Evening journal., 1915-05-20
RIGA APPEARS MORE
GERMAN Than SLAV
Teuton Traders Built Sec
Ond Most Important
Russian City

WASHINGTON. May 2O.-Riga, the
most ultra-western town in the whole |
Muscovite empire, city of merchant |
princes, of bursting warehouses and |
miles of crowded docking, of vigor-
Gus TeutOnic architecture and cosmo- |
pOlitan organization, with a hurrying, !
tense business life that finds its coun- !
teract in New York and Hamburg. lies !
near the head of the Gulf CT Riga, a
few miles northeast of Mitau. or just
back of the struggling Russo-German
lines in the Baltic provinces. Riga
is a great commercial city. II stands
third among Russia's seaports and
second among all the ports upon the
Baltic sea, where commercial cities
have been growing and building for
centuries. The city is 1868 miles south
east of Petrograd, and is filled with
the spirit of modern business. It is
main gateway into vast Russia him
terlands. and is, probably, the most
up-to-date city to be found from Vlad-
ivostockl to Libau.
Second City Of Country.
So begins the National Geographic
Society's description of the great Rus
.
nence with the most recent German
campaign, and whose direction lies
through the Baltic provinces The
war primer continues:
Riga is second only to Petrograd
in population and industry. German
merchants of the thirteenth century
laid the foundations of its CONNER
cial renown. It was founded in 1901
] a. 4 f.fg
their way to the new city, attracted
I thither by the many commercial priv
! ileges granted by its founder. Riga
became a powerful, fourishing mem
Der of the Hanseatic League, the
great merchant trust of the Middle
Ages. With Hamburg. Bremen, Lue-
beck, Stralsund and scores of its fell
lOwbanded cities, Riga grew in
wealth and trade cOnnections boats
from all parts of the world ran in
and out of its river harbor and it
! enjoyed the proud development of
German free city
Founded by Germans.
Near the middle of the Sixteenth
century Riga passed into the power
of the King of Poland The headiJng
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden brought
up in his course of conquest with a
shock before its walls in 1901, and,
only after a long, hard siege was he
able to take the city, Riga passed to
the control of the Russians in 171O
and has since played an important
part in the development Of the mighty
Northern empire.
Riga has the appearance Of a Ger
man port. The older part of the port
looks like a medieval German town,
while new Riga might be Bremen.
It has none of the happy-go- lucky
Slavonic air about il. and, so, for the
tourist it is disappointing. Before
the war German was the language of
its business, and German was the
idiom of its steets and homes. Off
-cial Riga was Russian. and as Riga
is the seat of the govenor-general
of the Baltic provinces, this official
element was of much Significance.
For the most part. Riga is very
modern city. It's older buildings have
been torn down to make way for
structures more up to date, more
suited to the prosperity OF a business
city. IL is situated in the River
Duena, 10 miles above the mouth OF
the Gulf of Riga and it is bound 10 the
Baltic by canals Riga has princes
of finance and trade. and they have
lined many of the avenues with mod
ern villas and palaces. As an ex-
ample of the city's growth, it may
be mentioned that Riga erected more
than 1,500 new business and apartment
buildings during a recent year and
that most of these buildings were
equipped with elevators, open plumb.
ing, vacuum cleaning, central refrig.