The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-25
WAR BOOKS IN THE
 DUTCH bOOKSHOPS

The Hague. Netherlands, July 2o.-(Cor-
 respondence of the Associated Press)-
 The canny Dutch bookseller strives to
 please all tastes and satisfy all demands
 by attempting to divide his shop space
 scrupulously into equal parts, in one
 of which the German propaganda is
 spread out, while another is devoted to
 French, English and Belgian polemical
 literature. frontier of Dutch works
 separates the two.
 The division. however is not always
 easy to make with accuracy.
 "Germany and England" by Houston
 Stewart Chamberlain in English, appears
 on the table devoted to the Allies lit
 erature. although pro-German. On the
 other hand the writings of such British opponents of the war as Norman Angel appear in the Dutch section, translated
 into the tongue of the Lowlands. James Nj. Beclss ''The Belgian Case" and Ger
 man Democracy" by Agnes Repplier and William White, have been similarly pre- sented to the Dutch public. In the same section, but from still another angle. Is the really remarkable product of this war, "The Diary of Stijn Streuvels-In Wartime, 1914-15." It Is in Flemish, the author whose real name is Frank La tour. having been a bakers apprentice ih his native land. Belgium, though he was also nephew of the Abbe Guido Gez- ellie, well known Belgian poet and translator of Longfelow's "Ifiawatha." Among the Dutch books produced by the war are number of serious studies: 'The World War and Social Democracy" by P. J. Troelstra, The Netherlands so- cialist leader is the most pretentious of the three. "At the Front and In Belgium" by Gen. A. J. Prins. retired. of the Dutch army, is a soldiers unvarnished narra- tive of merit; while War Psychology" 1 by Dr. F. ]. Soeman of The Hague and ! War Philosophy by Leo Polak of the University of Amsterdam. are more tech- nical studies of the effect of the war. | The other Netherlands universities have | contributed to Dutch literature: The Eu- ropean War; by Dr. G. w. KernRamp ;, of Utrecht. and ''The Economic War; ] by Dr. c. A. Verijn Stuart of Groningen universities
 l The belligerent sections of the book shops often show the same subject treat 1 ed from opposite sides, Count Julius And- rassy of Hungary, for example, in Ger
 man. on the one hand, and M. M. Durk-
 helm and Denis in French on the other, write the origins of the war. The German sections contain the "Deutsche | Kriggschriften' by various authors, de- voted to critical comment on the politics and character of Germans enemies, while l the French sections contain a remarkable series of brochures issued by Armand
 Colin of Paris, called Pages of History 1 -1914-15.'
 The numerous grey. red, white, orange and other colored official statements of | the causes of the ware omnipresent in l every language.
 | As in Germany, the cities of Holland 1 are airnost closely sown with book l shops as the fields of the Lowlands are sown with ,windmills. The long freedom l from the restraints of any copyright law 1 "a relic of the days when almost every revolutionary brochure bore the imprint 1 of Amsterdam, and Holland alone stood | for the liberty of the press-fostered scores of shops where books in every 1 western European tongue and every ! conceivable theme were offered for sale. 1 The works of popular French German
 and English authors were frankly pirated or adapted to the Dutch taste and re- l printed under Dutch titles. This arrange ! ment made for cheap books and large | profits to booksellers and so for many l shops stalls and barrows where such
 books can still be bought, notwithstand-
 ing the recent enactment of copyright l law.