The Washington herald., 1915-09-19
earth only by New York. Antwerp.
and Hamburg.

earth only by New York. Antwerp.
and Hamburg.
Holland presents a still more biting
satire on the plotting and swashbuck-
ling powers. If this war is for any
thing it is for a new division Of the
earth. for a readjustment OF the bal
ance between nations in the matter Of
colonial possessions.
Yet throughout all the mad rivalry
for expansion. this pacific little coun-
try has held "a place in the sum-"
which leaves quite in the shadow some
Iof the most belligerent seekers for
colonial empire. For the Dutch hold
in subjection six times as many people
las they themselves number and ex-
plot a territory more than fifty times
greater than their own home land.
It is true Holland picked up her
colonies in the seventeenth century.
But it is none the less significant that
without a great navy or a great army.
she has quietly retained vast domains
in the East Indies and the West and
remains today the third among colonial
powers Only France and England
outstrip her.
She rules more than twice as many
colonial subjects as the mailed fist Of
Germany has been able to grab and
quite distances Italy. which has we'll
nigh bled herself to death in wars of
conquest. Japan and other nations that
have been restlessly cunning to capture
brown men and black are left far behind
by this unwarlike people.
Moral: The still mouse steals more
cheese than the screaming eagles and
roaring lions.
An UnendfnE War.
Just as this little. plodding. steady ma
ton goes farther than some of her big
ger and faster rivals, the Dutch have
converted all their other disadvantages
into advantages The pitiless ocean
never relents in its determination to
overwhelm them. As I have walked
their dikes and dunes I have heard the
heavy artillery, watched the dashing
charges of its white-maned cavalry. and
felt the shock of its surging infantry
hurting themselves against the shore
But the sturdy and thrifty defenders
of the land turn to profit all the ammu-
milton that Neptune daily rains upon
them. The heaps Of sand thrown up by
the waves in their futile anger are
planted with trees and bushes whose
roots knit the sands together and con-
baffled sea. Soon an outer heap is
thrown up by the tide. Thereupon the
inner dune is seeded and quickly made
into a pasture to fll the udders Of the
black and white cattle which produce
the famous red and yellow cheeses of
the Dutch.
While the ocean is making its frontal
attack on Holland, great rivers assail
her in the rear. Nature provided in the
Netherlands no banks for the mighty
torrents that roll down from the noun
tain sides, leaving them free to spread
over the level fats and reduce them to
an uninhabitable swamp.
But Holland has walled in those streams
with their own clay and formed them
into thousands Of canals to do her bid
ding and transport her goods free of
charge. And as you sail along those
smooth highways. you see only the peak
ed roofs of the Dutch. who dwell and
reap in security far below the level of
the imprisoned and obedient waters.
Taking Advantage Of DisadvantaEes
Holland is not only assaulted front
and rear, but from above as we'll For
the very air wars against her in a triple
alliance with the sea and the land and
in q combined effort to drown her.
The winds blow In from the ocean to
discharge its waters upon . land devoid
of natural drainage. But the crafty Hol-
landers harness the winds with count.