PUJT"
r
t
The Commoner.
Dec. 5, 190a
m
.si
,.i
M& :
liu, J3
KtfWtfMTCi
M'WSEBB',
iiLfarr
the greatest political and military achievement in
British annals, instead of the most cotftly 'and
calamitous, his satisfaction could not bo more su
premo or his popularity greater His egomania
carried him to tho length of Issuing to the people
of Birmingham a message of thanks for the re
ception, modelled exactly on tho lines of the one
promulgated by tho king after his coronation."
THAT ANDREW CARNEGtE IS PROUDER OF
anNold hand-bill than ho is of his new title
of LL.D. is a notion sought to be cultivated by a
writer in tho London Gazette. According to the
Gazette writer, Mr. Carnegie refers to this hand-bill
as his "best title of nobility." He received this
patent tho other day from an old lady in Dunform
line. It is an appeal for 300 made In the Chartist
days to defend his uncle from a charge of con
spiracy in holding a meeting that had been dis
persed by the sheriff. Mr Carnegie had another
uncle who was a strong political agitator, and
of these two and a republican grandfather the mil
lionaire has been telling stories. He remembers
the cavalry parading the streets of Dunfermline
' to quell riots. When the mob surrounded the
town house where the imprisoned uncle was held
he was asked by the provost to appear at an
upper window. This he did at 2 o'clock in tho
morning and delivered a soothing speech. "All my
friends," he said, "will fold their arms. Now,
walk peaceably to your homes, maintain the peace,
and obey the laws." Many a noble family. Mr.
Carnegie thinks, "might be pushed to produce so
good a title to their peerage. It is not a bad foun
dation that one of our family was In jail for de
fending the right of public meeting."
THE RECENT DEATH OF HERR FRIEDRICH
ien,i Tr.tirT vamnvod nn interesting figure.
To the world Herr Krupp was known as the great
gunmaker; to tho Germans he was known as the
richest man in the empire. He died of apoplexy,
November 22. To the world the fame of Krupp de
pends upon the association of his name with death
dealing instruments and yet among the people s or
Germany ho was best known because of his phil
anthropy. Ho belonged to the third generation of
what in Germany was known as "the house or
Krupp" and it is said mat ior more mau mj
' years this house was constantly piling up wealth
and contributing to the importance of German in
dustries. THE GREAT GUNMAKER WHO PASSED
away on November 22 belonged to an an
cient family of the little village of Essen which
at the close of the 18th century attracted the at
tention of metallurgical experts. His grandfather,
Friedrich, during the continental blockade, dis
covered the secret of making steel, but his small
fortune was consumed in perfecting his investiga
tions and it was his son, Alfred Krupp, the father
of Friedrich Alfred, who gave a decisive stimulus
to the business. The Berlin correspondent of the
' St Louis Post-Dispatch presents some interesting
details relating to the house of Krupp. This cor
respondent relates that the secret discovered by
the grandfather was transmitted to Alfred, son or
Friedrich, and the Krupps remained the world's
greatest gunmakers. It is related by this corre
spondent that in 1822 Friedrich Krupp, the elder,
had met with such reverses that he was com
pelled to give up his home in Limbecker street in
Essen and move into a little cottage near his
works, which stands today in the midst of the
great works, an object of reverence to all the
thousands of workmen who earn their daily bread
in the great foundries. Friedrich Krupp's life
was purely one of experiment nnd discovery, and
it remained for his son, Alfred Krupp, to make the
came world-famous. Broken down by reverses,
with hope abandoned and health wrecked, Fried
rich Krupp died on October 8, 182G, at the earl:
age of 39 years. Before he died, however, ho con
fided to his son, Alfred, the secret of making his
famous cast steel. Tho boy, who was destined to
become the great "cannon king," was then only a
grammar school boy of 14 years of age, but he put
all the joys of boyhood's years behind him, and,
with .unflinching courage' accepted the sacred leg
acy left him by his father, put off tho rosy pros
pect of youth and donned instead the rough gar
ments of the forge worker. Under the provisions
of his father's will he had been made superinten
dent of Che works, while his mother, Therese
1 Krupp, was to carry on the business.
i. - & &
IT IS TRUE, HOWEVER, THAT THE FAME' OF
Alfred Krupp did not rest entirely on 'his
-inechanical and inventive genius. According ;to
this Berlin correspondent from the day that suc
cess rested on Alfred Krupp ho strovo to bettor
tho condition of his workmen by providing them
with better homes, grand schoolB whdro childrou
could not only receivo an education in techuicnl,
industrial,"" commercial and mecnanlcal pursuits,
but, to those who desired it, special and classical ,
courses as well. Ho devised the famous sick and
pension fund for the aid and protection of sick and
disabled workmen in 1853, before the present Ger
man omporor, who has made tho schomo a law of
the empire, was born.1 Ho established a commis
sariat where hia workmen could secure all the
necessities and luxuries of life at cost price, and
built miles of roomy, healthful houses for his
workingmen to live in. In 1871 he erected a gen
eral hospital, and one year after one for contagious
diseases. He likewise established life insurance
companies and widow and orphans' funds. His
charity did not stop inside his own works, but
was as broad as all Europe. His kind words
dried many a tear and his ready hand cased many
an aching heart. Tho golden rule was the guiding
star of this noble man, who, when asked to ac
cept a title, said: "No; I want no title furthor
than the name of Krupp." Thus Alfred Krupp
builded for himself a monument more enduring
than marble and more indestructible than brass.
He was always the kind and considerate friend
and not the proud, dictatorial employer to his
workingmen. Thus his name U graven on thel-'
hearts and his memory will live as long as man
kind endures.
AFTER THE DEA'-I OF ALFRED KRUPP,
the entire works fell to his son, Friedrich
AUred, and an interesting story rolating to tho last
male member of the Krupp dynasty is told by the
Post-Dispatch's Berlin correspondent in these
words: In Essen, .do seat of government of the
Krupp interests, Friedrich Krupp erected a superb
modern hotel called Essenor Hof, where notables
from every nation of tho world are lavishly enter
tained. Here the foreign patrons were dined and
wined by Friedrich himself, who was a well-cdu- t
cated man and a versatile linguist Tho table was '
exquisite and tho Rhine wines and champagnes
delicious. Of all tho Industrial villages in the val
ley along the river Ruhe that of Essen is best
known, thanks to the metallurgical Industries of
Friedrich Krupp, the lato male heir of the can
non king dynasty. Though many German indus
tries receive evon tho unknown stranger with un
common liberality, the Krupp factory at Essen is
an exception to this rule. Two-thirds of the in
habitants of Essen work in the Krupp factory, tho
other third subsisting by truck farming. The
Krupp establishments form at present the most
powerful industry of the kind in tho world. Here
are a few figures which give some conception of
its formidable proportions: It comprises plants at
Essen and at Annen in Westphalia. Tho German
establishments of Buckan, near Magdeburg; four
annexes of enormous furnaces, four coal mines, 500
Iron pits, other iron mines near Bilboa, Spain; the
large shooting grounds of Meppen, three largo
steamships; and besides this tho Krupp firm heads
the Germania society of Berlin and of Kiel for tho
promotion of German army and navy construction
and machinery. The factories at Essen cpvor a
number of acres. In 1899 they used 15,018,156 cubic
meters of water and 18,836,050 cubic meters of gas
for tho manufacture of steel. The forges have
worked off 1,877 tons of steel from iron taken from
the Krupp mines. For this purpose 952,365 tons
of coal and coke were used. The number of work
men employed by Friedrich Krupp is at present
46,679, the Esgen plant employing 27,462 men. This
is considerably more than at the Creusot works in
France, where only 14,753 men are employed.
THE SUGGESTION THAT THE LAWS OF THE
United States be so amended as to effectuall
prevent the immigration of illiterates has at
tracted considerable attention abroad. Tho Tri
bune, a newspaper in Rome, urges the Italian gov
ernment to make protest to the United States au
thorities. The Tribune claims that the proposed
measure will strike particularly at Italy, whose
immigration to this country comprises' 50 per cent
of illiterates. The Tribune says: "The govern
ment must obtain a veto of the bill from Presi
dent Roosevelt, so that the measure may at least
be postponed until the Italian immigrants are abl6
to take to the United States not only the strength
of their arms, but the cultivation of their minds."
THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN FREQUENTLY EN
tortained by reports that certain cabinet offi
cers contemplated retirement Not all of these re
ports have been taken seriously, but the New Yo"rk
Sun seems to be considerably disturbed because of
the announcement that Secretary of War Root
might sever his connection with the administra
tion. Tho Sun says that it is to bo hoped that Mr.
Root will not rotiro "not at all for tho sako of
Ellhu Root, partly for tho sako of President Rooso
velt, but principally for tho sako of tho nation."
The Sun thinks it has discovered an Important
reason for Mr. Root's rotention when it says: "Tho
president, being an obsorvant porson and a dill
gent student of public opinion, must also bo pro
foundly impressed with tho lmmonso political value
to him and his administration of tho continued
presence in tho cabinet of an associate advisor who
still commands tho unqualified confidence of tho
conservative elements and solid business Interests
of the coofry." Now we all know what tho Sun
means by "tho conservative elements and tho solid
business interests of tho country." There are no
conservative elements or solid business interests
of tho country outside of Wall streot In the Sun's
view; and it is also interesting to read In this New
York pnper tho suggestion to tho people that Mr.
Roosevelt should retain Mr. Root because of tho
Immense political value to him and his administra
tion of Mr. Hoot's continued presence In the cabi
net ST
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO
enjoy the comforts of a dining car in tho
present day will be interested in learning some
thing of tho first dining car used in this country.
A writer in Leslie's Weeldy tells tho story of the
first dining car. This car was called tho Delmon
ico. It was built by tho Pullman company In
3866-and finally was used as a boarding car for
men engaged in railroad construction work. This
writer describes the Delrnonico in this way: It
was bull! in two sections, with a kitchen in tho
middle. One end was reserved for ladles, and hero
no smoking was allowed, but the other end was
a buffet arrangement, and got itself nicknamed
"the beer garden" before it had boon In service
many moons. The floor of tho car was uncarpoted
and the seats were ordinary low-backed coach
seats, upholstered In leather. Tho car was finished
In walnut, but tho coiling was covered with oil
cloth. Tho provision supply storeroom and refrig
erator wero under tho center of tho car, and ac
cess could bo had to them only by means of a
little brass ladder suspended from tho side of tho
-car. It was rather a recarlous adventure for
dining car employes to make a visit to tho larder
while the train was in motion, Inasmuch as thera
were a great many covered bridges and other ob
structions along tho ".ino in those days which
would undoubtedly have swept them into eternity
had they not timed their trips down tho little
brass ladder strictly according to schedule. Tho
kitchen was supplied with an ordinary soft coal
range. Still, in spite of all these peculiar disad
vantages, the bill of fare for that time was consid
ered most elaborate. Tho most interesting thing,
however, about tho Delrnonico was tho wav In
which tho employes kept tab on receipts When
a passenger entered the car the conductor handed
the waiter who was to take enro of him a small
pasteboard ticket, which the waiter straightway do
posited In a padlocked tin box In tho kitchen. At
the terminal station the ticket agent came Into tha
car, unlocked the tin box, and with due ceremony
"counted up tho house." Tho conductor and other
employes, while not being required to give an exact
account, wero expected to make an approximate
check In accordance with the number of passengers
served.
IT COSTS THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO $4,125,
000 per year for tho prevention and punish
ment of crime. According Vft an article printed
in tho Chicago Tribune there are 3.000 men on tho
police force and for this service Chicago pays $3,
500,000 each year. Tho Bridewell costs $193,000,
the criminal court costs $75,000; the state's attor
ney office costs $54,500; the jail, $40,000; the city
police courts, $10,000; the juvenile court, $2,500;
locks, bolts, electric wires, tho pay of watchmen
and special policemen is estimated at $250,000 and
tho result is a total ,of $4,125,000 per year.
SO 3"
A CURIOUS STORY COMES FROM MADISON
villo, Ky in regard to a watch that has
been missing since the civil war. This watch, ac
cording to tho St Louis Post-Dispatch, was re
cently found. It is related that tho watch was tho
property of Hiram Woolfork who lost- it while at
-work in a field on his farm near Madlsonville.
Soon after Mr. Woolfork removed to Kansas. ' Th3
.farm at 4.xadisonvIlle changed hands several times,
and its present owner found tho long loSt watch
hanging by Its ring to the limb of a tree. Mr.
Woolfork was communicated with and says ho now
rmembers hanging tho watch there and the news
dispatch says that after being overhauled by a
jeweler the watch keopu good time.
.&: ....