Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-12
People Much Different From
Those in the South. !.
IMPORTANCE OF GENOA
NOW THE GREATEST PORT IN THE
KINGDOM.
The Harbor Greatly Needs Enlarge
ment-Burial Place of SInithson-
Native City Of Columbus.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
GENOA, Italy. December 8. 1903
Northern Italy is very prosperous. The
people are honest, enterprising, industrious
and frugal. There is a striking difference
between the population of the northern and
the southern parts Of the kingdom 1t
seems scarcely possible that they can belong
tc the same race.
Genoa is growing in wealth and import
ance 1t is now the greatest port in Italy.
Its commerce has been increasing rapidly,
and would grow to an even larger volume
but for the limits of the harbor, which Is
always crowded and hasn't room for any
more ships. l know of several American
firms who have been trying to buy or lease
dock and warehouse room.
One Chicago coal shipper had to refuse
big contract for supplying the railroads of
Italy with fuel because he could not get
dock to land 1t, and the expense of lighter
age would have absorbed all his profits.
Another coal firm in Baltimore has been
trying for two years to obtain a landing
place for the cargoes of it's ships, but the
best arrangement 1t can make is to unload
tnen lllO llSHtSiS hCCP eiiSihA "iAN~~
until sold In this way however. the coal
has to be handled three times, and anchor
age costs about as much as dock room, De-
cause the harbor is so small.
The late Duke of Galleria, one of the rich
men of Genoa, who had fortune of S25,-
OoO 600 or more, a good part of which was
made in shipping. left a bequest of $4,000
600 to pay for extending the harbor, and the
work is now being done under the direction
of the city government This was prac-
teal benefacton, and Will be 10 the per-
manent advantage of the city. 1t is difficult
to see how he could have conferred great
er benefit upon his fellow citizens. HIS son,
who received $5,000,0OO from the estate
now lives in Paris. His widow. who sur
vived him several years bequeathed si'OvV,-
600 to the late Empress Frederick OF Ger
many and immense sums to the poor. Ihey
were intimate friends, and IT was at the
residence of the Duchess OF Gallerla at san
Reno that the emperor died. Many rlch
people in Genoa have left large legacles 10
the civ 1t has benevolent institutions or
every kind, highly endowed. NO community
in the world can furnish better examples VI
benevolence.
From the deck Of the steamer we can see
the little Protestant cemetery at the Top oi
the ridge by which Genoa Is surrounded
and where the rocks beneath are graouaHy
being eaten away by quarrymen' VINO are
aking out stones to be used in extending
will be undermined, that the municipal
officials have already condemned the prop
erty and have given to the Church or En-
gland, to which the property peionss.
tract of land adjoining the regular ceme-
terry on the other side of the city. The trus-
tees of the church and the consuls OF Great
Britain, and the United States have con-
sidered it wise to accept the oHer Witnout
putting the city to the expense of con-
demnation proceedings, particularly as the
owners Of the quarry agreed to pay all OF
the expenses of removing the remains
H. Burial Place of Smithson. -.
We are particularly interested in this
matter, because James Smithson, founder of
the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
lies buried there. 1t has been proposed to
remove his body to Washington and bury 1t
In the park surrounding the institution, but
at one Of their meetings last spring the
regents rejected the proposition and In
structed Prof. Langley to provide for the
removal of the remains and monument to a
suitable site in the new cemetery. This VIII
be done under direction of the United States
consul
Mr. Smithson's tomb is of the most
conspicuous in the little churchyard, and -
in every way appropriate. The grave is in
closed by an iron fence, to which is attached
marble tablet bearing the following in
scription:
James smthson. F. R; s.
Founder of the Smithsonian INSTITUTION.
Washington, ID. c.
Erected by the Regents,
Within the railing is a cenotaph of white
marble of digniied proportions resting upon
pedestal of the same material. inscribed
James Smithson Esq.
Fellow Royal Society, London.
Who died at Genoa June 26, 1893.
Age rs Years.
Upon the other side the following lines
are carved:
This monument Is erected and the ground on
which it stands is purchased in perpetuty by
Henry Hungerford, Esq, the deceased's nephew. 10
token of gratitude to generous benefactor and
as a tribute to departed worth
A Famous Cemetery.
A Campo Santo, as it is called, of Genoa
is advertised in the guide books as the fin
est in the world, and undoubtedly does con-
tain the most costly and artistic funeral
monuments ever assembled in one ceme-
terry, but it is cold and melancholy, entirely
artificial, with no natural beauty whatever
and does not strike one as place In which
he would like to lie forever.
The Sacred camp Is surrounded by
walls of brick between twenty and thirty
feet high, which. within, are arranged for
vaults, having long rows of pigeon holes
large enough to admit collins, which are
sealed up with slabs of marble fast as
they are filled. They can be purchased or
rented from the company that owns the
cemetery, DuI II the rent Is not pdiu
promptly the dead are evicted with the
same energy and heartlessness that certain
Irish landlords have shown their tenants.
| and the bodies are deposited in a general
vault in the potter's field. 1t is customary
for those who are able to purchase group
of these vaults for the future of their
families and in front of them to place a
common monument. There has been a
great deal of rivalry in this, which has
given the Campo Santo of Genoa it's repu-
tation of having the finest display of mod
ern statuary in the world Some of the
monuments are ridiculous: some of them are
superb; each represents the taste of the
family by whom it was erected. There has
been a group of artists in Genoa for several
years who have done nothing else but de-
sign and carve these monuments, and some
of their work is very fine.
An Old Cake Vender.
The most unique piece in the cemetery is