South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-05-23
"Uncrowned" German Used
Coal Control to Gain PoWer
Had Mastery of Both Coal and Iron Resources and ManP
ulated Them to His Own Advantage to Become
Germanys Napoleon of Finance"

may business man tndt would nave
been a crushing blow.
But SHINES isn't an ordinary man.
He at once began buying up small
companies which could give his
company some OF the material
it needed But he was after bigger
game. Another Ruhr valley family
the Kirdorfs had founded an organi-
zation known as the Gelsenkirchener
Mining Corporation II was one OF
the biggest in Germany. II had over
50. 600 workers The war also hit
this corporation ard. SHINES
brought about a combination of his
German Luxe mburg. the Gelsen-
Kitchener. and the Bochumer Nerein
He made himself its master. He
christened il the Rhine-Elbe Union
and 10 started out with a combined
capital OF 500 million marks. or just
1000 times more than the amount
with which he began his Independent.
business career.
Controls Fifth of Ruhr.
German Luxembourg brought into
the combine Il coal mines, 1900
coke ovens, Z iron mines. steel and
iron works and 4 other big factories.
observation-disclosures had 16 coal mines,
9 iron and steel works and a number
OF other factories The BOchumer
Verein had Z coal mines and iron
and steel works. No man in Ger
many was In a position like SHINES.
The coal he and his family own and
the coal he controls amounts 20 ex-
n Il.
duction.
But he wasn't through with coal.
With August Thyssen. another IA
nous Rhineland captain of industry,
and the Dresden bank he bought
controlling interest in the Mulheim
Mining Corporation, which operates
four big coal mines. has other
seams as yet untapped, AID a num-
Der of factories Then the far-see-
ing SHINES became interested in the
possibilities of Ignite This fuel has
become especially precious for Ger
man industry since the loss Of the
Saar and Upper Silesia coal mines
SHINES secured a huge block Of
stock in the Ribeckschen Corpora
ton OF Halle. which owns 81 Ignite
mines. Is factories for the manufac-
ture of coal briquettes. ) brick fac
tories. II electrical power stations
and factories for the extraction
OF mineral oil and paraffin. Ignite
is especially valuable in this regard
Invadcs Retail Business.
Then SHINES thought of another
scheme His own coal mines sup
piled fuel 10 his own steel mills, but
he looked around Germany and
everywhere he saw consumers Of
coal Their money might as Wei
flow into his pockets.
SO thought. so done He controls
the United Coal Dealers Corpora
tion of Berlin He has similar COM
panies in Nuremberg, Koenlgsburg,
Flensburg. Hamburg. Bremerhaven
and numerous other important
towns where SHINES coal mines sold
10 big and little consumers For
eign fields tempted him, too. Some
OF the finest iron ore in the world
is found in Sweden Therefore
SHINES bought some Swedish ore
tracts.
one of the greatest foreign coups
came TO him by simply sitting still.
In the old DAYS of the Austro- Hun
garian empire one of the greatest
companies in the country was the
Austrian Alpine Mining corporation
which practically owned an mex
haustible supply Of high grade iron
ore in the Syrian Alps-a whols
mountain OF ore in fact. After the
peace treaty the great Alpine COM
pany found itself in poverty
stricken little Austria. Its former
bases OF coal supply were now stu
ated in new and hostile states.
Into Austria.
In its need Of financial support.
a great block Of its stock went into
the hands Of an Italian syndicate of
automobile and steel manufacturers
They saw in the plant an excellent
chance 10 get for Italy the steel 1t
so badly nodded But production
failed The Italians could give the
company money and labor. but no
coal and coke.
In their trouble they looked 70
Germany and naturally 10 SHINES.
The great Hugo was ready to oblidgc.
He could shoot coal and coke right
straight across Germany into the
Syrian Alps and the great concern
could work full speed ahead
OGly-there is almost always an
important only with SHINES He
told them he would like 10 sell them
coal but must be interested finan-
ciaIly in the Alpine company. The
Italians saw the point.
Result - SHINES owns outright
two-fifths Of the company for which
he paid the huge sum Of $50 mil
lions Of marks.
Political Furore.
This caused more political fUrore