The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-21

port as a naval station and for com=
merce, and selected it as the water
gateway of his future ambitions. He
built docks at a cost of something
like ten million dollars, and the city
was rapidly regaining Its place as
the commercial capital of northern
Europe when her progress was stop
ped by the revolutions that followed
his death. A generation or SO later,
when Belgium separated from Hol-
land, Antwerp again pulled on her
Seven League Boots, and she is now
bigger than ever. She has today
more than 100000 people and the har-
Dor improvements are such that she
will steadily grow.
A Look mt the Port
The charges for loading and I'M
articles, at Antwerp are less than
those of any other port, and every
modern facility has been created for
the handling of goods. Moreover,
ships coming here can always find
freight for their return journey. In
1912 the goods exported equaled more
than 80 per cent of those imported,
whereas at Hamburg the proportion
was only As per cent and at Rotter-
dam 33. More big cargo ships come
into Antwerp than into any other
port on the continent.
But we have Belgian motor-car
waiting for us at the foot of the
as "a chauffeur. Constant has been
driving about these wharves since
long before the days of automobiles
10 CT a
He is an ex-Belgian soldier. having
served with the Canadian troops in
the World war. During that time
he picked up some English and he
can explain things as we go. He
drives US for two hours in and out
through the streets and paved road
ways that wind about through the
shipping and great basins on the
banks of the river until we are miles
above the promenade where we
started.
We are now on the opposite side
of the Scheldt, where it is planned
to build new docks and quays that
will double the capacity of the port.
We drive past acres of warehouses,
by mountains of barrels of oil, in and
out among long-armed cranes and
by yard after yard filled with freight
of every description. The river has
already more than Is miles of anchor
ages which are 40 or so feet deep
at high tide, and when the present
plans are completed it will have
above 40 miles with 1900 acres Of
docks and $4,000 acres of railway
siding and warehouses 1t will then
be able to handle forty million tons
of freight every year. This will be
more than twice the present ca
pacity
Eighty-threc Bushels Minute
We pass railway stations and
yards, covering about 500 acres, in
which 10000 cars can be accommo-
dater. We stop now and then to see
floating cranes and enormous pneu-
matte grain elevators, each of which
handles 5000 bushels of wheat in one
hour or SO bushels a minute. Ant
werp has II of these grain elevators.
Constant tells us steamers of 5000
tons are unloaded within the space
of two days. The port has 80 hy-
drauiic cranes handling up to two
tons. 80 electric cranes. each of two
tons, and larger cranes that will
pick up 40 tons at load 1t has
some 120-ton shearlegs. coal ftp
a five-story house, and pipes and
tanks for loading petroleum. There
are a half-dozen dry docks here and
a new one which has just been COM
pleted. In each great steamer is
being repaired.
How Antwerp Ate the Zoo
On our return from trip up the
river. we pass cattle yards filled with
red shorthorns Just landed from the
United States to make up for the
livestock carried away by the Ger
mans during the war We end our
ride at the ZOO which is again filled
with animals brought in from the
Congo and other parts of the world.
When the bombardment occurred, all
most all of the wild beasts were
killed. One reason for this was to
increase the meat supply of the city,
and another the fear Of the ele-