THE SUNDAY OEEGONIAX. PORTLAND. OCTOBER -21, " 1906.
T17
Neck and Neck Race
Between Antwerp and
Hamburg
for Supremacy
of Continental Europe.
Object Lessons for Portland Which Will Surpass Either Be
fore Attaining One-fourth of Their Age.
-t ivT.-rs?!
..1
1
4
5
1
' I
-K-fc-'-k '.iiwy V- B It,-,- :;,
141 f
4 -8:
"V?' it
-1 ifjZ?11
15
4 Anijh
Bfl
nail.
Sunday
4 Ypyrishted by Uoxter Mars
Sjiei'ial L.VnTC'-'pf 'lulencp of 'J'ho
tiresjoniitti.
HAMEl'RG. Urrinany. CVt. 4. Running
a net-k-aiul-iu-ck r;a ffr isuprcniiicy in
worM rnmmcrr'C, tl'.o iuin:, u'lricnt Bcl
pi:in city of Antwerp and the only slightly
younpor out much lo.-.s iiUHint Cacrm
city of llanihur?. now ililni
fourth place in the list of the world
say but there a .coal-tip at Antwerp
that will pick up a loaded coal car. carry
It to the chute and incline it .so that the
contents will sdlde into the hcrtd of the
steamer a. quickly as a ton of coal can
be transferred from truck to cellar in
any Ameilcun city. There are several
such coal tipw at Hamburg:, and at both
, -.. . i ports tljore are shears and cranes capa
11 i Me of HftinK 120 torn, with ease. One
; of these could lift on of our e-rpat Amnr"
twelve great p-rts. Tlie claim is probably j lean locomotives off the tracks and set
inrrect; in tin' la c.1-! lift to which I I it bodily Into the hold of a ship. It could
have access nt this nio;uont, Hongkong-. ' th1 same thing with two of the toy.
; engines wnicn r.aui the English railway
trams about.
Now. cranes run by ateamr electricity
and water, and as powerful as any here.
are common enough in the United States.
I You will rind them in the shipyards, the
i great manufacturing plants aud -in many
, other places, but nowhere a-re'they so ex
tensively used on Anisrtfan wharves as
here and nowhere more effectively. There
are more than a thousand of them on the
wharves and piers of the two old ports,
the exact number in Hamburg being 519.
Standing in long rows as they do at
Antwerp, constantly lightening tne labors
1 of men. their creator, they suggest irre
sistibly the fabled giant Aiuigno. Accord
! ing to the old legend, he used to lay a
1 iTrsr
I I x 3
IA 1 H
8 im
i.
ifi' t'httTa-, ltacs the;n both. 'ami ts entitled
to second place, 1-.:hKh only, beins ahead
of the Chir!evf port.
The Cicrman ar.d Height n cities, thet e-fore.-
are clearly entitled to the commer
cial .feat hcr.i. which t hey ;.iiok in their
caps. . Tlioy" have won thronI' u co:n
biriaUoii of tio ci iimcnt assistance h ml
true. .Ariioi!can hustle: hiii-iile which has
included the adoption of the mort modern
methods in every possible ' d ircction. No
other two port.s in the world canal these
two old Kuropean ' ports, either in the ar
rangement of t ho: r di cks ami wharves
or the taeility with which the loading and
inloai!n;j;. of .-uii ere carried on.
New York, esp? .'hf.lv, jnuy well liide ilf ,
cimimercial heail vi;h .-harae wiiorever its (
aniitpiated, i.l.ra-ccv-crvative port nietli- ;
ods are compared wit thc.se of Antwerp '
and Hamburg. Fome o;' the bi- laVe
pons handle oi ,-s, i-oal. rtrucuiral ytteel ,
and other cargoc-s la an' up-to-dato way,
but there h no ptrt, either on salt water
or fre.h,, in A raericwi which remotely an-
pioache'i thee Km-;peaii port,-; in rapidity ,
or economy of cargo handling.
(rancs Ity the? IIuiKlrc;!.
In, the first phice. ' licit lier I ianfeers; nor j
Antwerp wyies a pi'enn:::c or a centim-?
oil unnecessary tracking. Hi-fi lo-'il from j
n nd discharge their cargoes diret tly into :
the t arf when i-o-nes to t le.n (r .i.s 1
taken away iy rail -t'arfocs roeived or i
to Iw taken - awsy by river hoars are
hanttled direct. Ls-v fghterw are tcl1om !
employed, even wh': a car?o is to be :
slilfted from one ship to another, it being
more ecoiHH-.fcal-as a rule to do the. trails-
f erring by rail.
It; fallows tr.; -?:o wh'.rf ia either p.irt '
! .wli heat . its -mUvcfld lr-v ivr. i,i .tJuere j
r pier for ee;i -h or hc.tvy river ship- t
meiits with-nu -:rs -fuH copiplerpcnt of j
"cranes, operated; .:o: hv t'-e noisy, diriy j
Meani engine. h- hy e'."ctii? .r l-.ydaniie ;
power Th former rred;i:r.iaa;r-i ia Ham- i
burg, t he irt'ter i;i Antwerp. K'Mh porrs j
firmpr!y n.d steam.- Init it;-', day upon
thft jders hi,i y-'d away. 1
Lepite x Ih1 t.i:"'ci en i- ii: piwer. :he '
working of -tile t rare? nmch arike in i
tlie' two por:s. ?i and watch Them in
either and you will he f,ic!n:ited iy tfu1 j
apparent o:ipe ar.J q;:letne.-s i'h which j
the work i.s done, You a-e sure to im- J
pressed also by" the iippavently resistless j
power displayed. There is little creaking '
of chains a nd little shot: I ins. Y'u look ;
in vain f-r t!ie army of rushing. .;weiti:i. i
profane lonpshorercen. working strenu I heavy tax on every boat entering the port, t ''bassiris, the largest of which is the
.rnnV.lVT H? l,t off aiul threw into e. river the I Kattendyck dock, next come the Amer-
' UatUU f t,U 'rk I every boatmajt who re- ican and Lefill)vre; the nrst given Up to
Tiom. ( fused to pav the tax But the four-leeeed
I first saw ,fce crnn.- floin, .heir silent one-arroeThrSmulfe "Vants o? Antwerp trade the Western Continent and the
vi-ork in the M.ir d.i iiiai. wl.icli extends i arP benevnlent. not nmliRiiant creature? I second-mainly to the ships which' ply be
bIouk the irtwii fi nt i-f the river SVheirie. 1 n jt;, wav not less intejestlne than the ' tween Antwerp and Aricn. For the port
tn which the city it iu::uJ. at Antwerp": i naf tiiiiutfiind cranes of Antwerp is the heine Belgian It hits the bulk of the trade
The freipiit cms arc rim alongside the 1 hydraulic s:a:ion. where great steam en- wiln the Congo Free State.Which Js ruled
steamers on tracks ' of lite standard j j.jnes strain constantly in the operation of , b" the Kin" of he Belgians.
American catipe The. crane- stand j-isantic pur-tps. and from which the . Some of ,he smaller piers were built
astride the cais on trucks resting on j water to' operate the cranes is distributed i during: the French occupation by. the First
tracks with a p;u;.- 12 or 3i feet, the at hjg, pressure through railee of pipes. "ro:eon. who. by his decree of July 20.
track fr the cars beinpe laid in the mid- ; ncre in Hamburg therq is an electric ' proclaimed Antwerp the first harbor
die of the wit'r vne. -:ach crane is sur powerhouse which supplies thp necessary I or men-of-war on the coasts of the'Xorth
mounted hy a little hoi:se or cabin. In : current to the dock cranes. j of France. One of them is " about 12t0
it sits .th. oierator. Suppose a careo " I feet long, while another is rather more
of steel rails has to he taken from fiat j Antwerp's locks and I'liins. i than 500. Napoleon spent 13.00n.(XX) francs
cars and loadci'huo a sii.. At a signal Thc Mur'du'Quai. which is leased by' a"d, 12 years on'hefe docks.- Altogether
from t'lt man in i-nci-pi-. the cranes ci- , 7 . ! Antwerp now boasts 10. or 12 miles of
gantic arm swings over the car. the d- . f'' "''"",' in.i..r.-,u-, docks and
'i'.. Jf .; .. .. . .. 'W.aSvv.
' v. t y,i -
&3t, Hr
photographs which illustrate this -letter.
In operation they remind you of the al
most human crane work done in some
Pittsburg steel mills.
The oost of the free port was S10.000.000.
of which Hamburg paid $30.000, 'H and
the German empire $10,000,000. 20.000 people
were expelled from their homes that the
"Frcihafen" might be built, and its con
struction, which occupied live 'years,-kept
several thousand men busy during that
time.
It would be impossible to collect ac
curate figures as to the aggregate -cost
of Hamburjs harbor works today, but
it must have been more than $100,000,0..0.
Always Essentially .Commercial.
From the nature. of their respective lo
cations, Antwerp - belnj? at the - head of
navigation for ocean-going vessels on the
River Sehelde, sixty miles from the" sea.
and- Hamburg, ninety mile's up 'the river
Elbe, the two cities have- practically al
ways been essentially' commercial. Tije
origin of the present Antwerp may be
traced back to the sixUi century, when a
Saxon colony took possession of some
ruined Roman fortifications and settled
thereon; They named the settlement "An t
Werp," which means literally, "On the
Pier.'"
By '.the seventh century ships from tl4s
port were visiting most of the German
Ocejin or North Sea ports, including those
of . England. America's discovery gave
Antwerp a great impetus; but 156S, -under
Charles V., it had 125.000 inhabitants and
was the most flourishing city in Christen
dom, surpassing even Venice. From that
time until .1S30 its hiftory was a succes
sion of ups and downs.
. It suffered from religious disturbances;
It was overrun by the Spaniards, by
Antwerp's. Charlemagne is supposed ' to
have founded Hamburg; certainly he sent
a bishop there to preach the Gospel. By
the year S34 the town was well estab
lished, and in the following century it en
gaged in many contests with it. neigh
bors. ' It was long in the jurisdiction of
the Counts of Holstein. wild obtained for
it many privilege?. Its connection with
the Hanseatic League came afterward.
The league's dissolution was followed
by the discovery of America, . and tnts
helped Hamburg as much as U did Ant
werp. Still, the present era of prosperity
did not begin until much later. Hamburg
escaped the Spanish fury altogether, but
in 110 it was annexed to the French
Empire. In 1M3 the people tried a little
rebellion of their own. but failed, During
the Fremiti domination the damage to the
city's commerce amounted to nearly "$.).
'010.000, a . niucli larger sum" then. "than it
would be today. ""
In 1S42 -there was ftn enormous--fire,
which pet the town back. Still, Ham
burg's prosperity has never flagged, as
Antwerp's has, and from the- close, of
the Franco-Pruspian War wh'ich brought
the city into the German Empire 'the
commerce of Hamburg has been constant
ly incrensing, especially since it entered
the Imperial Zollverein and set apart a
large portion of its harbor us a "Frei
hafen." The carrying on of the free port fur
nishes an essential picturesque ele
ment. The "Freihafen." which- lies en
tirely on the northern or right bank of
the Elbe, is separated from the customs
harbor by a barrier which looks more like
a great picket fence set in the water than
anything else. Its necessary openings are
guarded both by men and swift harbor
craft, whose functions are precisely Uie
I IIPv - 1 Jp ' "J.J
I CTri - 1 -
lr n 1 jml
quays.
nlrjf liners to-mii5t cf the ports on the: The immense new bas'n now
pending chains mt an while being low
ered. Men working on the ground pass ; borders of the Seven Seas, .was built by i course of construction and to be finished
them around as .manv raijs as it is do- I the City of Antwerp at a cost, including in the next two or three years will give
sired to raise. Another i;naL is .giveji. I the Belvedere or elevated ..ornamental Antwerp about 13 miles of shift room, but
the rails are 'hooted the arm swings i promenade which surmounts a part of it. ! even this will "soon be inadequate, and
them" over the ship. and. they are swiftly j of SlUCvo.OOO. in 1S77. Six hundred houses! harbor extensions on a scale "elsewhere
lowered into th; ho-d". the only noise j were demolished to make room for it. It ; unknown are planned which will probably
being the clankirK of the rails. Cargoes j is nearly two miles lor.g and. 300 feet wide, i become an accomplished fact inside the
composed of packages, are handled sol It is covered with Iron shed?, -built for. next 15 or 20 years. Then, if the docks
':iMiy and noifrel.'ssl that you Are hardly beauty ,s well as utility, and its stone
aware, as you watrh. that anything soe- I work is riclTly sculptured in many pluces.
iial is being dov.o. yet they load ships I But while the wharves of the Mux du
nt hot; 'Hamburg and Antwerp in only a Quai alone would" furnish more than anw
fraction of the- time re-mired at New i pie shipping room for some of our ports.'
York. it iuftieies for only" a fractiol of the Ant-
Most of tho cranes are made to lift I werp' shipping. There are now in use be
only moderate' weights of a few tons, i sides eieht large and two small bajiinw nr
and quays of Antwerp were stretched in
a straight line, they would ieach 6 miles.
The plans include a complete -change of
the ScheJde's course foi some miles, the
destruction of three or -four villages and
the creation of an island ta be surrounded
by the old and new channels. :.
The evDense of all this, above 50,000.000,
is to be borne by the city ultimately,
though the Belgian government is ad
vancing the money for the " basins now
being built. Most of the wharves and
quays are leafed to the b4g steamship
companies.
Bustling Port ot Hamburg.
- I made the rounds of the Antwerp har
bor works in a cab most prosaically. A
few days later I visited the "Freihafen"
or free port of Hamburg, which comprises
by far the larger part of the harbor here,
in a steam launch most picturesquely. To
my American eye Hamburg appears much
the busier, and consequently much more
like home. Certainly the waters of the
port here are as thoroughly churned as
those of any in the world.
i -At '.he present time Hamburg has
under; aba -it 12V. miles of docks and ciuays.
And despite Antwerp's aspirations the
shipping and business men of Ham
burg nave no fear of being left in the
race. They possess that splendid con
fidence in tne future which is shown
by the business men of the most" pro
gressive and hustling American cities,
and are looking- forward to the con
tinued and almost unlimited growth of
their port.
The free port is so termed because
goods and materials brought into it
and exported, either in the same con
dition as- imported or after being: man
ufactured into some other article of
trade, are obliged to pay no duty. The
VlViwAi fvrw 4v i v? vilify
cvey wz zacyr vsas avjsyx&zr jckzz
free harbor was created in" 1SSS"; until
that year Hamburg was not a member
of . the Imperial--German ' Customs "Zoll
verein." Many Hamburgers then believed
that the change would' ruin the trade
of the port. This afternoon a framed
newspaper page, published in 1S88,' bearing
a cartoon prophetic of the supposedly evil
days to come, was pointed out to me by
a German friend whose faith In the
port's future was- typical at the time.
His faith has been abundantly justified.
Since then the port's commerce has grown
"by leaps and bound?," and today Ham
burg stands twenty-second among the
cities of the world..
Like the hydraulic cranes of Antwerp,
the electric -cranes of Hamburg are. of
several type. Those in use on the Kaiser
Wilhelmhafen quays end the others of the
new harbor, completed four year ago
at an expense of many millions, are even
more impressive in appearance, collective
ly, than those in Antwerp. A 'long per
spective of them ib shown In one of ths
the French and by the Austrians. It was
fought over during the wars waged by
and against the Prince of Orange. In
1648 the Scheide was completely closed by
the decrees following the peace of West
phalia. In 1799 Antwerp had a population
of only 40.000.
There wag then a brief Increase of pros
perity. By 1S30 the population had grown
to 7S.O0O. the city having been annexed to
the Netherlands In 1S14 and her trade with
the Dutch colonies being considerable. In
18B3, wben the right to levy navigation
due3 on the Scheide was commuted, an
era of new growth net in for Antwerp.
The average annual tonnage for the port
In the decade from 1860 to 1870 was less
than 909,000; l has increased tenfold since
then. Meanwhile the population has
grown fourfold.
The greatest Impetus ever received by
Antwerp's commerce came soon after the
Franco-Prussian war. the growth of the
port Just after 1870. and since then, being
even more rapid than in the sixties.
- Hamburg's origin is more obscure than
same aj thoe fnllilled - hy" out- own
revenue cuuere. '
The 1:cks in the free port include a
"hefen," devotfd to peirolf-um. in which
Standard Oil .ships are always to be seen;
an "Ihdiahafen." an "Afrikahafen." A'
SOKelschiffhafen." etc. The last named
of these is sacred to sailing veswis,- a
its name indicates, and, as there are.
practically no schooners In European
waters, the shipping in that "hafen" pre
sents the finest example-of the ojd time
"forest of masts" to be found anywhere.
Hamburg being well to the . north, its
port often J'rcfzes in Winter, and it there
fore maintains four heavy ice-breaker
boats, built on the model of the famous
Russian ice breaker Yerniak, which, -tn
turn, was modeled upon the ice breaker
that keepr open the straits, between lake
Michigan and Iake Huron late-every Kail
and opens them early every Spring. ;
Aside from the fact that these ports ar
In close competition for supremacy in
(Concluded on Page