Arizona republican., 1916-08-27
HOLLAND HAS |. BORNE MUCH IN PAST TWO YEARS
Republican A. p. Leased Wire1

geSts glance at the present position of | Holland and the multifarious changes | wrought by the great struggle still raging around her.
 The country has borne much in the past two years which a stronger pow CT would not have suffered, but it has been preserved from the miseries of war, and although vigilance is still the order of the day the Dutch nation now entertains a good hope of preserving peace to the end That it's position is still perilous, however, the latest Or ange Book testifies, and it is recog- nized that the ultimate peace congress may itself bring dangers in it's train. It IS clear that nothing but a direct act of war, or action tending to force the nation from it's strict path of neut- rality, will bring the queen or her min lsters ito enter the struggle; in all other cases of restriction of Hollands
 rights and damage to her interests they are evidently prepared to con
 tent themselves with protests.
 For Queen Wilhelmina and the royal
 house the whole period has been an ex-
 ceedinly trying one. Her Majestys mother. the popular Queen Emma, and her consort, Prince Henry of the Netherlands. are of German birth, and : close ties with Belgium), the deepest personal feelings of the House of Or | ange have been painfully affected by ! the events of the past two years. NeV- ertheless, an attitude of the strictest | correctness has been adhered to | throughout. Her Majesty has closely l devoted herself to the responsible work | of state. She has frequently toured
 the country on military inspections, at | which ceremonies she is often mounted
 on horseback. She has, moreover
 taken the initiative in relief work has
 paid many visits to various institu-
 tions engaged in work in the interests
 of soldiers or people, has headed wal
 loans and relief funds, has visited and consoled the victims of the floods. and
 has daily gone in and out quietly and unostentatiously among her people
 The queen is frequently to be seen as
 early as S:45 in the morning, walking
 down through the streets of The | Hague from the House in the Wood | to the Palace, returning the respectful
 SalutationS of her subjects and occa
 sionally responding to the stiff mili-
 tary salutes of passing officers. A lady
 of her suits is usually with her or
 such occasions while one giant at
 tendant walks some distance behind
 The queen mother has lived il
 greater retirement, and the prince ha.
 devoted much of his attention to the
 Red Cross organization.
 Premier Cort can der Linden
 extra parliamentary but liberal cab
 inet still holds the reIns of govern
 ment. although it has undergone on,
 or two changes. Minister A E. J
 Bertling and M. w. F. Treub havin.
 resigned ard been succeeded by F
 F. POsthuma a sminister of agricul
 ture. commerce and industry and DI Anton van Gym as minister of finance
 In it's foreign policy it certainly stil 7 retains the support of the whol
 country, and this is likely to keep i
 in power despite the strong criticism , it's economic policy has been sub which its legislative program ha evoked MT. car der Linden is no q party man. and enjoys to a re markable degree the confidence an respect of men of all parties; Il [ man wields so much influence in an f outside parliament at the presen
 time.
 So far Holland has borne the heav
 burdens laid upon her by the wa
 remarkably well The maintenance (
 her army of quarter of a millio 9 men on a war footing and other eX : traordinary expenditure has so ia S cost a round sum of SlS0, 900, 900 whic r money has been temporarily foun r by two big loans and is soon to | n tackled in earnest by the raising
 special war levies and a tax on wa
 profits, which are expected to yiel
 d minimum of $60,000, 900.
 The economic tussle between tf allies and the central powers is sti Il considerably embarrassing the cour II try wEae the food problem, part II growing out of big exports to Gel II many, has brought ministers no CT HI Of trouble and may land them in ser III ous difficulties, for once started C H the road of artificial regulation maximum prices. cheap governmel HI foodStuffs, export consents and u HI like. fresh and more complicate III adaptIons are constantly called for. III The two years mobilization hs
 given Holland by far the largest an best equipped army she has ever pos III sessed. For limited conscription ha III been extended into what is in effe, universal compulsory service up to III years of age, and training of fires troops has been going on continuous HI ever since August, 1914, bringing u number of trained men in the cour III ny NthOuSIl oilly ty III up to between 100000 and 300, 90 H While large proportion of the your III ger men have beer with the eoloi for the entire two years, the relief III the older men has improved the spir III in the army, and nothing is hear III now of the agitation and disorder III which the seething discontent at or III time brought about. The socialiS III in parliament are profesSedly in faN |I or of partial demobilization, but H may be doubted whether they woul III have moved their motion in tt H chamber to this effect few days az III if they had not known it would H defeated for the continued extren H danger of the country's position is 2 n well to them as to the responsib ministers.
 III The relations between officers ar III men is not so good as could be dc III sired. In Holland such class t as that of sport has hitherto largel been lacking Fortunately, sport III the army has received encouragemei from the highest quarters durir III these long months of mobiliZatio III The queen and the commander il | chief were present in person at u | army and navy sports at Amsterdal a few days ago, while a special br reau for the encouragement of spo III has been set up under the directio III of General Kleynhens and mar III "sport leaders" are being appointe HI Seventy elevens took part in the fOo Il ball competitions in the fortress Il Amsterdam alone last season, whi II competitive marches and the like al HI not infreQuent Furlough is grantt