Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-10
BUILT UPON ISLANDS
Venice Is Cut by One Hundred
and Fifty Canals.
1T is A GROWING CITY
Population Has Increased $4,000 in
the Last Twenty-Five Years.
NOT AN UNHEALTHY PLACE
Death Rate Lower Than Most Large
Cities of Europe-Six Churches
as Votive Offerings.
NOT AN UNHEALTHY PLACE

| BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.
| Special Correspondence of The Star and thu
Chicago Record Herald.
| VENICE, April Z. 1910.
| After all. there is no place like Venice
| Canton. Picking. Moscow and Constants
| nople are all most interesting and unique
| in their way. but there is only one Venice
and there can never be another. The peo-
pie of this age would never have the pa
| thence to build city in swamp by
digging canals and lining them with pal
aces. nor would they have sufficient artis-
| tic taste TO build such homes as the no.
bles and merchant princes who lived here
in the thirteenth and fourteenth CEN
| turtles coveted, or expend such enormous
sums they spent in gratifying their
architectural pride.
There is no place in the world like
Venice. There is no other place that
gives much immediate much
lasting satisfaction. The tourist can re-
member more about Venice than of any
other city because it Is SO unique. 1t
never dsappoints the anticipations. The
palaces upon the Grand canal seem more
beautiful and magnificent; the narrow.
winding streets inside seem more quaint
and weird: the Bridge of Signs always
adds to its romance and the Rialto to it's
historical association during every in
terval between the visits of people who
come here more than once. and the PiaZ-
Ia of st. Mark. the cathedral and the
Palace of the Doges grow more wonder
full and fascinating every time. 1t is
best to arrive in the evening if possible,
so as to get the night effect of the archi-
lecture and the canals first. and then
in the morning, when the veil Is drawn,
the vision of beauty and picturesqueness
becomes an actually, one can enjoy it
the more.
While statistics do not seem apprOpri-
ate to such a romantic place, you may be
interested to know that Venice consists
of three large and ia small islands.
formed by $50 canals, whose combined
length is seven miles. and they are con-
nected by 318 bridges. of which only one
is of iron. The rest are of marble or
stone. There are only four horses in
Venice. and they are of gilded bronze.
They once adorned the triumphal arch of
Nero in Rome. Constantine took them
to COnstantinople, and the Doge Dandolo
brought them to Venice. Napoleon car
ried them to Paris i'll 1907, and in 1915
they were brought back and restored to
their former position over the entrance
to st. Marks Cathedral.
Venice a Growing City.
1t is the prevailing impression that
Venice got it's growth centuries ago: that
it reached the zenith of it's power, wealth
and prosperity in the fifteenth century.
and since that time has been in a state of
gradual decline. l have heard people who
ought to know better assert that the lat
est new building was erected 200 years
ago. and that since then there has been
no work in Venice for carpenters. masons
and members of the other building trades
except to repair adaptations and restore
the crumbled walls That is great mis-
| take. Venice is growing like other Euro
pean cities in population, wealth. indus
try and commerce. and three of the most
beautiful palaces on the Grand canal have
been erected within the last few years.
One of them remains unfinished. Another
recently completed is offered for rent at
S. 900 a year.
Apostles OF the picturesque on the other
hand will tell you that modern enterprise
has ruined some of the most admirable
spots in the old capital of the Medicis;
that palaces of wondrOus beauty in Flor
ence have been removed TO give place to
ugly edifices, designed for utility alone,
and that quaint old narrow streets have
had their attractions destroyed by the
municipal council. which insisted upon
tearing down facades that were erected
omnibuses to pass.
Doubtless there is more or less ground
for these criticisms. and perhaps the
fears concerning Venice are well founded.
The smoke from the tall chimneys of the
new factories will no doubt pOllute the
atmosphere. but will not injure the mel
low tints which age has given to the mar
BILE carvings: and. of course, alterations
are necessary to make apy of the old pal
aces convenient for butiness purposes.
Many people believe that Venice should
be preserved untouched as great inter-
national museum and school of archi-
lecture and art: that commerce should be
suppressed. and that no one should be al
lowed to live here except people of leis-
ure and refined tastes. Grain elevators.
-four mills, iron foundries and other new
and practical enterprises which are being
introduced into Venice are certainly OBJ
stacles to artistic growth. but the people
of this city are actuated by mercenary
motives like the rest of mankind. and are
| not content with the income they derive
| from tourists and the sale OF curios.
The increase i'm population in Venice has
| been not less than $1,000 during the last
| twenty-five years. and IL cannot increase
| much more because the area of the is
| land is limited. During the last ten years
| il has been nearly 1900. In 1870 the Off
| cial census showed 1j1. 1S.; i'm 1897. 112.
| 1885, DO. This ha9 been an entirely natural
| increase caused by the excess of births
| over deaths. because there has been no
| immi grafton and more or less emigration
| to the United States and the Argentine
Republic Immigration is almost entirely
| limited 10 Americans and Englishmen OF
! wealth and leisure. who come here and
buy or rent palaces and enjoy an artistic
atmosphere.