El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-21
EDITOR thinks
HOLLAND WILL
..A0T co TO WAR
Little Nation Is On Friendly
Terms With Both Eng
land and Germany.
COMPLETE SUCCESS
OF GERMANY FEARED

= = leading Dutch editors. was
asked these three questions: win
Holland remain neutral in this war?
What is the feeling in the country?
II Holland decided to fight for the
side she considers in the right, which
side would it be?"
He Replied in the following article.
The first question seems to me not
ID be rightly put The normal thing.
I-take it. is not to fight with neighbors
with whom you have no quarrel What
ever. I suppose you really mean to
ask, Why do not you in Holland fight
Germany
We'll. there must in the opinion of
thinking men here, be very sarto,,s
reasons for country like ours with
an open frontier and an enormously
powerful military neighbor-vou viii
grant me that is true-on one side and
ou the other by far the greatest sea
power; while far away, with a sea he
tween them and u.s. of which we ara
anything but the masters. lie tvo
weakly defended coIonies-there must
De very serious reasons indeed for US to
pick quarrel with either of our
neighbors
Do Not Think War Probable.
We in Holland think there are no
reasons serious enough to warrant
such step. 1 have seen that some
British publicists have a different
opinion, and consider that Hollands
Independence is at stake: that if the
| allies should lose, and Belgium become
a Prussian province, the fate of HoI-
land is sealed, an her independence
and her liberty viii be gone.
II Holland were sure of that, we
Hculq Iight now, would have fought
/ tho Germans from the first day, and
| would have stood shoulder to shoulder
with the Belgians. We do not believe
\ IT, and that Is the reason why Holland
| does not break the peace that our
neighbor, so much bigger and stronger
I than ourselves, has lefA unbrOken for
| many years-fOr centuries.
Now we in Holland quite well IN
! dcrstand that the power of Germany
/ against US might become a very threat
/ eIIng and disagreeable power, if Ger
/ many won this war absolutely, and
I were so Tpiserably stupid as to annex
/ an alien and absolutely un-German
/ state as Belgium-destrOying thereby
/ the homogeneity of the German en-
| PIE which exists only to a certain
! extent even now. Won Moltke has told
o! an adversary, and we in Holland
7 are not at all convinced that Germany,
\ even If victorious, will not redeem the
premise made by her chancellor in the
| rcichstag-We will later make good
| to Belgium the wrong we are going
/ 70 commit against her'-be this only
from quite utilitarian motives.
! Fears German Success.
"On the other hand, it will certainly
/ not be good thing, politically for
I Holland, if Germany, with it's mag
| nlncently organized army of millions,
! energies from this war an absolute
! coEqueror, with the largest and best
] half of Europe in her possession, and
the beautiful land Of France at its
mercy.
we in Holland were, and are, ready
/ to risk our soldiers lives our home
( steads- and our happiness for our in
| dependence. The Germans knew it.
] Along the Dutch frontier our soldiers
/ were massed, and if we had been
/ treated as Belgium has been treated
/ our soldiers would have shown that
/ II they are slow in one thing it is in
running. away
AS to the breaking by Germany Of
] her. contract with Belgium, 1 do not
/ think It advisable to dwell long on the
| exceedingly bitter feeling that this un-
righteous deed has aroused in my
/ country
would Have stood by Treaty.
L do not hesitate to say that if in
times Of peace, holland and Belgium
] had promised to help each other if at
/ tackled, we would have stood bv our
contract as staunchly as England has
| But Holland and Belgium had chosen
/ each to go its own way independentIy
| some 80 years ago England and France
/ mad driven these two countries asIn-
der ana mad severed the southern from
the northern Netherlands: and in a
| sreat part Of Belgium, that governed
I ~ the French speaking half of the
kIhge9m, winch had had none too
friendly feelings for the northern
| Dutch, a kind of antagonisn against
Holland remained.
Your second question-what is the
| feellng OF HOland-has been partly
answered by what I have said and I
must admit that what hammered later
J did not lessen the bitterness of which
nave spoken. War is a cruel thing
/ al all times, and the fact Of enor-
NOUS masses of victorious soldiers
I Passing through denselv populated
| mining. district where feelings of in
| teEse hatred have been awakened
! containing the same percentage of ruff
] fans as any civilized community: and
ali Of them without the humaniziing
/ and refining influence of their own
women folk at hOme-leads to the per-
| petratIon OF deeds so abominable that
] they are better left understood
! We IN Holland had all the dread
full stories fresh from the field Of
| war, heard them from the stammering
! mouths Of the stricken population, and
1 all over the country rose a very. very
/ bitter FEELING against Germany.
Friendly 10 England.
! And now, as to the feeling in Hol-
! oiand towards England. One feeling
| is certainly uppermOst To be drawn
I into this was as an enemy of England
/ would be regarded here as nothing
1 short Of a crime, and could only be
/ prought about by persistent ill-will on
/ the part Of England
This we do not look for Natu-
| rally, however great the menace that
| England, in case Of war, could bring
| against our commerce and our colo
| MES. we should in any case refuse to
| be bullied. But nobody believes that
| England has the intention of doing
anything Of the kind.
Understand Position
we in Holland quite well know and
| feel what England's point IS She will
not allow merchandise, which could
help her enemy to prolong the war, to
be transported over the sea, from
which the said enemy has been driven.
And we quite well understand that
such merchandise might be and have
! been brought to Germany in Dutch
| vessels. Accordingly we, who want
Hollands trade to go on. are doing
our very best to prevent actions of that
| kind.
In conclusion. 7 believe that It
would require the gravest prOvocation
! TO bring Holland to attack either side
still more to be gOaded into she'd
ding its h10Od for tho v,arv,, q ,avf er7b-