The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-18
RUSSIAN PORT
Of PROMINENCE
Riga is Great Commercial City and
Stands Third Among the Sea-
ports Of the Cars
Country.
IS NEXT TO PETRoGRAD

In Population and Industry and 10
+, Filled With the Spirit Of Mod
ern Business-Founded
In 1901.
WASHINGTON, D. c.. May 1s.-Ri-
ga, the most ultra-western town in the
1 whole Muscovite empire, city Of
merchant princes, of bursting war;
houses and miles of crowdfng docking
of vigorous Teutonic architecture AMI
cosmopolitan organization, with a
hurrying, tense business life that finds
its counterpart in New York and
| Hamburg, lies near the head of the
/ Gulf of Riga, few miles northeast OF
NFitau, or just back of the struggling
Russo-German lines in the Baltic pro-
vinces. Riga is great commercial
city. 1t stands third among Russia $
iseaports, and second among all the
Iports upon the Baltic sea, where COM
mercial cities have been growing and
building for centuries. The city is
1868 miles southwest of Petrograd, and
| is filled with the spirit of modern bus
mess. 1t is main gateway into vast
Russian hinterlands, and is, probably.
the most up-to-date city to be found
from Vladivostok to Libau."
So begins the national geographic
socitey's description of the great Rus.
sian port that has sprung into promt-
hence with the most recent German
!camraign, that 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 commercial
renown. 1t was founded in 1901. and
many German colonists soon found
their way to the new city, attracted
Ithither by the many commercial privt-
ileges granted by its founder. Riga
became a powerful. flourishing mem
her of the Hanseatic league. the great
merchant trust OF the middle ages.
With Hamburg. Bremen. Lubbock,
Stralund, and scores of its fellow
banded 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 a German Tree
city
! Near the middle of the sixteenth
1 century, Riga PASSED into the power
of the king of Poland, The headlon3
iGustavus Adolphus, of Sweden,
brought up in his course with shock
before It's walls in 1901, and, only
after long hard siege, was he able to
take the city. Riga passed to the
control of the Russian in lilo. and
since played an important part in the
development of the mighty northern
empire.
| Riga has the appearance OF Ger.
man port The older part of the port
looks like midieval German town,
while new Riga might be Bremen. 1t
| has none of the happy-go-lucky Sla-
vonic air about it, and, SO. for the
tourist, it is disappointing. Before the
war, German was the language OF lts
business, and German was athe id1om
of it's streets and homes. Official Riga
was Russian. and. as Riga is the
seat of the governor general OF the
Baltic provinces, this official element
was Of much significance.
For the most part, Riga is very
modern city Its older buildings have
| been torn down to make way for struc-
lures more up-to-date, more suited TO
the prosperity of the business city. It
is situated on the river Duena, ten
miles above the mouth Of the gulf OF
kiga, and it is bound to the Baltic by
canals. Riga has princes Of finance
and trade, and they have lined many
Of its avenues with modern villas and
palaces. AS an example Of the city's
growth, it may be mentioned that
Riga erected more than fifteen hun
dred new business and apartment
buildings during the recent year and
that most of these buildings we're
equipped with elevators, open plumb
ing. vacuum cleaning, central refri-
Igeratins and steam heating plants.
/ "A strong and varied industry has
grown up in the port city. Machinery,
railway cars. lumber, leather. candles,
tiles, glass, tobacco and other pro-
ducts are turned out in its numerous
factories. The annual value Of the
articles manufactured in Riga ex-
ceeds s3O.OOO.000 AS an industrial
center. it has been becoming more
and more prominent year by year,
and Its future seems to be one of
an almost unlimited promise.
The average value of Riga's ex-
ports is well over S35,000000. It's
imports total about $30,00o.O00 each
year. The export include cereals, flax,
flaxseed. eggs. lumber and butter. Its
chief imports are machinery. cotton,
coal and groceries. 1t has thrifty,
well-to-do reputation of more than
100000"