FREE PORT OF EMDEN 169 General remarks. —With the excellent facilities offered by the free bort at Hamburg, it is naturally to be expected that the free port at Cuxhaven is unable to compete. Particularly is this so since there 1s not the slightest intention or desire to compete, as the management and control of Cuxhaven and its free port is under Hamburg. In view of the almost complete inactivity in the Cuxhaven free port, an endeavor was made to ascertain why it was ever created and why it exists. The free port was established before the war to handle transshipment business brought in by the Vaterland (now Leviathan), the Bismarck (now the Olympic), Imperator (now Berengeria), and such gigantic vessels that might come to Cuxhaven, where the passengers would entrain for Hamburg, but would not come up the river to Hamburg because of their size. There are no vessels how on the Hamburg run that can not comfortably navigate the river to Hamburg, and hence the Cuxhaven facilities are not being used. The Hamburg-American Line some years ago rented one of the sheds which is now used by the Hamburg-Harburg Water Construction Board to store and cut timber for their construction work. This shows the present insignificance of the free port of Cuxhaven. It is generally hoped, however, that conditions will some day change again and warrant accommodations for large ships plying between Hamburg and the United States. THE FREE PORT OF EMDEN. GERMANY [From Leslie E. Reed. American Consul. Bremen. Germany] Brief history of the port.—The Ems River begins 28 miles southwest of Minden, Germany. It then flows through the Province of West-Phalia and traverses the western section of the former kingdom of Hanover to the wide shallow basin called the Dollart, near the town of Emden, 10 miles below which is the Dutch town of Delfzyl. About 80 miles below the Dollart it joins the sea. For the last 15 miles of its course the Ems has a wide estuary, which is principally occupied by the island of Borkum and the sands near it. The port of Emden is, in history, mentioned in connection with the invasion of the Romans in 12 A. D., when they entered the Ems River with a fleet. In German history Emden is mentioned first In 1040 under the name of ““ Amuthon’’ as a port and fortress. Dur-Ing the fourteenth century Emden was under the régime of leaders of the East Frisian tribe of Abdena. These were expelled in 1433, however, by the Hansa cities (Hamburg, Bremen, etc.), as they fded the pirates known as the Vitalienbruder. The development of Emden as a seaport then set in, though the Emder were always Seafaring people. The town of Emden concluded treaties in regard $0 800, traffic znd commerce with Yranes, Scotland. Sweden. Dane.