Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-05
ROTTERDAM NOW
IMPORTANT PORT
Rotterdam Is Today Europe $
Greatest Neutral Seaport;
..- Heligoland..

HellgOland.,
Washington, Dec. 4.-The NatiOna
Geographic society, of this city, toda.
gave cut the following statement will
reference to the Importance of tn
port Of Rotterdam in i~nterRatiOna
trade and concerning Heligoland
which Great Britain traded to Ger
many in 1890, in return for the Ger
man recognition Of the British pro
]tcctoratc over Zanzibar.
When the American tourist Of 70.
mcr summers, whose mind was filled
with q p~rccOncriped notion OF Enrop.
made up of a wealth of statistical ant
historical information, approached
the port of Rotterdam on his maiden
voyage, he usually suffered his frs
great European disappointment. The
most reliable of reference books had
prepared him for the NTH largest
port in the world. According to these
works, New York anne first upon the
list of the worlds greatest seaports
followed by Antwerp, HAMBURG, Hong
Kong and Rotterdam. Rotterdam leo
London. The measure Of greatness
OF course, was the grand total Of tons
OF freight, cntcrde and cleared by
each port.
With this information about Ro:.
terdam in mind, many an Americas
has strained his cyesight from the
forward deck just off the coast OF
Holland, vainly trying to pick up Il
skyline like that Of New York. Ali
that has rewarded his effort has been
a low, barren, desolate stretch of
sandy shore, lonely to a pOilt of sad
ness. This dreary outlook is the
Hook of Holland, relieved on nearer
inspection by a rambling shed, a CON-
bination of baggage and customs
house. There are a few scraggy
bushes and dwarf trees in the pic.
ture. Probably, in nine chances on.
Of ten the tourist has reached the
Hook after the turn of the tide, iE
which case he has had to land there.
In July, an unmerciful sun beats
down on this tongue of land, which,
together with the pigmy train waiting
upon the smoky sands to carry the
passengers to Rotterdam, makes the
traveller almost feel that he has been
landed in sleepy Africa by mistake.
There is nothing about the Hook or
Holland or the narrow, Shallow RID.
bon of water, which leads to Rotter.
dam to aid him in realizing the mag
nitude of the port but an hours ride
away.
Greatest Neutral Port.
Rotterdam is today Europe's great
est neutral seaport. The vast bust
ness Of Antwerp and Hamburg has
ceased. London is an object for the
enterprise of war. The shipping to
western Europe a alone rest COM
pietely secure in the harbor of Rot
terdam, and this port city has be-
come one of the busiest OF places, for
the purchases Of all central Europe
will pour through its spiral streets.
: Ideally situated for handling tEa
oversee commerce of central Europe,
peopled by a race Of skilfnl merchants
and traditional sailors, connected
with all the principal markets of the
hinterland by the wonderful systen:
of railways which branch out fror.
here and reach Germany, France and
Austria, Rotterdam has always done
a remarkable shipping despite keen
est competition. This city>has earned
a great part Of it's wealth during the
last score years through the handling
of German imports and the vast e.
ports to every corner of the. world
from the Rhine manufacturing dis
trict. These goods have been mostly
sent down the Rhine 10 Rotterdam
and by the Dutch reshippoc to the::
destinations. It was in order to pre-.
serve this business in German hands,
that the Empire undertook the con
.struction OF the Dortmnd|Ems canal
at $1,000 600, connecting the indus.
trial Rhine country with a German
port on the North sea.
Leading Commercial City.
It's wonderful shipping has MADE
Rotterdam the leading commercial:
city of Holland. There are some III.
dustries scattered among its straigh.
front, five and six-story, sharp gaOleG
houses, such as rope and cigar manu-.
facture, but they are unimportant.
. AS an excursionist from Hamburg,
one comes upon the solitary little Isl
and Of lHeligoland, far out in the open
North sea, some 30 miles from tho
nearest point OF land, a defantly $50.
lated maroon-brown crag, projectinG
itself ruggedly against the horizon.
This tiny land is the vortex around
which the ambitions of two of the
proudest navies Of the world are
swelling.
Approached in the heat of a late
July day, an overhead sun sharply
chiseling its outline, ,HeligolanG
makes an impression never to be for
as the most magnificent bit of
loneliness anywhere in the northern;
hemisphere. .nt
'H%eligoIand.
Since the day when great powers
first conceived a familiar interest il
its existence, H~eligoland has been
dedicated to war. In 1890 Great Brit
ain and Germany entered into a trea.l
ty defining the spheres of their infu'
ence in East, West, and Southwest,
Africa, and in return for the German
recognition of the protectarate OIL
Great Britain over Zanzibar, Lord Sal
isbury, in behalf of his government,
coded Heligoland to Germany. Since
that time it has been usurped by the
German v%acationist for a summer
playground. Its industrial interests
are its least concern, being of impor,.
only to the few hundred fisher
folk who have faith in their little rock
to lass their lives away .upon it.