The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-03-21

their taxes are heavy / was informed
that the land tax was u per cent. of tie
income from il. There Is tax on eyery
door, every pane Of glass, every servant,
every chimney-piece in every house. The
contrast between Holland and Switzerland
Is complete. Let one be transported sud
denly from the shadows of the mighty
mountains, the roaring torrents, the dizzy
heights, the cleaning icy peaks Of switz-
erlaud to the dead green level, the slug
gish canals, the sea girt shores Of Holland,
and he viii think himself in another world.
The Swiss are fighting for life amid ava
lanches and foods from mountain heights.
The Hollanders are fighting for existence
against the up-swelling foods Of the stormy
ocean, rolling along their borders and up
their wide-mouthed rivers. The Swiss
spends his life in controlling the mountain
torrents far up their wild glens, and in
guiding them down from valley to valley
until they nre safely borne away on the
current Of the Rhine The Hollander re-
ceives this same Rhine into the bosom of
his lowlands, and inyokes the winds Of
heaven to aid him in pumping them into
the sea. The people also differ as much
in character as the features Of nature with
which they contend. The Swiss Is eou-
tent with his milk and curds, and his little
hocks browsing on the scanty mountain
pasture, or far up under the drippings of
the glacier, with his homespun clothes, his
wrestling and shooting matches, and 70
live and die without passing beyond his
little mountain hamlet The Hollanders,
on the contrary, abound in wealth They
bald cities aud ports, lay hold on the
wealth and commerce Of the world. Their
ships and sailors are found on every sea,
and in every port. Their merchants and
bankers in every city Of the world, the
products Of all climes in their docks.
Luxury abounds everywhere. Every man
is making and saving money. This is the
great business Of life and success in this
effort is the measure Of capacity in Hol-
land.
After the traveller has recovered from
the novelty Of wide, stretching green
meadows, intersected in every direction by
canals and enlivened by huge windmills,
he is struck with some great features Of
the country which show the enterprise Of
the people. The first is the immense effort
of the inhabitants to save their land from
the inroads Of the ocean and from the
rivers and the rains which descend upon
them; the second is their success in re-
claiming lands covered with tidewater and
lakes; and the third is the magnitude Of
their public works in making docks, dykes,
canals, and artificial harbcrs. All these
have to do with water The business of
the Hollander, as one Of their public men
remarked TO me, is to make land out Of
water and water out Of land
| In this letter we can only speak Of their
canals as a system Of drainage. II would
appear, at first, that the great object Of
the canal system Of Holland is to afford
means Of transit and intercommunicatiou
But this is not the primary object Of these
water lines, which cross the country in
every direction. Without the canals, Hol-
land would be uninhabitable. They are
the grand reservoirs for gathering surplus
waters aud for discharging them into the
sea. 1t is well known that the surface Of
Holland is below the ocean level at high
tide. This makes it necessary to dyke out
the ocean at all points where Il has not
thrown up its own embankments 10 the
shape of sand-hills called dunes, also 70
dyke every arm Of the sea extending in-
land and all rivers where the ocean tide
flows. They are obliged to dispose Of the
waters Of the Rhine and other rivers.
when, from winds and high tides, they do
not discharge into the ocean, and also to
drain off all the surface water which falls
in rain. From all these causes, without
artificial drainage, the country would be
covered with water. To afford drainage
the great canals are built on q high level,
so that they win discharge into the sea al
low tide. They are connected with all the
large rivers and other bodies Of water.
Immense sea gates shut out the ocean from
these canals at high tide, and at low tide
they are opened for drainage
Between these large canals, which are
the arteries of the country, smaller canals
or bitches are dug on lower level and
lower than the surface Of the land. Into
these last named canals the surplus water
of the soil drains, which liz other coun-
tries would flow of in brooks. Where
these small canals meet the larger and
higher canals, windmills are placed, which
pump up these surplus waters Of the lower
canals into the higher, and thus they are
carried to the sea and discharged ut low
tide. The large canals, with their dykes
and locks, are under governments control,
and are managed By large corps Of en-
gineers and watched night aud day with
sIeepless vigilance. The masonry Of these
canals, especially the locks and gates where
they dischage into the ocean, Is most mag
nifcent
The smaller canals for the drainage Of
the lands are built BY townships in the
same manner as roads in America. These,
with the windmills attached, are managed
BY Commission elected BY the townships
and the expense Of pumping Is paid BY
tax on the lands benefited, in the zsme
manner as road taxes arc assessed In
America. A very peculiar code Of laws,
applicable to these canals and adjacent
lands, has grown up in Holland Every
line fence and garden wall in Holland d 1
ditch You win often see courtyard
and garden Of house enclosed by aitch,
which Is crossed by bridge Il almost
- ~. - ~ -.