Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1911-09-01

"lUu grass anu IlOWerS ana UreeS.
The government would do this, and
would put seats along the little park
and bandStand from which music
would be heard, and swings for the
children and almost every block
there would be a garden with ia
bles and all the beer you could drink
l-if you were Dutch-for two cents.
And the government would make a
nice profit out of the restaurant bus
mess and go ahead and dixie another
stream.
The Dutchman is a great business
man. He works and saves and then
ne is not afraid to spend-if he has a
sure thing. | have seen a business
man smoking a cigarette take out of
his vest pocket a pair of scissors,
snip off the burning end and put the
mconsumed half of the cigarette bacl
in the case. No Dutchman is afraid
to demand cheap prices while travel
ing at home. The average American
who goes through Europe with the
theory of spending his money like a
sport must fill the Dutchman with dis
gust. You don't impress the Holland
ers that way. On the other hand
these Dutchmen will investigate and
spend barrels of money on dikes,
drains, railroads, buildings and large
investments in all parts of the world.
1 suppose the almost penurious saving
comes from the fight with the sea
IN which everything had to be watch
ed and worked for while the ability
to handle big affairs results from the
consciousness of having wrested
lot of hand from the ocean and hav-
ing made good with it.
The Dutch are proverbiaIEy honest.
/ have been overcharged some but
nave never been anywhere on either
side of the Atlantic where the rule
was not observed, he was a Strang-
er and | took him in.' They hold a
visitor up much more in Kansas City
than in Amsterdam and man from
Kansas who goes to New York is
not even given the protection of the
game laws. In fact a stranger who
does not know the language is treat
ed much better in Europe than in
America. l have often had a man
walk half a block to show me the
way when could not understand his
wards. say walk a block but there
is no such phrase in Dutch. There
are no regular sized blocks so a d.
rection is given as five minutes or
two minutes, then to the right three
minues.' That is supposed to mean
an average walk, but as legs differ
IN size and rapidity it is often con-
fusing. | am told in the rural dis
tricts distance is given as so many
smokes, meaning the number of pipe
fulls of tobacco that a Dutchman
would consume in going that far. But
| have discovered that in Holland
pipe is rarity. The men smoke CT
cigars and smoke them necessarily
| get a good cigar, equivalent to a
Tom Moore for two cents American
money. When l buy cigars l want
to stay in Holland. But practically
everything except cigars, beer and
wooden shoes cost as much here as
IN the United States. Yes, there is
one thing that costs less and that is
labor. Therefore, handcarved wood,
hand crocheted lace, hand made shoes
tailored clothes, and houses are less
expensive than with us. The more
see of a country where everything Ia
Dor produces is cheap the more am
In favor of high prices and good wag-
es. Holland is probably the best
country in Europe for a labOring man
but | don't see how one can get
ahead unless he does without meat
and wears the same suit for years,
and his family economic the same
way. Here in the land of chees and
butter, both articles are out of reach
and the workingmen use margarine.
But now it is goodbye TO the land
of the dikes, the canals, the wind.
mills and the wooden shoes. They
are all here as advertised and they
color the lives of the people as they
do the landscape of the country. To
the eye they are artistic and beauti
full, but in practice they are common,
plain necessities, and in these signs
the Dutch have conquered.
W. Y. MORGAN.