Herr Krupp has been so closely associated in the European
mind with German victories, that his death on the 14th inst. is an event. Herr Krupp in 1848 commenced the manufacture of steel guns and large steel articles generally, and expanded his foundries until he employed 15,600 workmen, and last year was named by the Revenue Department as the person paying the largest Income-tax in all Prussia. So extensive were his opera- tions, that he found it profitable to own his own iron-mines in North Spain, and, to bring the ore home for smelting in his own steamers. Herr Krupp must have been a great organiser, and he was, in a somewhat despotic way, an exceedingly good master to his army of workmen. His chief success was in helping people to kill each other ; but then, that is also the chief claim of a General to rewards and reputation. If war is legitimate, so is Krupp, though, as we recently tried to show, it is doubtful if scientific inventions do not make wars more bloody than they would be without them. The old wars were bloodier still ; but then, the object of war to-day is victory, and not slaughter.
Previous page
