THE PORT OF KOBE By WALTER N. LACY OKOHAMA, Kobe, and Nagaski are the three ports of Japan most familiar to the general traveller. This is because all three of them are touched by most or all of the steamers plying between China and Japan and North America to the east, and Europe to the far west, and of these three Yokohama is generally given credit for being the leading port of Japan. A day spent in each of these ports recently has led the writer to the conclusion that Kobe is the one naturally best suited to develop into an important port; also to the conclusion that today Kobe is commercially more important than Yokohama--a conclusion that was verified by one of the ship's officers who stated that more shipping is now handled at this port than at Yokohama. Opportunity was not had for the acquisition of statistics to show what has been done, nor of customs reports to show how the city ranks commercially; all that is attempted in this paper is the record of a few observations made from the ship while in the harbor for a few hours. Kobe is situated on the southern coast of Nippon, the largest of the islands of Japan, and near the eastern end of the Inland Sea of Japan. Although the city has a population of over 300,000, and but slightly less than that of Yokohama and about twice that of Nagaski, it is not mentioned among the "Principal Cities of Japan" described in Rand, McNally & Co.'s 1916 Pocket Atlas of the World. Yokohama derives its chief importance, no doubt, from the twofold advantage of its location as the port of Tokyo -the capital of Japan and the largest city in Asia-and as the port nearest to the coast of North America; hence it is the first point of call for westward-bound trans-Pacific steamers, and furnishes the last chance for passengers, freight, and mails to catch steamers bound for the United States and Canada. Kobe derives its chief importance from its location, to which is added splendid harbor facilities: it is centrally located to the densely populated region south of the mountain range which forms the backbone of the island; and with the cities and towns of this region, in both directions from Kobe, it has good rail connections. It is some twenty-four hours nearer China and Korea than is Yokohama and is therefore the eastern terminal for steamer lines connecting Japan with Tientsin and Fusan; it is but a short distance by rail from Kanagasaki, on the north side of the island, which is about thirty-six hours from Vladivostok, and hence Kobe is the port of reshipment for American goods destined for Siberia. Kobe is also the port for Kyoto and Osaka, the one the ancient capital and today the second city of the empire, while the other is Japan's greatest manufacturing city; Moji and Shimonoseki, at the western entrance to the Inland Sea, are some twelve or fifteen hours nearer the ports of the Asiatic mainland than is Kobe, but have less satisfactory harbor facilities for trans-shipping. These facts all conspire to further the commercial development of Kobe. The city of Kobe lies spread along the narrow plain at the foot of a wall of mountains some 1500 feet in height, and facing a crescent shaped bay on the north of Osaka Bay. Viewed from the harbor there appears to be little width to the city, as it begins to climb the mountain slopes, but great length along the water front. But this water front presents the most commercial aspect of any water front that the writer has seen in Japan. Towards the western end of the harbor large ship-building yards are to be seen, including a 7000 ton floating dock, and there is abundant evidence that Kobe is developing its ship-building and machine-manufacturing industries. In the central part of the water front four or five large stone piers are at present being constructed, extending about a thousand feet out into the harbor, and equipped with derricks and warehouses for the handling of freight; these will soon reduce the number of steamers that must tie to buoys in the harbor and transfer freight to lighters for rehandling at the shore. At a distance of half a mile from the shore a stone breakwater has been built to serve as a partial protection to shipping in the harbor; the natural wall of mountains affords this protection on the north and east, from which the stormiest winds probably come. Thus it is seen that the people of Kobe are artificially increasing the advantages which nature has already given their city. A large part of the freight which passes through this port is consigned to or received from China, Korea, and Siberia, and is trans-shipped here to or from steamers plying between the Orient and America. British and Japanese steamers at present have a practical monopoly on the Pacific, yet they carry chiefly American goods to and from the Asiatic markets: practically the entire cargo of the British vessel on which the writer recently crossed the Pacific consisted of American goods. There was a large shipment of cotton machinery going from Newton Upper Falls, Mass., to equip cotton mills at Tientsin; there were several hundred bales of leather "M'f'd in U.S.A." going to Moscow, via Vladivostok, to be used largely for saddles; there were about a hundred casks of cocoanut butter from Chicago, destined for Vladivostok. All these were trans-shipped at Kobe to go by local steamers to Tientsin and Vladivostok. There was also a considerable shipment of general merchandise unloaded in Kobe, destined for Tientsin, Korea, and parts of Japan, and several score sacks of bones-the product of American slaughter houses to be used in the manufacture of paper by the Japanese. But yet more interesting, perhaps, because of the circuitous route necessitated by war conditions, were the thousand sacks of parcels post mail from London and Liverpool for Petrograd and Moscow, sent "via Canada and Kobe" (as the sacks were marked). Thus, while British and Japanese steamers are practically the sole carriers in the trans-Pacific trade, American goods are finding a market in Oriental cities; war conditions have increased the trans-Pacific shipping and the trans-shipment in Japanese ports; and Kobe is growing, because of her position and her harbor facilities into the chief commercial port of Japan. A RECOMMENDED LIST OF ESSENTIALS IN PLACE GEOGRAPHY Prepared by Committee of Chicago High School Teachers composed of V. C. BELL, T. M. DAVIES and H. D. SMITH. 1. Mathematical Points, Lines and Divisions.-North Pole, South Pole, Equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, Torrid Zone, North Temperate Zone, South Temperate Zone, North Frigid Zone, South Frigid Zone, Prime Meridian, Meridian 180°, Meridian 90°W., Meridian 90°E., Parallel 40°South, N. Hemisphere, S. Hemisphere, E. Hemisphere, W. Hemisphere. 2. Continents.-North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica. 3. Oceans.-Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, Antarctic. 4. Seas, Gulfs, Bays, etc.-Baffin Bay, Bering Sea, Puget Sound, Gulf of California, Hudson Bay, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Panama Bay, Baltic Sea, North Sea, Finland Gulf, Bothnia Gulf, Irish Sea, Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Sea of Marmora, Sea of Azov, Okhotsk Sea, Japan Sea, Yellow Sea, South China Sea, East China Sea, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Java Sea, Gulf of Guinea. 5. Islands and Groups of Islands.-Aleutian Isles, Vancouver Island, West Indies, Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, Jamaica, Long Island, Newfoundland, Greenland, Tierra Del Fuego, British Isles Great Britain, Ireland Iceland, Azores, Canary Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Crete, Cyprus, Japanese Islands, Formosa, Ceylon, East Indies, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, New Guinea, New Zealand, Philippines, Samoa Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Guam Island, Cape Verde Islands, Madagascar, Tasmania. 6. Straits, Channels, and Sounds.-Bering Strait, Yucatan Channel, Florida Strait, Long Island Sound, Mackinac Strait, Strait of Magellan, Kattegat, Skager Rack, English Channel, Strait of Dover, Gibraltar, Messina Strait, Bosporus, Dardanelles, Korea Strait, Malacca Strait, Sunda Strait, Bab-el-Mandeb, Mozambique Channel. 7. Peninsulas.-Alaska, Lower California, Yucatan, Florida, Nova Scotia, Labrador, Scandinavian, Jutland, Spanish, Italian, Grecian, Crimea, Balkan, Kamchatka, Korea, Indo-China, Malay, Arabian, Asia Minor. 8. Isthmuses.-Panama, Suez, Tehuantepec. 9. Capes. Cod, Hatteras, Horn, Lands End, Good Hope, North Cape. 10. Plains. Great Central of N. A., Atlantic Coastal, Valley of California, Llanos, Selvas, Pampas, Lowland of Europe, Hungarian, Lombardy, Siberian, E. China, N. India, Mesopotamia. 11. Plateaus.-Columbia R., Colorado, Alleghany, Cumberland, Piedmont, Ozark, Mexican, Bolivia, Central Africa, Abyssinia, Tibet, Pamir, Deccan. 12. Mountain Systems and Ranges. Cordilleras, Rocky, Sirra Madre, Sierra Navada, Cascade, Coast Ranges, Appalachian, Adirondack, Andes, Brazilian, Scandinavian, Pennine, Alps, Pyrenees, Cantabrian, Apennine, Carpathian, Caucasus, Ural, Atlas, Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Australian Alps. 13. Peaks. McKinley, St. Elias, Rainier, Shasta, Lassen, Whitney, Mitchell, Orizaba, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Aconcagua, Blanc, Matterhorn, Etna, Vesuvius, Hecla, Kilimanjaro, Everest, Ararat, Sinai, Fujiyama, Mauna Loa. 14. Deserts.-Great American, Atacama, Sahara, Kalahari, Gobi, Arabian, Australian. 15. Lakes. Great Bear, Great Slave, Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, Ontario, Champlain, Great Salt, Nicaragua, Titicaca, Ladoga, Chad, Victòria Nyanza, Tanganyika, Nyassa, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, Baikal, Dead Sea. 16. Rivers.-Mackenzie, Nelson, Saskatchewan, Red River of the North, St. Lawrence, Ottawa, Niagara, Detroit, St. Clair, St. Marys, Merrimac, Hudson, Delaware, Potomac, Mississippi, Red, Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, Missouri, Rio Grande, Colorado, Sacramento, Columbia, Snake, Frazer, Yukon, Orinoco, Amazon, Madeira, Sao Francisco, Plata, Parana, Dvina, Vistula, Oder, Elbe, Weser, Thames, Rhine, Clyde, Seine, Loire, Tagus, Tiber, Rhone, Po, Danube, Dnieper, Don, Volga, Nile, Niger, Congo, Orange, Zambezi, Ob, Yenesei, Lena, Amur, Hoang Ho, Yong-tse Kiang, Mekong, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Euphrates, Tigris, Murray. 17. Countries and States.--Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, United States-Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, District of Columbia, Mexico, Central America, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Russian Empire, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, Wales, Netherlands, Belgium, German Empire, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, AustriaHungary, Servia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Turkish Empire, Greece, Morocco, Algeria, Tripoli, Egypt, Sudan, Abyssina, Guinea, Belgian Congo, Union of South Africa, Siberia, Turkistan, Syria, Palestine, Persia, Afghanistan, India, Siam, Chinese republic, China, Manchuria, Korea, Japanese Empire, Japan, New South Wales, Victoria. 18. Cities.-Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Boston, Fall River, Lowell, Providence, New Haven, Worcester, New York, Brooklyn, Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Washington, Richmond, Charleston, Atlanta, Savannah, Mobile, Birmingham, Memphis, Louisville, New Orleans, Galveston, San Antonio, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, Mexico, Vera Cruz, Havana, Bogota, Bahia, Rio de Jan |