The San Francisco call., 1896-06-25
NEVER HEARD OF CORBETT
A Rich Hollander Arrives in
Town and Decides to
See a eco"
He Tells of a Great Government Plan
TO Recover Land for the
Peasant Class.

"Corbett7 Champion of the worid2 Who
is he? 1 have not heard of him before, I"
said H. Y. Spyke, a wealthy Hollander,
who arrived at the California yesterday on
tour around the world.
And then when he was told briefly of the
celebrity whose fame had never reached
him at Amsterdam and of the fight to
come off in few hours he hastily drew
out his notebook and on a blank space
below yosemite" "Del Monte" "Stan-
ford University" he wrote "Corbett,
Pavilion (MechanicsD," and eagerly in
quired for further information about this
professional pummeling so new to him.
The eyes of the man who owns the street.
car lines of Amsterdam fairly snapped as
he heard of the brute force of the great
John l.. Sullivan, another of the Ameri-
can sights not on his list, and of the for
mer prowess of the colored giant from
Australia, and of the wonderful quickness
of Corbett, one of San Francisco's home
products.
81 must see that fight" said the enthu-
siastic traveller, who had only few mo-
ments before been discussing in serious,
business way the industries of Holland
and the great project of his Government to
reclaim from the sea an immense area
now covered by an arm of the North Sea.
The plans have already been made, Mr..
Spyke said, for building dykes and con-
structing canals so as to contine the present
North Sea that forms the great indenta-
ton In the north coast line of Holland.
1t has not been decided yet whether the
Government will undertake the work or
whether it will let the contract to private
individuals. The estimated cost is $780,
000 900, but the land area of Holland will
be increased one-tenth. The work is to be
completed in twenty-five years.
There are two important economic prob
lens involved in this great undertaking.
All along the shores of the sea live thou
sands Of Dutch fishermen who for years
have supplied the markets of Germany
with saltwater fish. To protect this. in
serve a sort of inland sea, into which the
Rhine and other smaller rivers will be
allowed to flow on their way to the North
Sea.
But the most important plan is that for
the settlement of the new territory. 1t is
all to be divided up into small holdings
for the benefit of working people. No man
who does not live on and work his section
will be permitted 20 hold one of the Gov
ernment leases, which are to be made for
long terms.
Cable-cars cannot be used in Amsterdam
because there is water everywhere only
three feet below the surface of the earth.
The great agricultural problem IN Hol-
land is not irrigation; it is drainage.
In Amsterdam there are only forty
agreeable days in the whole year. 1t is
cold, and bleak, and windy, and foggy,
and there are sudden severe changes in
the temperature. Mr.. Spyke is looking
for nice mild climate for a married
brother who wants to try something better.
Mr.. Spyke said that the architecture of
San Francisco is very ungraceful. Even
the Parrott building did not suit him. He
declares that as soon as he laid eyes on its
broad front crowded right up to the street
he knew no European architect planned it.
MIR. Spyke will be here ten days before
continuing his journey by the way of Van
couVer and Yokohama.