Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13
SWISS METROPOLIS
Zurich is the Business Center
of the Republic.
STORES AND HOUSES
HOW THE WoRKMEN LIVE AND
WHAT THEY EARN.
The Silk Notwithstanding Ameri-
can Goods-The Schools and
Gymnasiums.
STORES AND HOUSES

Copyright. 1902, by Frank G. Carpenter)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
ZURICH.
This is the busiest cell in the great indus
trial beehive of the Alps, and 1t Is the pest
headquarters for the distribution OF Amer
fcan goods. The chief of the American ex-
porters to Switzerland have their agents
here, and find many of our goods for sale
IN the stores. Our typewr1ters. machlne
tools and agricultural implements are well
represented and one of the finest buildings
of the town has large store rooms devoted
to the sale of American office furniture, ana
especially Grand Rapids roll-top desks. You
can buy Boston shoes at several places
along Bahnhof Strasse, and l find Yankee
notions for sale in the arcades in the older
parts of the town.
Zurich is the biggest city of Switzerland.
1t has 10000 people. and among them the
richest of the country. 1t is the center OF
the silk industry. the site of the chief ma
chine and iron works, and the great whole
sale supply point.
The city is situated In northern Switzer-
land, q couple of hours ride from Basel
the head of the nav cation of the Rhine.
at a place where the railroads which give
access to every part of Switzerland and the
Alps meet. 1t lies on Lake Zurich. which
Is twenty-five miles long and two and one
half miles wide. The Limmat river, which
connects this lake with the Rhine, runs
through it. cutting a beautiful valley,
spotted with farms and vineyards. The
town is in the heart of the Alps, and the
Rigi and other famous mountains are In
plain view in many parts OF 1t.
A View From Mt. Zurich.
rode up Mount Zurich on the cable line
this morning for view of the city. Zurich
lies at the north end of the lake, which
stretches on almost as far as you can see.
winding like great river in and out
among the hills. 1t extends some distance
down on both sides the lake; it climbs the
hills and you can see its smokestacks along
the banks of the river, marking the sites of
the silk cotton and iron factories for which
1t Is famous.
Zurich proper looks more like city of
residences than a commercial and manufac-
turing center. You see many churches and
school and college buildings rising high
above the ordinary houses. The streets
are wide and the houses have beau
tiful gardens about them. In the older
sections there are buildings with ga
bled roofs. out of which quaint dor
mer windows poke their heads. The
Limmat is pned with such structures.
They wall Its banks and at one place cross
the rushing river. being erected on piles so
that the water flows on beneath There is
an acre or so of such houses. In other
places the buildings have arcades or ciois-
ters on the ground floor. facing the street,
with stores behind them, so that you walk
in the shade the roof of the street being
the floors above. This Is the old Swiss
form of building. and yea find it TO an even
greater degree in Bern.
Swiss Flats
have spent much time in driving about
the newer parts of Zurich. The craze for
fats or apartments is quite as great here
as in the United States, and new apart
ment houses are going up everywhere. In
deed. the flat system is now common all
over Europe. 1t has been in vogue in
France and Germany for more than a gen.
Grafton, but 1t is now pushing its way
into England, Scandinavia and Switzerland.
Geneva Is a city of flats, although it has
some beautiful villas. In Bern there are
stores on the ground floors with apartments
above, even in the older sections of the city
and Zurich Is fast becoming all fats. Many
OF the new houses are apartment houses
pure and simple. Others are apartments
and stores combined. There seems to be
no fixed rule as to business locations, as in
other cities. You find big wholesale es-
tablishment way off at one side surrounded
by residences. and you have often to hunt
Tor the stores that you want. The people
are very conservative. They stick TO the
merchants with whom they arc accustomed