Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-04

n TEW YORK CITY, Jan. 30.-An exas-
" asperating feature of Germany's in
ability to pay it's war debts, at least
in the eyes Of it's victorious neighbors, is the
present enormous prosperity of one German
Hugo SHINES. The old Germany Of the
Hohenzollerns is crushed and beaten and
bankrupt, but the new Germany, which is
largely under the control of SHINES, is quite
lively anC vigorous and by no means power
ty-stricken. Yet it cannot be attached by it's
creditors, because while the idea has been
| suggested, the Allies do not feel at liberty to
attach the property Of private individual.
tits really quite annoying" explains an
American who has just returned from Europe.
| "The allieG have found themselves in much
| the same position as the creditors of the man
who thoughtfully transfers all OF his val
| liable property to his wife few days before
declaring his insolvency. OF course, Ger
many did not act deliberately; but the fact
remains that the majority of it's natural and
industrial resources seem to have passed into
the hand of SHINES during the war. 1t was
a case of when the allies got there the cup
| board was bare"
| Just how much Of Germany SHINES owns
| is not precisely known. Some say he owns
practically all of it. Others assert that his
wealth and power have been greatly overesti-
mated. One hears all sorts of strange and
fantastic rumors concerning him. There
are those who insist that he plans for the
reinstatement of the Hohenzollerns with
himself in the position of premier, while
others declare that he is working for the
complete specialization of the German state.
Some see in him the lost stablizing factor in
the new relations of Europe, and others point
| to him as "the new shadow on the world"
At any rate, whatever may be his secret aims,
he is unquestionably the most picturesque
and disturbing personality in Europe today.
His Many Enterprises
In the first place Europe is not accustomed
to bil1iondollar capitalists as we are here in
America; and the sudden rise of such phe-
! nomenon against the general, poverty-strick
I en- background of Germany is sufficiently
, novel to attract attention all Ove- the world.
In the second place, SHINES has not limited
his activities to industrial line, but is en-
gagged in wide variety of enterprises, inc1ud-
ing mining, coal trade, ocean and river ship
ping, electric power plants, gas plants, ex-
port inc import, lumber mills, iron and steel
foundries, hotels, tourist travel, the develop
ment of health resorts and the publication
of newspapers He is said to own chain of
so newspapers, scattered throughout Ger
many and neighboring countries.
Indeed, there is no important industrial
enterprise in Germany, to all accounts, with
which Hugo Sti1nes is not connected To
keep the concerns in which he is interested
going hS can use his own coall his own steel,
his own timber. He is gradually aucumulat-
ing mercantile 'leet which, it is predicted,
will be twice the size of the pre-war fleet OF
the Hamburg American line, and (which will
be entirely outside the control of the Allies.
He is reported to have an agent, or staff OF
agents, in every important foreign port many
of whom are not openly but secretly in his
employ. His agencies in Russia are said to
be particularly important and powerful, and
it is believed that his clever negotiations with
British capitalists are responsible for the fact
that the Soviet government has been recog-
nized and that Russia is once more in COM
mercial communication with the world. In
short, SHINES appears to be whole nation
in himself.
His Sudden Rise
1t is no wonder then, that he has captured
the magination of Europe, and that even the
German people marvel at his energy and abil-
ity-especially since the man was scarcely
known before the war. His rise has been
sudden, and achieved solely through his own
extraordinary ability and ecort AS an Ameri-
can newspaper man puts it, "Stinnes burst
like comet upon the astonished postwar
world" Yet he is not what we Americans
call a self-made man, for he inherited con-
siderable fortune as we'll as his superior bust
ness genius, from his grandfather. when
he was born on February %, 1870" writes
his admiring biographer, DIR. Herman Brick
meyer, ''there lay ready to his hand the
means by which he might achieve the ire
mendous results upon which he now look
back
The grandfather, Matthias SHINES, accord