap and chemicals. Within
the area of the present disturbances,
though 1t is on the Rhine, a scant
1--WE miles south Of the Ruhr's mouth.
is Dusseldorf. This is Il of the most
p~retentious cities In western Germany
IL was bombarded by the French in
1795. later was the capital of Berg
when that state was a Napoleonic
duchy. and passed TO Prussia, with the
rest of Berg. in 1915.
''The Ruhr- basin coal fields not
only we're important to the German
Empire, because OF their heavy pro-
duetion, but because they alone We're
accessible for water importation of
ores. A canal connected Dortmund'
n city of the Ruhrb basin with the Ems