New Britain herald., 1915-02-13
HAMBURG IS TERMED
 NEW YORK OF EUROPE
Great German City Trading Heart
 Of Empire.

Washington, D. C., Feb. 13--A pie ture of Ham burg, which is described as the New York of Europe,' is drawn by the National Geographic society in a statement prepared re- gently. It follows:
 Hamburg, the great German city on the North sea mentioned so often in press dispatches these days. is the New York of Germany. in fact, the New York of Europe. It has the same proud confidence of vast riches and d great commerce, the salue careeless insouciance about things and people, the same restless wealth hunger, and the same unemotional aloofness from the stranger. Much as American boys flock from all over the country to try fortune in New York German boys turn toward Hamburg. the city state which is the trading heart of Germany. Then, too Hamburg and New York are the greatest of all seaports Hamburg. prior to the present war, did more business than any other port in tho world except New York.
 Islands of Foreign Soil.
 Both Hamburg and New York are islands of foreign soil in their active lands. Before the war, Hamburg was English and French in tone. In Ham, burg alone, of all the German cities, the people earnestly drank tea be- tween four and five o'clock in the afternoons. Everywhere else in Ihe Fatherland, coffee. sweet-breads and rich cakes are served punctually at four o'clock Both of the worlds first ports are cosmopolitan to a point of wild confusion: every tongue and custom being native to their man. ner the common denominator for tho reduction of a world of peculiarities being found in their counting houses and exchanges.
 The city-state, Hamburg, has an area of 160 square miles. and is ex- ceedingly rich in agricultural, meat, dairy and fruit produce, while the city proper covers barely 20 squsre miles. The city is a great commission house for Germany and for the world, an enormous part of the em- pire's import and export passing through it's warehouses. Only one harbor on earth rivals that of Ham, burg for nervous. continuous com- motion, and that harbor Is New York
 No Old-World Piquancy.
 There Is little old-world piquan- cy about Hamburg. It is as strictly a growth of business and oversea trade as is the city of New York. Such buildings of historic interest as there | are in the city. such art and bohemian life as it possesses, are so effectually l crowded into the background by high l 0f bersome freight drays and sirens ana l smoke at the harbor front, and the l peculiar expressions on every hand | speaking of deals of profit and loss,' | and of cent per cent that they remain | unsuspected by visiting Americans 1 who feel themselves more thoroughly | q proper part of Ham burg than of any l other German city, not excepting Ber- | lin. There are few statues, few muse | urns, few marvels of architecture, few l things of any genre whose being Is | derived less from practical advantage l than from sentiment.
 Presidential and business Hamburg l lies upon the north bank of the Elbc, | while the south bank and indenting l it for thousands of yards are hundreds | of channels, and harbors, canals and l slips, worked out in the great weird l tangle of wharves warehouses pas l senger piers, elevators, bridges rail- | ways and all manner and description of | ships and products for shipping Many 1 millions of dollars have been. spent in l the development of this marvellous harbor. Nearly 10000 vessels both | river and oversea, clear from this har- | Dor during a years course in normal l times.
 The Inner City. .-
 "The inner. or business city. is com | posed of an old and a new town. l The new town, modern in every way, | arose out of the ashes of that part of l Hamburg destroyed by the great fire | of 1S42. The old town, is for the l most part, a warehouse district, and 1t l is pierced by numerous canals. The pride of Hamburg is the beautiful | promenades around the Binnen Alster | lake made by tho spreading of tho 1 Alster river within the heart of tho | city. Facing this lake. upon the 1 Neuer and Alter Jungferstieg promen- l ades, are the luxurious hotels and | cafes of the city. The lake is a milo 1 in circumference, and Is dotted with | steamers and row boats carrying | Hamburg's pleasure bent populace."