Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-10-28
THEFRUCAL DUTCH
Economical In Their Use of the
Daily Papers.
ONE JOURNAL READ BY MANY

a Number of Families Will Subscribe
For a Single Paper, Which Goes the
Troublesome Thrifty Souls Will
Only Rent Their Newspapers.
One thing visitors to Holland notice,
and that is that no one on the streets
" in the cars is seen reading a news
paper. Papers are not sold or hawked
rs they are In England and America.
1t is only when extremely important
events take place and the papers print
special "bulletins" that these are some
times bought in the street. Usually
the people content themselves by read
ing these same bulletins when they are
displayed In the windows of cigar
shops, booksellers shops or at the of
6ces Of the newspapers, for the Dutch
people economic in their reading mat
ter. Many curious ways have been
devised to reconcile economy with a
plentiful supply of news and informa-
ton.
Two, three or more families will com
bine to subscribe for one paper, which
is then read - each in turn. The
one who gets it first pays little more
than the later readers, and each may
keep 1t for a stipulated time-an hour
or perhaps two or three hours or half
a day. In this way 1t is generally only
the head of the house" who gathers
in any information. He monopolizes he
paper as soon as it comes and keeps
1t as long as he can. The other mem
bers of the family then go without
news or are only enriched by the
crumbs Of knowledge that now and
then drop from the lips of paterfamil-
las.
Most Of the daily papers in Holland
are issued in the evening, but some
of the more important ones publish
morning editions as well. To subscribe
for more than n paper is considered
a terrible extravaganza, and ever a
whole subscription for one family
alone is looked upon as a luxury. At
the clubs and the coffee houses" the
dutch equivalent of the American sa-
loon, there are always newspapers in
~profusion, and very many men do all
their reading there and so ave the
subscription fees, for they don't count
the cost of what they imbibe.
Many cigar shops and sometimes
other stores have what they call de
pots" of newspapers, and there you
can also rent a paper and take it
home with you for a certain length of
time for very little money indeed.
But the longing for information of
the average Dutchman of the middle
classes extends far beyond the daily
papers. He wishes to know all about
his neighbors far and near, and at the
same time he wants to keep up his
knowledge of the languages learned at
school. For these purposes reading
societies are formed either among
friends or people living in the same
neighborhood, or perhaps all the Off
GERS of a certain regiment will COM
bine; then a committee will be select
ed from among the members on which
will devolve the task of selecting suit
able weekly papers or monthly maya
zines in English, French, German and
Dutch and to circulate these among
the members of the society. These
books and papers are sent round In
large portfolios either once or twice a
week, as may have been agreed upon.
SO those joining such q society a
read all the best English, American,
German and Dutch periodicals at a
slight cost.
Of course you don't always get the
magazines as soon asethey come out.
This is carefully regulated according
to the size of your contribution, and
many people read their Christmas sto-
ries in June. Still, it keeps up an in
terest in the world at large and helps
to keep fresh in the mind all that has
been learned In youth.
If the head of the house gets most
Of the daily papers 1t is with the pc
riodicals that the other members of
the household have their innings. They
can read them while father is at his
bureau or at his office. Sometimes an
cnterprising bookseller starts one or
more circulating portfolios In his
neighborhood, and this is managed on
the sam lines as the private reading
societies.
At the end of the year the old peri
odicals and books that have been the
round of all the subscribers are sold
by auction among the members of the
association.
People visiting Holland are often
surprised to find how well nearly ev-
cry one in the country speaks foreign
languages and bow much he knows
of the literature of other lands. If
we take the above facts into consider
alton it will no longer seem SO aston
ishing.-W. J. L. Kiehl in Chicago
News.
The s;abt Et.unr