Evening star., 1923-01-21
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER,
ANTWERP, Belgium

center of Industrial Europe.
Antwerp, held back for several
years by the great war, has re-
gained most of her commerce and
now leads the world. In 1913 she
surpassed New York. having about
100000 more tonnage that year than
New York has now. Next to her came
Hamburg, and then the chief ports
Of England and the United States.
During the war both Antwerp and
Hamburg lay dormant, but by 1920
Antwerp again had 10,500, 900 tons of
shipping entering her harbors. She
outranked London and came within
100000 tons of New York. In 1921
her entries had risen to almost 49,
000, 900 tons, and she steadily grows
She has not only the bulk of the
commerce of Belgium, but is an i'm
portant transfer station for western
Germany, Switzerland and France, as
well as national trading center,
apart from her volume of shipping.
Come down to the port and stand
beside me on the wide concrete
promenade that hangs over the
Scheldt and see what God did for
Antwerp. We are at a level with
the smokestacks of huge ocean liners
loading and unloading goods, above
warehouses and railways, in sight of
hundreds of electric and hydraulic
cranes and near large elevators which
are sucking grain out of the ships by
the thousands of bushels per hour.
The vessels extend on for miles, and,
looking upstream, We can see very
thicket Of smokestacks. The river
before us is only about as wide as the
Potomac at Washington, but It is
from twenty-five to fifty feet deep,
and at high tide often nineteen feet
deeper. 1t is so wide and so deep,
in the f1fty-four miles of its winding
to the North sea, that the biggest of
the ocean greyhounds can come right
up to our feet and land their freight
on tho quays extending for miles
above and below us.
Now. stop and think where we are!
" We are opposite the mouth of
the Thames. the gateway to London.
We are just above the end of the
English channel on the direct route
10 New York and within a short dis
tance OF Rotterdam, Bremen and
Hamburg, where ships may stop on
their way to the Baltic, that great
inland sea of north Europe. Steamers
can go from here south through the
English channel, tapping it's indus
trial wealth on each side. and. moving
on to Gibraltar, enter the Mediter-
ranean and have all southern Europe
and northern Africa of easy access.
They can go on to the Suez canal and
down through the Red sea to the In
dian ocean and take in the great
trade of south and east Asia. Those
Japanese vessels we see moving out
of the harbor are on their way there.
Or the ships can steam down the east
and west coasts of Africa, calling at
the many trade centers, including
Bona at the mouth of the Kongo,
from where the two large vessels at
our left have just come.
There are also regular lines from
Antwerp to Rio de Janeiro and
Buenos Aires-a steamer with a cargo
Of frosen meat is now coming in
from the Argentine port. There are
many ships from the United States
now in the harbor and the red, white
light to our eyes. From where we
stand 1t is just 1895 miles to New
York, and that big tramp from New
Orleans has come only $500 miles
farther. The vessel loaded with
lumber nearby is from San Francisco.
It came south on the Pacific, through
the Panama canal and thence across
the Atlantic, making a voyage. all
told, of more than 5000 miles.
But quite as important as these
many sea routes are the canals, rivers
and railways over which are con-
tinually flowing streams of honey
from all nations in the form of raw
materials through Antwerp into these
Industrial beehives of west Europe,
and from which are brought back
other sweets-the manufactured prod
ucts-for the greedy bees of England.
North America. South America and
Asia
Belgium has enough interior water
ways connected with her ports to
make continuous stream around the
world at the equator It's canals
alone tf Joined end to end would reach
frem Philadelphia to the Mississippi
river, and some Of the enormous
ha<Ges below us, now taking on cot
Dan. grain and other produce, win
travel inland by water to the Rhine.
md BY canal to the Danube. and
"a that stream past port after port
afmost to the Black sea.
There are canals from the Scheldt
and other rivers into France. 30 that
goods can be carried to Tournai. Lille
g. all -
a complete inland waterway system
from Antwerp to Marseilies. on the
Ne6ftseraneaA seA. The plan q that
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