THE FREE POET 387 



A number of means have been devised to facilitate the care and 

 handling of goods. Goods to be imported pay duty on the spot; 

 or the importer may have a running account against a deposit 

 made by him in the form of government bonds. Provision is also 

 made so that goods may be shipped with a customs certificate to the 

 inland consignee, who pays the duty on delivery. Similar procedure 

 is provided for goods forwarded in transit through Germany to other 

 countries. 



By reason of the free port, as well as the industrial development of 

 Germany, Hamburg has become the second seaport in the world. It 

 does more business than London, or Liverpool, and is a close second to 

 New York. The total foreign commerce of the port is just short of 

 $2,000,000,000. It exceeds that of London by $100,000,000 and far 

 exceeds Liverpool in imports. 



Students of the commercial ascendency of Germany are in substan- 

 tial harmony as to the great value of the free port as an agency in the 

 country's development. Mr. Edwin J. Clapp in his treatise on the Free 

 Port of Hamburg says: 



The first adyantage of the free port is in facilitating re-exportation ; indeed 

 the importance of the re-exportation trade is large and, above all else, led to its 

 creation. In the free port foreign merchants can maintain sample or consign- 

 ment stocks. Bonded warehouses do not offer the same opportunity for un- 

 hindered movement of merchandise within a port. Everything must be done 

 under the control of customs men. In Hamburg there is no need of counting 

 and verifying pieces when a re-exportation is made. A bonded warehouse can 

 not offer the same facilities for various manipulations necessary to prepare the 

 goods for the consumer, such as cutting wines and mixing coffees. 



Perhaps, the chief advantage of the free port lies in the facilities it offers 

 for the rapid frictionless discharge of ships with dutiable goods, whether des- 

 tined for re-exportation or shipment inland. 



The free port of Hamburg lets the Hamburg merchants store their goods 

 duty free, and offers them complete freedom of manipulation for re-exporting 

 them or for sending them inland, as the market dictates. 



Many other advantages in addition to the re-establishment of Amer- 

 ican shipping and an American merchant marine wiU follow from the 

 opening of free ports. Among these advantages are the following : 



1. It will link the United States with South America, Asia and 

 Africa by trade connections which will tend to the promotion of friendly 

 relations to the commercial advantage of each and will supply an easier 

 outlet for American goods, which now have to go in bulk to England 

 or Germany for transshipment to other countries, or do not find an 

 outlet at all. 



2. A second gain lies in the bringing of great quantities of goods 

 to our shores for importation or export, as trade needs demand. To 

 these ports American manufacturers or buyers in need of foreign sup- 

 plies can go and secure them at American ports rather than in foreign 

 countries. In these ports merchants can exhibit samples; they can 

 mix, grade and alter commodities for domestic or export use; and can 



