Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-09
COMMERCE Of GENOA
Her Import and Export Trade
is Advancing.
NO AM ERICAN FLAG
ALL FREIGHT GOING THERE OR
COMING IN FOREIGN BOTTOMS.
Something About the Ancient City
Which Had Skyscrapers When
New York Was an Infant.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


- GENOA, March %, 1904.
| The building of great city upon the vir-
| gin soil eof the new world Is interesting.
| To witness the awakening of a great COM
| mercial port, whose cycles of prosperity
and disaster date back to the time Of the
| Caesars, is marvelously fascinating. Such
| an awakening has come to Genoa Her
| harborl is crowded with the shipping OF
the world, her streets are thronged with
traders from the interior, and block after
block of mysterious old buildings Is be-
| ing RACED to the ground to make room for
modern structures. '--.--
| Marseille and Naples will do well now to
| look to their laurels, for with enormous
| annual increases the import and export
trade of Genoa is advancing. Her beauti-
| full harbor, with it's miles Of wharfage, Is
crowded to Its limit, and the Italian gov
| ernmnt has set aside enough money to pay
the interest on $120O00O0 to be used In ex-
tending and improving the shipping faclll-
ties. Last year over 5000 ships, or an az
erage of nearly twenty day, came 70
Genoa, and disembarked 6OOOOOO tons OF
! freight: Nearly 100000. men manned these
vessels and made Genoa their stopping
! place for a longer. or shorter time.
The millions of tons OF freight, coming
| from every part of the world, were scat
tered throughout northern Italy, Austria'
Switzerland, Russia and France. inc 10
tai value of these imports was ABOUT $Ilo'-
| 100000 and Genoa in turn contributed an
almost eoual amount to the commerce OF
the world in the products of the land ana
industries in tributary territory ..
Carried in Foreign Bottoms.
An American in Genoa may look long for
the flag of his own country in. this harbor
without finding it, for the twenty-five mil
lion dollars worth of American goods which
arrived here during the past year were
carried in foreign bottoms, and the million
| and a half dollars in the produce of italy
purchased by Italian firms in New YORK
reached them in ships sailing unoer the
French or Italian flag. ,..
From this port come the best class OF
emigrants which reach the United states
from southern Europe. These people are
from northern Italy and Switzerland, and
closely resemble Americans in their per-
sonal appearance. The Storage compart-
ments of departing vessels have carried
thirteen thousand people to the Umteo
States from this port during the past year.
Nearly half that number have returned
some to remain, but a large majority OF
them to go back to America again accom-
panied by other members of their famlfles
Here as elsewhere along the Mediterranean
there is a great demand for direct steamers
to the United States, and all the evidences
of trade commerce and migration point to
the possibility of its being a prohtable
venture.
Genoa has a population of about two
hundred and fifty thousand. The city Is
densely inhabited, the residence area being
comparatively limited. A walk through the
narrow streets, between the enormously
high buildings which tower either side
until they seem to meet at the top. will ex-
plain why the italian immigrant takes Kind
~ to his New York tenement, be his quar-
tiers ever so high above the ground. Genoa
had her sky scrapers when New York was
In it's infancy. The palaces of the old rul-
ers extend up as far as nine stories, with
spaces between floors and ceiling rivaling
the construction of the most pretent1ouS
American dwellings. These old palaces,
and there are scores of them, are now
occupied by shops and offices, or have been
adapted for tenement uses, and haunting
from the windows OF once magnl1cent
structures can now be seen long lines of
clothes drying in the bright sunshine and
gentle breeze There are a few exceptions.
and In some cases, where the ground floor
has been given up to the uses of trade, the
upper floors are still occupied by descend
ants of the old families, and treasured
within the walls are many masterpieces of
old Italian art.
Old and New Genoa.
Old and new Genoa are in sharp contrast.
On one side of the street can be found an
imposing modern structure conforming to
Italian style of architecture, but adapted
to the needs of modern commerce and resi-
dence while across the way will be found
Old historic pie OF buildings with SUD-
terranean passages, queer old stairwayS
| and massive walls the thickness of which
| suggests secret chambers but the whole
| occupied by scores of families of the poor
| est class who climb to their quarters in
| these strange cliffs by means of eight or
| ten flights of white marble steps.
| History tells US that the italian cities
| were each in their time brought to ruin by
| dssensions between the great families. This
was the case in Genoa as in other places.
| though the relations must have been par
! ticularly strained here, for the palaces of
| the contending factions almost touch one
| another, and neighborhood auarrels are al
| ways particularly severe, when they can be
| conducted across narrow street or over a
| partition wall. The wealthy men of Genoa
| have been extremely generous in dealing
with their fellow OF ems, for while 1t Is true
| their revenues have come from the land and
| the shipping they have returned much of
| their wealth in the form of gifts both In land
and money to be used for the public bene-
| fit.
| Beautiful plazas adorned with statuary Of
| no mean quality are to be found in the
| most densely settled parts of the city; and
| one noble duke has given 100000 toward
| the Improvement of the harbor facilities.
The waterfront possesses a most cosmo-
| politan character, and along the quays are
| found the sailors of all nations. Ships from
| the west coast of Africa, from the Levant,
| and even farther to the east bring their
! cargoes to the Genoa docks German. Eng
| lish French and Norwegian vessels are al
ways among those at anchor, and the tub
| like lighters which are towed In long
| strings from ship to wharf carry as their
| burden the products of every Cline,
| AS the sun sets over the harbor the cleo
| trio lights fash around the shore forming
| almost a complete circle; the great light
| house at the mouth sends its CLEANS inter-
| mittently far out over the Mediterranean;
| the ships hangs out their little lanterns;
| the flags drop from. the peaks of all the
| masts; and the hundreds of sailors come
| ashore to crowd the little restaurants and
cafes along the water front.
The lighters, idle for the time, each one
| covered with Its tent-like tarpaulin, are
moored together until the waters of the
| harbor are lost to view and the expanse
| resembles the tenting ground of a great
| army Early in he evening, quiet settles
| down upon the scene, only broken here and
| there by the creaking of a crane and the
| throaty cries of men. some belated ship
! puts the finishing touches to it's cargo in
! the night Nowhtre in the world Is SO
| great a commerce as this conducted In a
space seemingly SO small or so we'll adapted
to its needs.
One of the strongest impulses given to
renewed prosperity for Genoa was the
building of the Suez canal; thus placing
| This cty upon the highway of the COM
merce of all the world. Going or coming
from the occident or the orient, Genoa can
| be made port Of call without serious d.