The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-08-27
:| / d ) I|lRQ !
:. AS seen YANKEE
Judsen Grenell Visits Holland,
the Land Of Windmills
and Wooden Shoes.
Packed With Liberty Loving
People, Contented With
Low Wage Plane. .
BY JUDsON GRENELL.

BY JUDSON GRENELL.
Copyright, 1904, by Judson Grenell.)
Amsterdam, Holland, August 15.-
wooden shoes and dykes is not an i'm
portant manufacturing country. Yet
Holland cuts considerable figure in
the economy Of Europe. Imports ex-
coed exports, and she thrives on COM
merce. yet what comes inis very dis
tinct from what goes out. With Eng
land on the west, separated, only by
comparatively narrow sheet Of water,
Germany on the east and Belgium on
the south-an manufacturing nations
Holland finds profit In exchanging her
food products for almost everything
demanded by civilized communities.
Still here at least 10000 men, women
and children earn their living in cotton
and wooden mills, 10000 to $4,000 are
workers in iron: businesses that have
grown up since the free import Of raw
material became the law of the nation),
the weaving Of linen is Of Importance;
shipbuilding, rope spinning and other
trades subsidiary to the building of
boats absorb the activities of many
minor manufacturing enterprises bring
the number of operatives above the
hundred thousand mark.
HOLLANDS CHIEF INDUSTRIES.
1t can readily be seen that this after
all, is but small portion Of the 4,000,-
600 Dutch living on the 1900 square
miles of land and water comprising
Holland. Agriculture and stock breed
ing are the chief occupations; and fish
ing and commerce come next. The soil
is naturally rich, but the Dutch are not
content with just that which nature
supplies; even the pastures are fertil-
lied and 1 was informed that in the
main the three-crop system is followed.
So Holland supplies England with
agricultural products, Belgium and
Germany with fish, and these and other
nations with manufactured goods. to
say nothing of the trade with her colo
MES. She takes in exchange that which
each nation sells the cheapest, low du-
ties making her markets fairly profit
able ones in which to trade.
The wage workers of Holland should
fare as well as those Of England in the
matter Of compensation for their la
Dor. A low tariff country, with large
maritime interests, and little Interior
ence by government with trade-a con-
dition Of affairs which tends to the
maximum of profitable exchange-on
her docks and in her warehouses are
to be found everything that civilized
man desires in the way Of luxuries and
necessities; but wages are lower than
|,in England; and in some cases hardly
equal to those OF France and sGer1nany.,
Why this = IS SO it { would, take both
psych biological and physiological invest
igat1on to determine. It is my opinion
I that temperament has much to do with
J it.
The average Dutchman is a self-sa-
| tisfied person. He reflects so much and
so constantly that he lacks action.
'tslow as Dutchman" would not be an
! inappropriate expression when seek
ing for a term implying the greatest
possible degree of deliberation closely
| bordering on doing nothing. There Is
no such chatter in Holland as is heard
everywhere in France. The men and
women speak seldom and laugh still
less often. Even the children at play
show no abandon in their games.
fail to remember at this moment hear
ing in Holland such shouts of joy as
come from the threats of children In
America when playing tag or any other
| game. The Jewish quarter of this city
is an exception. There the over-popul,
alton, the crowding and consequent
distress and other misfortunes that
follow seem to exceed anything have
seen In any other continental city. Or
a warm evening the streets are crowd.
ed, the heat driving everybody OUT Of
the tall houses facing narrow lanes
and foul canals, yet the children. seen
as happy amidst their uncongenial sur.
roundings as princes and princesses IL
their palaces, if noise and laughter
mean anything.
| WAGES AND CONDITIONS.
| The average Dutchman is a liberty
loving Individual. This is very plainl,
shown by his national history. He will
go to the extreme in sacrificing every.
thing in defending his home against for.
eign foes, or against what he believes
to be his religious and civil rights. Blu,
his plane Of living is so low that a very
little satisfies him, and in consequence
wages hug closely his simple life line"
never for any length of time rising
much above or sinking much. below the
Hollander's existence point. He who is
satisfied with little, receives little, and
the Dutch are no exception to the rule
Many a Dutchman skilled in his oc.
;cupation works for two guilders g:
cents) a day; unskilled laborers gravi.
ate between one and. two guilders. "A
machinist found working in a little
shop ON a side street off Of one of The
principal thoroughfares said he received
three guilders equal to 1929 for Il
hours: work. My guide, AN intelligent
Jew, and speaking several Languages
told me privately that he thought thu
| machinist was exaggerating.7 -
Why any civilized people should b.
content to live in such "a climate, sub.
ject to sudden changes Of. temperature
that bring in. their wakes feyers ant
colds, is beyond my prehension, *
long as there are other and more fay
ored lands: to which one might. flee
With 1000 miles Of dykes: to. keejpp, OH III
f<@!. -