Norwich bulletin., 1921-04-11
IN THE DAYS NEWS
THE GATEWAY TO THE RUH


 When the Allies marched farther into Germany recently to penalize the Germans for failure to agree to the payment of reparations, and occupied Dusseldorf, Duisburg, and Ruhrort, they did not occupy villages" says a bulletin issued by the National Geo. graphic Society. Instead they took possession of thriving cities which form the door to Germanys hive of industry, the Ruhr valley, one of the three or four most important industrial and mining districts in Europe.
 What are spoken of usually as three cities are officially but two, for Duis- burg and Ruhrort-and a third com munity besides, Meiderich-gew to- gether and were combined in 1905 into greater Duisburg. According to the latest statistics this augmented Duis- burg has a population not great deal below a quarter of a million.
 "Ruhrort, the part of Duisburg sit uated where the Ruhr river meets the Rhine, far from being an unimportant town, takes at least one world honor It is the most extensive river port in the world. When the quays of the older part of Duisburg and those oi the little town of Homberg across the Rhine are added, the wharfage facilit. ies of the Duisburg district are fairl! staggering in extent. They stretch fol more than five miles along the Rhine | and many branched basis have beer l constructed leading from that rive and the Ruhr as though giant hand
 had been pressed into the earth agail and again, leaving a channel for eacl
 finger.
 "A constant stream of tugs. barge and larger vessels move in and out O the channels under normal conditions and the craft of Ruhrort are tc b
 found in all parts of the Rhine. Dow
 the Ruhr valley come /coal and som
 iron, though the larger part of tn
 iron needed in this great industrfa
 region was shipped in before the wa
 from German Lorraine, French LOT
 raine, Luxemburg, Sweden and SpaiI
 A considerable part of this was brough in on the Rhine. Other raw material and food products were imported, add , ing to the commerce, and coal an manufacture products were shippe out in great quantities.
 Near the water front in the Duis , burg district are situated innumeI
 able factories and industrial establish
 ments-collieries steel and iron plant
 rolling mills, blast furnaces, foundrie
 machine shops, chemical works, sa . mills, ship yards, and various oth'
 enterprises. Because of its important . as an industrial center and river DOT { the Duisburg region can be lookC i, upon as a Pittsburg and New OrleaI . rolled into one.
 "Old Duisburg dates from the di past, being first mentioned in 430 D. By the eleventh and twelfth ceI turies it was a thriving river port, ar !. | was chartered as a municipality ha no I
 greater part of his life, of Gerha . Mercator. who has left his name wri :, ten indelibly on the maps of the worl . i In the Burg Platz is a fountain COT memorating this map making genius. !. Cities are strewn thickly in heavi populated Germany@ Dusseldorf, a , other of the communities entered
 French, British and Belgian troops, ,a only twenty miles up the Rhine frc
 Duisburg, and twenty -four miles do'
 stream from Cologne, where the Br ish have maintained bridge-h - since the signing of the Treaty of VC sailles.
 " Dusseldorf means the village on ,e Dussel,' and when first heard of 70 t1159 this name fitted it. Now it is is village of more than 360,00O popu ls tiDn-a city with more inhabital ,u than Seattle and not many thousar q, less than Minneapolis. It Is one ot the handsomest cities in western G' n many with commodius parks and so of fine old buildings. The streets of 'e old nucleus of the city are narr x. and crooked but the newer sectiS IS have been laid out with wide avenu ny "Fhen years before the World V u railroad tracks which were along nt bank of the Rhine were moved : I'd the space 90 obtained was made i e. an imposing thoroughfare overlook a the river, the Rhine Promenade. Th' rd nc doubt, British Tommies, Frel he Poilus, and their Belgian comra an will take the air, making themsel IS. as thoroughly at home as they h. nd in the parks and along the bouleva v. of Cologne and Mayence.
 ad Like Duisburg. Dusseldorf Is an ] of portant industrial center and b. capacious port facilities. But it's d, dustrial life ie not so markedly dom re- ated by coal and iron, and 1t Is m m- than a city of factories and shipp as It takes additional toll from the thu ia- ing Ruhr region by serving as an principal banking channel. Its tex nd industries are of great importance lon 'Doubtless the French do not ,n- altogether like strangers in Dusseld ioT Ancestors of some of the present Pc the were probably with the French arr ITS which took possession of the city nat 1702 and in l7a5. Naroleon made of part of the Duchy of Berg which out And H there are any Irish am