St. Paul tidende. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1902-1928, 1919-05-23

Dor. unfortunately Copenhagen
is a poor adaptation into the Eng
lish language Of the Danish name
.Kobenhavn', in old Danish Kjqp-
mannahafn-The Harbor of the
Merchants" We can trace this
name back for more than nine
hundred years, and even at that
time the many narrow waterways
between the smaller islands and
the large island Of Sjaeland afford
ed shelter for a flourishing little
town, where the merchants of those
days could keep their stores in
safety, and where their ships could
escape, the terrors of nature as
we'll as the pillaging of pirates,
who were quite numerous.
The city was time and time
again beleaguered by one or other
of the parties contending for the
supremacy Of the North, but it has
ALWAYS remained in the hands of
the Danes, and although German
influence was predominant during
quite a great part Of the Middle
Ages, the Danes by and by shook
off entirely the shacNes of foreign
domination.
With the building of larger and
larger ships, the importance of CO.
penhagen as a trade center in
creased, because it paid to take the
large sailing vessels up to the good
harbor of Copenhagen and thence
distribute the cargoes- to smaller
vessels which ran to the different
harbors along the border. of the
Baltic; while, on the other hand.
it would v have paid to let the
large ships discharge a part of their
cargo in Copenhagen and then sail
on a roundabout trip all over the
Baltic to the Scandinavian and
Russian ports to discharge other
small parts of their cargo at various
places. This was the situation in
the time Of the sailing-vessel-it is
the same to-day.
The port of Copenhagen is the
natural entry port for the eastern
part of the Baltic and the Gulf
of Bothnia, with several large and
many small, but all rather rich,
cities along the coasts of northern
Germany, the Russian Baltic pro.
vinces, Finland, and Sweden. AL
the cities in the neighborhood have
large hinterlands that produce great
quantities of merchandise and need
facilities for import and export
Copenhagen has, therefore, all sthe
necessary qualifications to make a
free port successful.
A free port means one where
merchandise can be discharged and
again exported without paying
custom duty. A free port is, there
fore, though a part of the country
in which it is located, outside its
custom limits. One of its advant-
ages is the same that is offered by
what we call here a bonded ware
house, viz, that the goods can be
taken into the storehouses without
paving duty unless they are taker
out of the storehouses again into
the country. The free port, how:
ever offers greater advantages thar
the bonded warehouse, because il
gives room and opportunity for the
erection of factories, where ths
goods imported can be made into
finished articles. For instance, il
is possible to import certain goods
from North America and Others
from South America or the Indies
using some of the products of tht
country itself, and to make out o
these different articles one finished
product. In the United States VIZ
have what we call a drawback
which means repayment of duty
paid on goods imported and re
exported. For instance, there is :
drawback on the Canadian whea,
that enters into our flour, but I
drawback is always a rather diff
cult thing to control, and it i
much easier to have a place outsiid,
the custom limits where the manu-.
featuring can be done.
In order that a free port shall
be successful, it must have acces!