The Coolidge examiner., 1933-03-17

IOlanu, ana even part OF HOrln
Germany; also, ii cut an outlet to
the south Of the Baltic. not to the
north, as in our Hudson bay, which
was mighty factor in the progress
of all the Baltic lands. and most
especially Of Copenhagen.
Copenhagen means Merchants
Haven" For centuries it fattened
upon the toll of passing ships by
levying a tax known as Sound dues
"a tariff so profitable that it was
called Denmark gold mine" Nat
urally, such payment became irk-
some to maritime powers, and in
1857 the practice was abolished.
Opening the Kiel canal brought
further loss to Copenhagen's ship
ping, but the city found a way out
in its Free Port.
The Free Port.
II requires considerable explain
ing. even in this least formal of all
European capitals, to procure per-
mission to pass the sentries, who
guard every entrance. even the rail
road tracks, into the Free Port.
Once inside, the visitor stands
amazed at the compact conglomera-
tion of docks, derricks. grain eleva-
tors. gaunt cranes, ships, enormous
warehouses, and putting little en-
gines scurrying about amid incred-
ible mounds of goods.
Here is an array OF American
harvesters, piles Of plows, harrows,
farm tools, odorous resin timber,
mountains Of coal, wheat, and corn,
sOybeans from Manchuria, sunfiow-
er-seed cake from Russia, cotton
seed meal from our South, and
heaps of auto parts of familiar
American make. These are assem-
bled within the Free Port.
Five basins here. sir; rs acres
of land. 50 acres of water; three
miles of piers. 40 electric cranes.
seven steam cranes. seven coal ele-
vators," reels off your guide, which
is the polite Free Port euphemism
for the watchman who guards
against against smuggling.
"Those elevators and pneumatic
tubes can unload 1,200 or 1900 tons
in an eight-hour day, from that
side. while that ship on the other
side is discharging 100 tons of
wheat an hour"
The Free Port is a complete com.
munity. 1t has its own power
plant, banking branches. police,
postal, and telegraph stations. res
taurants, telephone booths, display
rooms, and trading sheds. The rest
rooms that look like clubhouses are
waiting rooms for workmen.
Trans and liners are disgorging
goods and grains and machinery
from England. the Americas, even
from Australia, while others load
ing cargoes consigned to all the
great Baltic ports. Trains of laden
freight cars. pygmy size to the
American eye, halt for inspection
at the iron gates; then steam away
on direct hauls to Central Europe,
even to Sweden, by way of the
short ferry crossing to Malmo.
Citadel and Park.
Emerging from the bustling, mod
ern Free Port, one comes upon the
stately, mellow Citadel, remnant of
the Notifications King Frederick
III built in the sixties of 1900.
Around it is the mosaic of lagoons
and gardens that compose Copen-
hagen's beautiful park. sloping to-
ward the famous Langelinie Uong
Line) that bends gracefully from
the Free Port to the city's own har-
Dor to the south.
Seaward lies the Sound, with
ocean liners and pleasure yachts,
ferries and freight boats, and in
the distance the shores of Sweden.
The Dane should be cosmopolitan
he can scarcely take a walk or scan
the view from his wide apartment
window without seeing the flags of
many nations and the shores of an
other land. Landwise long line
of automObiles-American, French,
German, and an occasional italian
car among them-punctuated by
hordes of bicycles, glide over the
level road with scarcely perceptible
rises where it crosses the viaducts
that knit the patches of land.
If one stops in a downtown Co
penhagen hotel he will surely be
awakened Sundays by the outpour-
ing of native and noisy citizens
seeking the outdoors and the sun.
Week days the Dane goes to work
quietly, sedately pedaling a bicycle,
which, after all, is not a boisterous
vehicle; but Sundays one will be
awakened by the shouts of boys
and girls cycling to the country,
hiking to picnics. or going in
groups to railway stations for the
cheap excursions on that day. The
city sees TO it that even the poor
children get an outing.