The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-11-27

with desires to StInnesize the whole
nation. To the pan Germans he Is
messiah sent to avenge and save
Germany.
In reality, he is quite different. He
is neither a devil nor savior. He
is far from being world benefactof
like Carnegie, nor has he Harriman's
skeptie wisdom and majestic common
sense. SHINES has never given large
ly to charity. nor has he ever writ
ten an aphorism.
He comes of a Rhine bridesmaids
family of Belgian Dutch blood. Every
traveller used to see the cargo boats
on the Rhine bearing the name of
Shines father, Matthias. The father
also owned some coal mines. Hugo.
the son, had larger ideas than his
father. and left him, demanding i'm
dependence. Therefore he began
business with the almost ridiculous
capital of $4,000 marks. He worked
quietly. His apostle-like head with
dark, dreamy eyes first struck me at
protest meeting against the ma
tionalization of the mines. He did
not speak, but he offered a sharp
contrast to. the angular, prosaic
Rhine or Ruhr business man, though
of their flesh and blood. as
He gets only his eyes from hts
mother, an Intellectual, artistic worn-
an who Hugo loves tenderly. SHINES
purposely dresses stability Albert
American line, to whom / person
ally introduced SHINES. only per-
suaded him in the last year OF the
war to buy dinner jacket. He de-
spises luxury. He drinks only ligh.
dinner wines. does not smoke, and il
he occasionally goes to the theatre
it is only for his wife's sake. He does
not care for music or art, and smil-
ingly admits that he never reads
books. adding: my business has
enough claims upon my Imagination"
Leads Simple Life
SHINES resides at Mulheim. on the
Ruhr, and leads a simple family life.
He is at the breakfast, table at
o'clock, fully dressed. His workroom
is scarcely larger than cell. AS
late as 1917 he Travelled four nights
weekly, often carrying his own bags.
taking single room at the hotels
and receiving visitors in the common
parlors. Even last summer at Carls-
bad he took only two rooms for him
self and his wife. whereas the Ital-
ian banker. Castiglione. required rs
At the Berlin hotels he spreads him
self more on account of his office
staff. his mountainous correspond
ence and the many requests for an
audience.
But SHINES always disdains osten-
tation and cares only Tor power. He
was great industrial power even
before the war and was regarded as
having the boldest head in the Rhine-
land w w,
that his boldness induced him TO
take long chances, that his bank
debts were heavy and that a sudden
change in the discount rate might
nave ruined him.
He was at Gastein. an Austrian re-
sort when war was declared. He
had never delved in politics, but had
shared with his Rhine colleagues
a distrust of the weak, moody ami
ostentatious Kaiser. So SHINES
FASTENED back to the Ruhr and sat
teiephoning for IA hours daily In his
narrow study until industrial mobili-
zation was ready. For four years
thereafter he was director of all COM
mercfal war institutions and conf
Dental adviser to Won Tirpitz and
Ludendorff. 1t was he who provided
the cruisers Goeben and Breslau with
the coal which enabled them to reach
uIhey. IL was he also VINO pro-
vided Italy with coal in an endeavor
to prevent her entering the war. The
same was true of Holland and Scan
dlnavia. Is & ~
SHINES fostered all inventions that
were submitted to him, and enabled
Germany though blockaded, to con-
tinue the war by substituting iron
for copper. nitrogen for saltpeter.
soaked paper for munitions cotton
and even a coal by-product for oil.
He seldom spent a night at home.
conducting all of the most important
negotiations personally. including
those with the Japanese Motono and
many Russians in Stockholm.
SHINES was convinced that Ger
many's unfavorable situation was due
to the deplorable inefficiency OF Ber-
Inns policy, but he was equally con-
WINGED that unrestricted and merci-
less warfare by land. air and sea
would insure victory. He considered
bard London and Paris. to deport
tories and mines, to the use Of poison
learned to think politically and be-
lieved an the threat of force to break
all resistance.
MisunderstOod America.
He was sure the Stockholm nego-
did not know Motonp,s diplomatic
Skagerack losses would force Eng
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