The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-11-23
Electric Welding in Essen.

ding In Essen.
dustrial region is even larger than
the mining area, for It overflows 10 the
southwest and includes the famous
factory towns Of Barmen. Elberfeld
and Solingen.
Essen's Sudden Rise.
Boom towns Of mushroom growth
are not peculiar TO America, as the
! startling rise of Essen proves. Though
! founded away back In the Ninth cen
tury. 1t slumbered along for hundreds
of years, an obscure, unimnortant ham
let. Even as late as 1850 IL had hard
/ ly more than 10000 people. Then the
| Krupp bOom-the rise Of the greatest
machine shop the world has ever seen
struck it, and today the city houses
half million.
Set in the heart Of the coal fields.
crowded with endless Industrial plants
whose tall chimneys belch eternal
smoke and fumes, the great workshop
fairly throbs with power and energy.
The roar and rattle Of ceaseless wheels
and the din of giant hammers pound
ing on metal seem to keep the whole
| town atremble.
Here every form of iron and steel
article is made, from boys skates TO
| giant marine engine shafts. Curious
| ly enough, even some OF the smoke,
or the, fumes from the smokestacks
| is caught and converted into gas
/ that furnishes more power to run the
mills
More than a hundred years ago the
| first Krupp set up his small. crude
shop and began 10 make by hand the
tools. .he drills and chisels, used by
| tanners. blackSmiths and carpenters
along the Ruhr and the Rhine He al
so made dies for use In the mint OF
the government. Within 30 years. due
to the old ambition for expansion,
Krupp tools were known snd used as
| far away as Greece and India
Then came the great era Of mass
| production in steam engines, hammers.
\ steel tires for railway cars, cast-steel
| shafts for river and ocean steamers.
and finally that astonishing output OF
guns and armor plate which brought
the militaristic nations OF the world
TO buy at Essen.
The daily roar OF artillery at the
proving grounds, where each new gun
was tested, added TO the din of
whistles, rushing trains, and rattling
gears, made pre-war Ruhr probably
. ala rfh It IL,
enough now, but the great guns are
! silent; Krupp makes them no more.
The big lathes that once made guns
for every nation, from Chile to China,
now turn out shafting for marine and
other engines. Box cars for Belgium.
car wheels for South America, and
whole tram-line systems for the Dutch
East Indies were some of the orders
being filed few months ago.
Everybody Is a Worker.
This Ruhr Is pre-eminently the habi-
tat of labor. Everybody works, and
nearly everybody works with his s'hands.
An army OF chemists, engineers and
technical men Is employed Of course
but they form merely small element
of the grimy, dusty, sweaty popula-
tion that keeps the coal moving, the
furnaces roaring, and the big lathes
turning
The population, variously estimated
at from three and one-half TO four mil.
lions, is not easy 10 determine, be-
cause thousands come and go as the
tide OF trade rises and falls; and no.
where Is the worldwide house short
age more keenly felt than in this
densely populated area. About many
OF the mines the government has set
up temporary barracks where thou
sands OF miners are housed.
In the more picturesque and less
crowded spots Of the Ruhr the over
lords OF industry have reared their
villas and spacious homes; but dis
tinctive leisure class, an idle rich, like
the groups conspicuous In Charlotten-
herg. Dresden or Wiesbaden. is not
found. Hundreds are here who have
retired, but they are the aged and
pensloned workmen. Gozing comfort.
ably In the clean. coy colonies built
for them In cities like Essen.
A tiny speck on the map Is this
heated, smoking, Ruhr. but big, like
cinder, In the worlds eye-a spot
that Caesar knew, high spot In q
region old In history.