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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1903)
Frankfort - r i N , mm ( r -Amu., m rntsT no'rtIscuLX)S, bank. Copyrlnht. 1303, by Frank Q. Carpenter.) RANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN, April jU " I 29. (Special Correspondence of A UU ucv.; . iiw closed their Frankfort bank and removed Its business to Paris. Tho head of tho I'arls branch wai here not long ago. He said he saw do reason for banking on sentiment, and that the Frank fort business could be done by tho Roths child agents in Berlin and by, their houses at Purls and London. Thla means the breaking up of tho establishment upon whlih the great Rothschild fortune was founded," a fortune which Is supposed to amount to more than $1,000,000,000. I rode down this morning to tho Jew quar ter, whore the original Rothschild begar! business along about the time of our war of Independence. It Is numbered 14S Jew al ley. It is lean building of four stories and au attic, plcturesquo to an extreme. Its windows are of small panes set in black sashes, and Its four front doors are the eame as when 'the leading bankers of the lnut came hero to borrow money. It is situated in the Jewish quarter, and sur rounded by buildings as old as itself. Then re many old clothes men nearby, and Jew Ish children swarm the Btreet. I am told that the house still belongs to the Roths chlhlu, and that it will stay in the family. It is not generally known that the United Btetes had much to do with the Roths--child fortune. We have sold the family -tens of millions of dollars' worth of our bonds, and its different branches have enormous interests in industrial America. They took $15,000,000 worth of bonds when Cleveland was president, and I venture to say they still own some of our best rail road slocks. They have interests in our copper mines and gold mines, and also in our leading industrials. Such investments have been made dur ing recent years. The beginning was moro than a century ago. When George III. fought against us in the war of Independ ence ho employed about 17,000 Hessians, and for their services he paid one of the little German monarehs the enormous sum of $20,000,000. This was William IV., Land grave of Hobsp, ouo of the thriftiest rulers of his time. This money was still in hand when Napoleon began bis victorious marches over Europe, and In order to prevent its capturj and consequent loss, William IV. gave it over to the care of Mayer Ainsel Roths child. As the story goes, the money was brought in a carriage one night to this old house and banded ovor. The loan w.s kept secret, and It wai seven years before It wus repaid, with Interest at the then low rate of 2 per cent per annum. It is said that Rothschild kept his money In a bl? sofe, so arranged that it could be lowered and raised like a dumb waiter, but so that when dropped there was no sign of its absence. According to one report, when the safe was dropped to its lowest point It was hidden in a well of water, and as the contents were chiefly gold coin they were not injured thereby. However this may be, old Mayer Amnel did not let the money lie idle. He was shrewd investor and be put it so that it bred faster than Australian rabbits. Ha already had an excellent knowledge of the leading financial institutions of Europe. At the age of thirteen it is said he knew every business man in Frankfort and Just what be was worth, ltow he was older and had bad much experience in banking. He fa vested the maney so safely that he was able to return It intact when it was called for "and this so pleased his Imporlal creditor that be became bis banker thereafter. Ho made millions and was able to start his five sons In an International banking busi ness. The eldest, Anslem, was kept at Frankfort to succeed him. The second, Solomon, went to Vienna and established a bank there on - the - Main ( lift' j0S$i -- THE BOURSE AT which is still one of the strongest of the world. Nathan Mayer came to England and opened a bank at Manchester, which ho afterwards removed to ' London. The fourth . son, Charles, founded a house At Naples and the fifth , established one at Paris. All of these banks worked together. . Tho children of the different sons inter- ; married and tho fortune has as far as pos olble been kept intact. The descendants of each son have their own property, but ns far as financial Investments are concerned any one can rely upon the others to help hlra. Toduy the English branch is perhaps the most important, tho Naples and the Frank fort houses having been discontinued. This was founded by Nathan Mayer Rothschild who was a cloth merchant In Frankfort a part, of. his life. .Much of his cloth was brought from England, and the trade in , certain patterns was controlled by one man who had crusty business methods and who for somo reason or other refused to deal with young Rothschild. The result was that Rothschild went to Manchester to buy goods. He at once saw tho opportunities for money making there and stayed and opened a bank. The bank paid. He moved it to London and did better and at the end of five years was worth $1,000,000. --' He then went into speculation on a broad scale. He bought and sold stocks, and at the time of tho battle of Waterloo mado $6,000,000 in one day out of advance news of Napoleon's defeat. He Bat on his horaa and watched the battle, and as soon as he ' saw that Napoleon was defeated he rode post haste for the English . channel. He had relays of horses and galloped night and "day. Ho paid $400 to a boatman to carry hlra across to England and then he took the horses and galloped on to London. When he came on he stock exchange he looked sad and in strict confidence told how Blucher had been defeated by Napoleon, neglecting ' to mention Napoleon's defeat later on Tho result was that stocks went down like a shot, and Rothschild through his secret agents was able to buy euougb to make this enormous sum. This Nathan Rothschild bad several prin-. clples of business success. He believed, like Andrew Carnegie, in putting your eggs into a single basket and watching that bas ket. At one of his dinners a guest said to blm that ho hoped the Rothschild chil dren would not be fond of money and busi ness to the exclusion of mora important things. Said Rothschild: "I want them to give mind and soul, heart and body, everything to business, and I think this the only way in which they can be happy, I believe in sticking to one -A City of 5 '7raEaw' , . r,KtepBsiK ' ? ',fv j 1 '" V-T mum wqF l-crawsw i ' Hu kswa i 7. j..-. - GERMAN WORKMEN' USING FRANKFORT. business. It you have a brewery, stick to it, and you will soon be the greatest brewer in England. It you are a banker, do the tame, and if you are broad enough in your idea's you can" get to the top of the bank ing business. One thing you must remem ber, and that is you have got to be bold and cautious to make a fortune, and that when you have it it will take ten times as much wit to keep it as to make it." Again he said: "I make it a princlplo never to have anything to do with an un lucky place or an unlucky mau, I have seen many very clever men who have not shoes to their feet. I never act with them. Their advice sounds good, but it they can not get on themselves how can they do good for me? Nothing breeds success like contact with success." The Rothschilds have handled millions in the shape of loans for the great countries of . the world. They have taken government . bonds by the bushel and peddled them out by the piece. They have placed more than $1,000,000,000 worth of securities for Great Britain within the last 100 years. They have placed $250,000,000 tor Austria, $200, 000,000 for Prussia, $400,000,000 for France $300,000,000 for Italy and smaller amounts for the different South ' American states. Indeed, until recently, they have had al most a monopoly of such business, but they ' will have it no more. Europe ran now raise money in 'a score of ways that were not known a halt century ago. Its sav ings bank systems swallow up vast amounts of government bonds, and there Is plenty of outside capital. The United States' is in the banking business, and it can easily Bend or bring money across the water. The Rothschilds are still powerful, but their power ia on the wane. Frankfort has long been noted as a finan cial center. It has more banks in propor tion to its population than any other city of Europe, and it has been a school for the bankers of tho world. There are many bankers in the United States who have eome from here; and, Indeed, it is said that if you find a German banker anywhere on earth you can scratch bis back and the Frankfort colora will appear. This town is substantial. It is noted for 4s rich men. and It has a score or so of millionaires who live on their Incomes, and whose investments are scattered all over the world. Frankfort looks wealthy and modern. It has wide streets lined with new buildings, notwithstanding It was an Important point at the time of Charlemagne and a Romaif military station nineteen centuries ago. In the middle ages It was a great fair town, snd It was then that It probably fell Into the banking habit which has paid to well. Bankers AMERICAN TIME REGISTER. Our national capital is interested in its new union railroad Btatiou which is to cost millions. Frankfort is only a financial capital, but it has already a railroad feta tion which cost $S, 500, 000. It has a new postolflce, new theater, a new stock ex change, and a large number of new hotels. Its finest streets, the Zell and the Kaiser atrasse, compare favorably with those of Berlin and Cologne, and it is noted for iU parks and public gardens. On account of its wealth and business connections Frankfort forms a good head quarters for the American invasion. Many kinds of our goods are sold. The Deeriug Harvester company has an ofllce on Kal aerstrasse, and the McCormlcks have also their agents here. American typewriters, aewlng machines and desks are found in different parts of tho city, and there Is one large store which sells only American aboes. During my stay I have called at the offices of the Leopold Cassella & Co. dye works. Which are among the largest of tho world, and had a chat with its manager. .While there I was taken through the count ing room, containing hundreds of clerks. In each room were desks from Grand . Rapids, and attached to each desk by a hinged shelf so that it could be shoved aside when not wanted was a well-known American typewriter. The classification of the correspondence was in file cases from . Cincinnati, and the manager as he shoved, them to me said he could not see. how they had ever been able to do business without . the American file system. Said he: "You Yankees are wonderful. You sys tematize things bo that one man can do the work of three. We formerly kept our letters in copy books and spent hours in looking up one series of correspondence. Now the original letters and the copies of our answers are filed away together In ona of these cases, and we can find the whole thing at once." . . It was through this man that I was able to go through one of tho great dye fac- . tories of Germany. ' Leopold Cassella & Co. have a big dye establishment ' within " a few miles of Frankfort. Their factories cover many acres and they employ in the neighborhood of 2,000 hands. The firm is well known in the United States. It has a house In New York, another In Lyons, one In Russia and a fourth at Bombay. ... Until within a few. years , ago the chief dyes of the world came from England.' Then tho Germans learned the secret of their manufacture and improved upon It.' They sent our travelers" all "over the world, and adapted their goods to the needs of dif ferent localities. They now practically monopolize the trade, and you find German dyes everywhere, In Asia, South America, North America and Australia. The . Chi nese will take none but German colors, at least I was told so during my last .visit to that country, and It is much the same with the East Indians and other peoples of tho orient. Taking a carriage I drove with Mr. Bass ler, ono of the Cassella employes, out to the factory. It consists of about . twenty ' acres of enormous buildings, . with high smokestacks above them.- Everything is dirty and smoky, and I might, also say smelly, for as you approach the establish ment the air is laden with odors. The streets between the buildings are filled with tubs and hogsheads of curious compounds, and everywhere you look you see some new process going on with sooty-faced or rather dye-faced men watching it. Here "the men are lifting great barrels of liquid and pour ing it into vats half filled w ith other liquid, which Is being so stirred by machinery that it seethes and bubbles like a witch's cal dron. As the new stuff flows In the colar changes. It becomes a I vv yellow, a brilliant scarlet, or per- a ul'r.-ma rlna blue. The men kn: w ut how much Is needed, and also that if there is too (Continued on Page Sixteen