Evening star., 1923-08-07
WORLD WAR STRIPS
K|RDORF OF POWER
Man Once Held in Awe in
Germany Now Finds
Business Gone.
BY HIRAM X. MODERWELL.


Copyright, 1923.
COLOGNE, July 30.-Before the war
many millions of Germans laughed at
the kaiser. But there was not one
who did not feel fear and respect at
the name of Emil Kirdorf
Geheimrat Kirdorf was an intimate
friend of Bismarck when the kaiser
was in knee breeches. He owned
more than a fifth of all the coal in the
Ruhr. He organized the Kohlensyndi-
kat and was it's president and guiding
he named the price of
coal. distributed fuel supplies to the
great factories, virtually fixed the
cost of production and dominated the
export policy OF German industry.
More than any other one man he di-
rected the tremendous expansion of
German business in the decade pre-
ceding the world war. which put
English and even American competi-
tors in a panic. X
What more than anything else oc-
kirdorf was regarded was his inflexi-
BILE will. He was in German business
life the man who would never COM
promise. Whether, it was the labor
unions demanding %ecognition or the
Of Prussia attempting to
lower coal prices through its state
mines. he resisted them with equal
scorn. His motto was: II will be
master in my'own home" Neither the
state nor the labor unions would be
permitted to assert authority over
him.
Germnny's Defeat Works Downfall.
Then came the war and the defeat
1~-
master in his own house, saw some OF
his best properties in Lorraine and
taken from him. He
sought to. repair his crippled fortunes.
He adopted a policy based on the sta
bility, of the mark. The mark fell;
adopted contrary policy, rise to
greatness He, kirdorf, was in finan-
cial difficulties. He accepted an ar
for d combination with
one Of a triumvirate. of which Stin-
mes should be leader.
He received me in his house and
talked with me for an hour, hospi-
tably. frankly. but without pretend
ing for moment that he saw in me
country. For. after all that had hap
pened. he had still not renounced his
ancient faith. the faith of his friend
Bismarck
Kirdorf Is now seventy-six years
old. His frame is shrunken. His fig
ure ur is stopped His face is wrinkled.
His sparse beard and hair are snowy
white. His voice is uneven. But his
blue eyes look straight ahead. firm
and bold.
His Men Not Communists. He Says.
My men at Gelsenkirchen are not
really communist in spirit" he said.
CGilsenkirchen is kirdorf town. Its
900. 900 inhabitants draw their liveli-
hood almost entirely from the kirdorf
mines and factories. 1t was at Gel
senkirchen that the workmen stormed
the police headquarters last month.
burned the police records, and. under
communist direction, constituted
''proletarian police" which reduced
food prices and enforced complete
prohibition)
The workmen are misled. not only
by the communication all trade
union leaders are equally mischievous
the communists, the socialists and
the church labor leaders. They ask
for an equal voice in the direction of
That is because we keep our promises
and they do not When the promise
becomes irksome to them they claim
that they cannot control their men
and force a new agreement"
These trade unionistS have domi-
mated the German government most
of the time since 1918. but they are
still, in kirdorfs philosophy, virtually
without the law.
Aroused by Mention of Kaiser.
l changed the subject. I mentioned
the former kaiser. Suddenly the blue
eyes flashed. The cracked voice be-
came resonant
II despise him more than any other
man on earth. He bears on his shoul-
derS a terrible respon sibility."
For a moment I thought l was lis
tening to a socialist. But Geheimrat
kirdorf continued:
He bears Il terrible responsibility
toward his people. 1t was he who re-
versed Bismarck's policy of suppress
ing the socialists-with military force.
if necessary. He tried to make friends
with the socialists. He weakened the
national spirit of Germany.
Bismarck said to me once. shortly
before the young kaiser dismissed
him: The old emperor had to un-
learn a great deal, but ] made him do
it. l hope the young kaiser can do it,
But" continued Kirdorf. "he
couldn't. The kaiser hoped to win the
loyalty of the socialists instead of
suppressing them. as Bismarck would
have done. He made il possible for
them to become strong. They stab
war. If Germany had remained united
she would have won the war.
No" he continued, the kaiser did
not want this war. He was too cow
ardly."
Admits He Is PeSSimistic.
But now, l reflected. there was no
more Bismarck. there was not even
a kaiser The socialists were the
strongest party in Germany. Far
from repenting, they were still proud
that thew had "Stabbed Germany in
the back" Here Kirdorf's own en-
ployes were patrolling the streets of
Gelsenkirchen with red arm bands
maintaining "proletarian order"
asked him IT, under these circum-
stances, he saw any hope for Ger
many.
II am an old man" he replied. land
my life has made me a pessimst
When I was a boy my father who
was a prosperous manufacturer. fail
ed 7 had to begin again from the
bottom. Now Germany is torn be-
tween the socialists and the French
Germany has no friends in the world
But"
Suddenly a strange thing happened
The blue eyes glared. The voice be-
came raucous. And l saw clenched
fist raised above me.
Germany has only her own
strength to depend on. 1t will come
Germany has few men like Emil
Kirdorf. few so "reactionary." Ger
tainly few so loyal to the pure faith
| of their youth.