The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-29

| thing common to the Orient, such as
| silks, linens, wines, fruits, spices, vel
| vets, cotton cloths, wool, nuts, timber,
| gold, silver and all the baser metals,
| with many other articles of commerce.
| There was much Illicit trading under
| the operation of restrictive laws. The
| sale Of certain articles was reserved to
| state exclusively, and revenues were
attempted to be increased by the grant
ing of monopolies. A struggle began be-
tween the Greeks and Mohammedans
Then arose complications which direct
ly hastened the decay, though not the
destruction Of the Byzantine trade. Be-
ing occupied in wars, the government
was destitute of vessels IN which to
conduct their commerce with the West
| The trade with the shores of the Black
sea was at that time considerable, and
| 1t was here that a large part Of the
| vessels OF the empire were operated.
| In short time the shrewdness Of rivals
in the West recognized their advantage
and availed themselves thereof by
transferring the home Of the transpor-
tation service to Italy, and this mark
ed the development of the commerce
| Of the italian states.
RISE OF THE ITALIAN REPUB-
Lies.
The italian republics came into no.
| tice at the beginning of the sixth CEN
| tury and reached the summit of their
commercial power at the close of the
i Fifteenth century. Since which time
they have played only an inconsider-
| able part in the commerce of the world.
The city of Venice Is one of the re-
| markable productions of the maritime
spirit associated with commerce in the
middle OF the fifth century. 1t had
for its foundations only beds of mud,
which were projected into view when
| the tides Of the Adriatic were at the
! ebb, but which were nearly covered
with water when they were at the
flood. The spot was an Irregular sys-
tenn Of lagoons, which had formerly
been meadows on which live stock had
grazed. But from the lagoons salt was
| gathered and fish in unlimited num-
| bers were taken from the sea- And
| these commodities soon came into ex-
change for articles of food and neces-
| sity and comfort, only available from
other sources. Year by year the We
netians added to their fleets, and the
people became experts in the handling
| Of their vessels, which were steadily
being increased in size and numbers.
The Venetians became the chief
| water-carrying power Of the world In
the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and
| they piled wealth upon wealth in their
| great labors in the line OF transporta-
| ton. They gained much advantage
from transporting the Crusaders to the
| Holy Land, eliminating in the cap
ture of Constantinople In 1904, which
event marked the beginning of the
decline in commercial Importance of the
Byzantine empire.
THE REMARKABLE DEVELOP
MENT OF VENICE.
The trading between Venice and
Alexandria attained enormous and
profitable results. In the thirteenth
century the Venetians and Genoese
came into conflict, which resulted in
the reopening to the former OF trade
With the Black sea, from which they
had been deprived a few years earlier
| through a combination of the Greeks
and Genoese. Venice established coll
onies which produced different fruits.
cattle, wool. furs, oil, grains, wines,
| lead, quicksilver and many other COM
| modities. The magnificence of this
City of the Sea" is traditional and
its development in manufactures keep
ing active pace with commerce repre-
sents quickening in that Industry
which had subsequent and permanent
effect over all Europe. With the de-
velopment Of the commerce of the
| Italian states advancement was made
into Germany through internal traffic,
The products of the Orient from Con-
stantnople and Egypt thus came to
l-be distributed throughout Northern
Europe. Venice was the entrepot In
which bonded warehouse was locat2
ed for the special benefit of the Ger
mans. and great advantages to COM
merce resulted from this process of
distribution.
THE DECAY OF VENETIAN COM
MERGE.
In those days structures were applied
which limited the trading classes. Down
TO nearly the close of the thirteenth
century the mercantile power was con-
trolled by the aristocracy. But with
the growth of Venice as a great COM
mercial center grants were made more
general for the creation and distribu-
ton of a surplus of imports and MANN
factures. This afforded a stimulus
which was soon felt throughout Eu-
rope. From the pastoral lands of
Flanders wool was introduced for the
manufacture into cloths and textures
Of various kinds. About this time the
spirit of protection OF home industry
was inculcated in favor of the We
netian manufacturers. With q vast
community to the westward eagerly
accepting for their own consumption
and use the objects OF manufactured
wares and novelties. the spirit of ag-
grandizement seized the people, and a
prohibitive law against the admission
OF foreign manufactures was enacted.
This had the temporarily advantageous
effect OF bringing to Venice many arti-
sans, who introduced a variety of new
branches of industry; the energy of
the people responded to every success
ful innovation, and the merchants
sought the markets of the world in
the consciousness OF their supremacy
as q producing community. Wealth