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13 The Present-Day Need of Free Ports 1JHH all the world turning more f r and more to trade, with modern t titions drawing nations closer and u r together in the matter of time, with : at ion making the luxury of yes fer tile necessity of today, and thereby idating trade, the matter of Free ht'comes an interesting one. Mr. , i stock here gives the history of Free s, and other valuable information. CI RCEI What is it? The life-blood of the Id; a stream oi virility, a drop from you i drop from me making up the stream which m of all creation going. It is the sum fiat nun and women produce, each doing tnd, and exchanging what he makes for what in makes. It is the clearing house of work, n your product is not an extortion. It is this: and produce something, it is worth so much; m you contribute such-and-such a sum tor the i n government. That is your tax. Taxes in tariffs are used to stimulate home produc ted home industries, or to prevent too much H w ing a country. and above Mich taxes there are others, rlv called tolls, which are exacted as a of revenue to the toll-gatherer, but which dors cnt any reward of production on his part; pie, certain payment levied at docks and I in connection with load-breaking and re These dues are something similar to the for parking spare for an automobile. Commerce is the life-blood of the world. "me peoples recognized that the ion s flow of this stream uninterrupted was healthier ail the unearned toll Mich as the toll-keepers on the Rhine in olden days exacted the idea of the came into existence. The idea was born in the Middle Ages; today, after many experiments, it is regai a one of the great complements of trade and commercial activity. The world is talking hut the Free Torts of this age are to be mically-eejuipped areas. And in this new form I ree Tort the united States takes the lead. how it started When international trade active development during the Middle Ages met with embarrassments within the terri r nations. They needed warehouses for ' ithout the payment of excessive eharges. da shipped t" a port of another country be sold in that country at all, and there were not justly subject to its custom duties Italians established settlements in several I tant so that goods could be stored in t Italian subjects. Factories were built. I eague established many such cities in Flemish seaports and river towns Most v eloped into prosperous trading and manu ters. Small shipments of Broods brousfht countries were Morcd in warehouses ,r ICtUrei and tln n reshipped without paying - duties. I 'ties were endowed with the rights of stat Drnvurnnwnli m w lated as to the people of other countries d by their privilege s and conveniences iron used any me) i ht to kx when (Sttbj what polic carpoi erased and iol thorn A i called, mthe Sec told & for ftv "Fr ged in the op of the st di'partm, . Meaning of Free Port n Free Port, strictly applied, is given on!) where no customs duties are levied, and mi supervision exists. In these ports payment for specific services rendered, . etc.. and to the observance of local tar) regulations) ships load and unload. deposited and handled, industries are e factUres are carried on. goods are bought Ut any action on the part of fiscal au- ort, however, is not, as it is sometimes h in the tariff wall." It is merely a niche of the wall for the shelter of outside trade oi Commerce William C. Redfield once Wesley L Jones (Washington) his reasons 1" rt ones. He wrote : nal experience as a manufacturer en trade, from first-hand observation of OI free Dftrtfl in Rlimn mnA mm : rrxtilt 'I the question made by officers of tin. fret I nitta .- .1, .A .1 1.." S .1.. jy. , - ... loivtini uie eoiu in iioii uiai peiims- lin Liii.r ... .1.1 . . .. K . I,.... .,. ... ""oil's pussivic iiu i s . t uu a 1 1 1 1 ii 1 1 1 'i dei government sunervkion and financed lie i nrtnirit... - j..: li . pvraauuiii icuies or states;, is uesirame ne (,.f we most Public sl,,lllfl be permissive only and that the important principles of such action i (,"' ration desiring to obtain free zone priv 'i provide the funds; no promise of "M r l 1 ,n tmancmK the project should be made, let foJu ' "n the general subject of free ports is n'1 my annual report for 1916, as follows: Noymem'1 ' ' i,,llshnient would permit a greater cm ItedtttJ 1UT'can labor and capital in industries on material a trrr i,nrts- whereby the cost of duty Ported fro f ut m t,le manufacture of articles e ftf rtae A iVVV pur,s wnl,,(1 b( reduced, the cost eatd, and ra,,wa' transportation would be les- thc Wtterftv cou,(1 Dc manufactured for export on ron such a wav as to save much of the By HUGH WOODSTOCK expense now incurred. The concentration of in dustries m Mich a free port and the existence of ware house therein would form an industrial export unit of high efficiency.' "Since 1917 the increased evidence of desire on the part of commercial organizations that free port legis lation be adopted has convinced me that the business community of this country is awake to the need of this facility for the strengthening of our foreign trade in the after-the-war period. The establishment of free loncs will in no way affect the tariff policy of the I ntted States. Such zones exist in countries with high tariff as well as in low tariff countries Hong Kong and Singapore, under the free trade policv of the Brit ish Government, have been successful and grown rich as trans-shipment centers." The greatest examples of the success of free zones are, of course, those of Hamburg and Copenhagen. It has been mentioned how. when order was restored in the Middle Ages, trading centers were gradually formed. I hey also inspired the great fairs of tho.se days, the charter for the famous Leipzig Fair being granted in 1268, less than a century after the creation of the Hanseatic Free Ports. There were other contributing factors to the need of the Free Port. One was that until the 19th century, convenient shelters along the Mediterranean coast, from Corsairs, was needed. An other was the fact that until the 19th century European states were numerous, and often of small size. Ac cordingly uniform customs tariffs of wide application did not exist, so that the free port was a necessity t-. the continental countries where the prevalent colonial and mercantile policy sought to create trans-oceanie trade. . None Fver in Great Britain It may be noted that in Great Britain free ports have never existed. In 1552 it was contemplated to place Hull and Southampton n this footing, but the design was abandoned. Subsequently the bonding and not the free port system was adopted in the I'nited Kingdom. Tn Austria-Hungary. Fiume and Trieste were re spectively free ports during the periods 1722-1893 and 1719-183. Hamburg and the Hanseatic towns have been mentioned and it should be noted in passing that Cermany. which developed the free port to such good advantage, had flourishing domestic manufactures and a highly developed and strongly protected tariff. Bremen. Hamburg and Lubeck were reconstituted free towns and ports under the treaties of 1814-1815. Certain minor ports, and several landing-stages on the Rhine and the Xeckar. were als, designated free. A the Zollverein policy (unification of the German customs tariff) became accepted throughout Germany, previous privileges were gradually lessenesi and by lSs'S Ham burg alone remained a tree port. There an area of about 2,500 acres is exempt from customs duties and control, and is largely used for shipping and com merctal purposes. Bremerhaven has a similar area of nearly 7(K) acres; Brake, Bremen, Cuxhaven, Kmden. Geestemunde, Neufahrwasser and Stettin p sess free areas, portions of the larger port. The Hapsburg Emperor, Joseph II. during his visit to the Austrian Netherlands, in 1781, endeavored to stimulate direct trade between that country ind India. tstend was made a free port, and large bonding fa eilities were afforded at Bruges, Brussels. Ghent and Lou vatn. The Revolutionary government, in 1796, abolished the Ostend privileges. Prance possessed one of the earliest known free ports in Marseilles which enjoyed that liberty in the Middle Ages. Dunkirk, also, was a free port almost the same time, when it formed part of Flinders, hi lf(o these priviteTi were renewed an! Bfivonne added to the list. Again in 1784 the free ports were confirmed, Lorient and St. Jeai h l.u being added. The National Assembly in 1790 continued the policy, and established free ports in the French West indies. Five years later all the privileges were abolished, Mar seilles being granted large bonding facilities to lav r the Levant trade. The government of Louts XVIII restored in 1814 the free port privileges of Ifarsefltes, and revoked them again in 1871, the bonding system being introduced permanently. Recently the subject has been raised once more on the part of Marseilles and Havre, the former having become a great industrial city as well as shipping port, and the latter enjoying great storage and trans-shipment business Denmark, in 1804. decided to make Copenhagen a free port, with an area of about ISO acres Great facilities are afforded for shipping and commercial operations with the purpose ot focusing there the Baltic trade. It has been magnificently successful, as all the records show. Many in Italy As might be expected from Italy's earlv pan in creating the idea, her free ports have been numerous, and important. The list includes Ancona, from 1696 to 1868; Brindisi, 1845-1862; Leghorn, winch m the 17th and 18th centuries was a very important Mediterranean harbor. 1675-1867; Messina. 1695-1879; Sen iga Ilia, 1K21 1868. enice possessed warehouse, equivalent to bonded stores, for German and Turkish trad during the republic, and was a free port 1851 1873 iei I was a free port in the time of the republic, and during the French Empire. Italy changed the status oi the free ports in 18o5, and reduced them to privileged StOT-ing-pia es In addition to Copenhagen and Hamburg, Sulina ( Koumania ) remains a free port. Roumania formerly had other free ports at Mraila. dalatz and Kustcuji Rus sia made Archangel a free port. Specially for the use of the British, in 1553. From then until' If. 48 English goods were admitted without any customs pm ment into Russia through Archangel, for internal consumption, and also in transit t.. Persia On the execution of Charles I. the Czar Ah xi revoked this grant. Kola was opened as a free port in 1SU5 r)aln. adjoining Port Arthur, was a free port during the Russian occupation, and Japan, after the war. promised to renew this privilege. Various ports in outlying fragments of the British Empire have been free Malacca, Penang, and Singa pore since 1824, Hong Kong since 1842, and Weihaiwei since it was leased to Great Britain in 1898. Macao (China), under Portuguese administration and one of the world's notorious open towns, has been a free port since 1845. The free harbor at Stockholm was opened two years gO. It was probably the tremendous success ,.i iuch free ports as Hong Kong and Singapore in prom g Britain's commercial interests that turned more seri ous attention once more to the value of the idea The American republics in the past have favored th ! nd ing system. New Orleans, in 1896, opened a ire- wharf; later Seattle (Wash.) built city-owned docks, elevat -rs and storage plants with successful operation. The tendency now is to adopt the old idea ( it at all I in a modern, scientific sense, and establish facilities which shall be equipped with mechanically perfect ar rangements, thus not only providing a trans-shipment base but a vast handling and distributing machinery which it is hoped will expedite (and therefore cheapen) the carrying trade. Hamburg was the real beginning of this modern development, but the plans mentioned for such possible centers of commerce as New York. New Orleai I San Francisco. Seattle, Boston, the Delaware and Chesa peake harbors, Galveston, the Canal Zone, Honolulu and Manila, anticipate a vast steel and concrete plant, operating as efficiently and expeditiously as the typical merican steel plant or automobile factory THE GAP IN THR BRIDGE From Punch (Londoa)