The Nome daily nugget., 1937-08-28

Washington. D. C-WNU Service r HAMBURG thinks in terms of E ships, of fish, and trade with
 far-flung places. Overseas
 news, especially news that affects trade for better or worse, means more to 1t than all the politico-social twaddle of Berlin or Munich.
 Since the days of sail, its sons have secured every nook of the world to barter, buy. and sell. Many now exten- sive German colonies In South America and the Orient began as small groups of traders and clerks first sent from here. Some marry foreign women, re- tire well-to-do, and bring their fam lilies back here to educate the chil- dren.
 This close tie with distant lands accounts for Hamburg's well-known study of tropic economics and diseases. its researches into new uses for i'm ported raw materials. the worldwide work of its trade groups. and the de- sire of its young people to learn for eign languages and to travel abroad Visit in any Hamburg home. or any industrial museum where foreign prod ucts are seen. and at once you are struck with youths eager interest In men. events. and things overseas.
 During the years when endless ship loads of immigrants left Germany for the New world. Hamburg was the port from which millions of them sailed, including those from middle and east ern Europe.
 Many a Hamburg sitting room Is ciuttered with curios aud quaint me. mentos brought back from distant voy, ages by father. uncle, or brother. Al. ways. Hamburg shares It's sons with the sea-many never to return.
 From here red-faced crews in smelly son to fish the wind-swept North sea, working as far away as Iceland. The loss of life. ships, md nets in this trade is recorded in many North sea ballad. Herrings they harvest in countless millions, herrings being to the North sea what bananas are to Central America. Special fish cars. gaudily painted like circus trains. run at high speed from North sea fish ports to fishhungry cities as far away as Vienna.
 What the "Frse Port" Means.
 That phrase. "the Free Port of Ham. burg" means what? Only this:
 Away back in 11S9 Frederick Barba. rossa (the Red Beard) gave Hamburg its free charter" Though a state now in the German republic. 1t still enjoys a peculiar degree of Independence. Its ancient senate still functions in tra- ditional Spanish dress. While Ham, burg joined the German customs union in 1888. the senate cannily maintained It's free trade rights by holding back a part of it's harbor area as a free port. Shut of by a high iron fence. this sec. tion Is a city within Itself. free from the plague of duties and customs in. spectors.
 Here are mammoth warehouses piled high with China silk, frozen meats from Argentina, coffee from Brazil, farm ma chimes from the United States, many waiting reshipment to strange named Baltic ports. none to pay a cent of customs duty to Germany. Here many of the worlds huge ships are built here are foundries and machine shops Here, too. flocks of factories profit by the free use of imported raw material and easy shipping facilities.
 Hamburg, as German state, has tariff projections. but this part of it enjoys free trade in all its enormous transit commerce. This benefit is shared by American firms who have ware houses here.
 Like Manhattan island, crowded Hamburg uses tunnels. Between St Paul' and the Steinwarder side of thi Elbe, in the harbor sections. double tube leads under the river. It is sim liar to the Hudson tunnels at New York. except for approaches. So crowd ed are the river banks that no space could he spared for inclnes; hence. q, each end. men and vehicles use ele vators. which lift and lower them 71 feet below street level. DOmed temple like structures house these elevators whose high windows pour dayligh down to the bottom of each shaft. i'ig-iron weights hold the tubes iron shifting. The tunnels. their walls face, with glazed tiles and decorated will