DANTZIG. 16Õ
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too the competition of the railway is being felt more and more every year. Of a
total of £746,000 worth of timber brought to Dantzig by river and rail in 1905
more than half was exported to the United Kingdom.
The staple manufactures of Dantzig are most concerned with the prepara
tion of the products of forestry and agriculture, and are represented by
wood-sawing mills, corn-grinding mills, oil mills, sugar refineries, breweries and
distilleries. But there are also important ship-building yards (including an
Imperial shipyard) employing nearly 6,000 men, together with the machine shops
and repairing works necessary for these industries. Lately a rail way-waggon
works employing about 400 men, a rolling mill, and a screw, nut and rivet
factory have been established. The rolling mill and the factory employ between
them about 1,000 men.
With its activities as a centre of trade and industry, Dantzig combines those
of an important military station (it has a garrison of about 10,000 men), and in
this respect it resembles Königsberg. While, however, the latter town is still
completely encircled by a ring of moated fortifications, which impede its natural
expansion to meet the needs of a growing population, Dantzig has, within the
last 12 years, been partially relieved of this artificial restriction through the
purchase by the Municipality from the military authorities of a portion of the land
on the northern and western periphery previously occupied by the ramparts.
All that is modern in Dantzig is therefore to be found in that part of the town.
With the ramparts and moats remaining intact on the south and east, and with
the Vistula on the north, the town is still surrounded by water to the extent of
about three-fourths of its circumference.
The centre of the town is traversed from south-east to north-west by two
arms of the Mottlau, which form an island about half a mile in length and 250
yards wide at the centre, the shores of which are lined with high-gabled
granaries. This part of Dantzig, known as the Warehouse Island (Speicherinset),
is the centre of the commercial—as distinct from the industrial—activity of the
town and its rough cobble-paved streets, rendered noisy by the traffic of heavy
wagons and vans, have a character distinct from that of the streets of what may
be called the mainland, that is to say, of the Old Town or City proper, bordering
on the western side of the left arm of the Mottlau, and of the somewhat more
modern residential district within the fortification on the south-east of the right
arm of that river.
The river-front on the City side contrasts with that of the opposite
Speicherinsel in having no "warehouses but many small shops especially of the
marine store kind. A feature of this part of Dantzig is that it squays are used
as a market place for fish, fruit and vegetables, in which the stalls are represented
by moored river craft. From the quays a number of parallel streets run inland
towards the north-west, and these with their cross streets form the City of
Dantzig of mediæval times. The limits of the ancient town are still indicated
on the north and south by the names of the streets, which have superseded the
ancient moats, viz., the Altstädtischer Graben and the Vorstädtischer Graben
respectively.
The stream of vehicular traffic across the Old Town from the western
side to the river front is to a certain extent impeded by ancient gateways at
the waterside and of several of the streets. In these streets, moreover, the
space available for vehicles is greatly reduced by the balustraded stone terraces
(JSßWZäog) which are peculiar to old Dantzig, and which project far into the
cobbled madway from the doors of the old houses on either side. The houses
themselves, formerly occupied by the families of wealthy merchants, have in
the course of time been convened into tenement houses, a purpose for which
the narrow frontage and relatively great depth of their sides renders them
peculiarly unsuitable, especially when, as frequently happens, a number of the
front rooms are let as offices.
The largest industrial establishments of Dantzig, including the great Govern
ment and private shipbuilding yards, are situated outside the line of the
demolished fortifications on the northern side of the town close to the river
Vistula, and of the industrial undertakings inside the existing circumvallation
the most important belong either to the Stete or the Municipality, e.g the
Royal Small Arms Factory and Ordnance Works on the south-east, and the