Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-25
Uncle SAM EuIo pgall caIeY

UnCle Sdn'l Eu!
sCyvfitten for. the Dispatch.
s(CopyriEht, 1902 by Frank G. Carpenter.s
ssANTWERP.s January III am standins
IN the CHIEF American gateway to- the:
continent i of Europe: This city, situat-s
ed sixty miles inland 3onis the deep river
Scheldt, is connected by canal = and# Tall:
with every part Of Germany, France
Holland, and Belgium, andsour American!
invaders Aarea making it a basis %. their heir
Commercial campaigns. Slxas great nnes
of steamers connect 1T with New YORK
and other American ports, and ..ttsis stne
HEADQUARTERS of the Red AStarSSLine,.sones
OF: the chief arteries of our great shipping
trust. Wheat by the ten thousand bush.
els. and cotton by the thousands of bales
are sun load ed here to be sent TO other
countries Of Europe. Cargoes of :sour
lumber travel through the canals far1into:
the interior, and tank steamers filled
with American coal oil come IN suchs
numbers that special docks have. been
set aside for them known as the Basin SIN
America. -
"A MILLIONAIRE CITY OF THE MID
DLE5lAGES.
Antwerp has now. 800 600 people, Is
rapidly. growing, and it is reaching the
position it had during the middle ages as
the richest commercial citysof Europe. It
had then notsshalf as many people as
now, but its trade was the..Wonder5 OF the
world. Five hundred wagons da1 lily came
into the city, bringing. IN. and carrying YIN
out goods Five hundred ships sailed up
the scheldt every day, and, lit is said
that $500 vessels were often at anchor
there. at one q. -
This was shortly. after the dlscovery8of
America. Before that time the Medlter-
raIneans cities such as Venice and Genoa
led in the commerce Of the world, but
Columbus turned the tide another way.
The route to Asia about the Cape or
Good Hope was discovered, and the cities
Of the Atlantic began to boom, Lisbon
was one Of the most thriving Of them.
and the Portuguese ships called there
and then came on to Antwerp, Indeed,
Antwerp had then. ALMOST as much trade
as sLondon,t England annually buying
about s20Oo,0oo. worth of Antwerp goods.
At@that time money was worth ten times
what lit lis now, and IN comparison athe
trade was greater. Antwerp bought
spices and sugar of the Portuguese to the
amount of almost $4,000, 900 "a year, and sits
silk and Il gold wares from Italy We're
worth twice as much 70
4 There were then 1000 foreign CONNER
cial firms doing, business in Antwerp,
and among them were the y Fuggers or
Augsburg, who We're the Pierponts Nor
gans Of the sixteenth century. The F'ug-
gers were famous as bankers and bust
ness-men and for their veal tn, one OF
them dying at Antwerp and leaving
fortune Of S. ;000, 200. an enormous sum
for. that time go.
THE ssPANIARDs RUINED 1T.
Such was the. condition of Antwerp
when the Spaniards. tried to rule the
Netherlands. They: ruined & the country
astthey have ruined everything they have
put theirs hands on. In less than gen
erations the population fell off more than
50: per cent, and the business and Peo-
pie steadily dwindled until y In 1880 the
city had only 40eo0 souls.
Later. on. Napoleon sBonaparte saw the
fitness. Of Antwerp for a. great commercial
port He built docks at. cost Of some
thing. like. $4,000, 600, and was fast max
ing the city the commercial capital OF
northern Europe, when it got another
black eye through the revolutions which
followed his death. "A generation or SC
later, Belgium having separated from
Holland, Antwerp again began to grow
and ita.is now bigger than it has ever
been before,
| THE ANTWERP FsTO-DAY. .s #
I The Antwerp Of .to-cay is one z Of the
busiest places of continental Europe. %
| booms like the fast-growing cities of the
| United States Its new streets are lined
| with buildings which would do credit te
| New York and it has docks which sur:
pass anything on our Atlantic coast .Tnt
| river Scheldt has been walled in ant
deepened, so that at high tide the bigges
| ocean steamers sail right to the edge
| Of the city and anchor there. All alons
| the river iron and glass sheds have beer
/! erected for storing goods, and transfer
|>ring them from the ships to the railroads
| -Four; lines o. railway tracks run out
! side these sheds, and next to the rive
are long lines of hydraulic cranes which
/ lift the goods from the ships to the cars
! On the average $500 cars leave the cit!
every day. Both cranes and cars ar
| worked by a subterraneant acqueduct
| operated by engines.
i i Above the warehouse sheds are lonl
| prom enades paved with asphalt. so wild
/ that two two-horse wagon loads Of ha:
| could be driven side, by. side upon them
/ These: promenade look out over the rive
and the green fields on the. opposite side
they forms the favorlte walk of the Ant
/ werpers Sundays and evenings. AT sue
tines bareheaded women and girls an
capped and hated men and boys may b
/ seen here strolling along or leaning owe
i the Scheldt..3s Some OF the boys wea
wooden clogs, and even the little one
Of the better classes have their legs bar
i from the tops of their, shoes to the knees
The sSche1dt is about a furlong wide
It is over twenty-five feet deep. and s.
teams with shipping. A. North Ger
man Lloyd steamer came putting in Will
4 was on the promenade this Afternoon
4 while Red Star liner from New sYorl
I which had just been discharged, wa
starting out. 80 - ID. ~
i WHERE :AMERICANSGOO
i HANDLED.
1 wish Il could show YOU q the dock
4 which these Belgians have built, fc
handling our imports. They are anon
the finest Of Europe. The ones whic
Napoleon constructed are still in us,
They are two in number. one holdln
THE VALUE OF CHARCOAL.