The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-28
NETHERLANDS WILL HAVE TO BE FORGED BEFORE ENTERING
 GREAT STRUGGLE IN EUROPE
Holland Has Borne More Than Stronger Nation Would En- dure-Government Content With Making Protests-COun- try Now Has Most Efficient Military Body In History.

tertained among a section of the
 higher classes, the great mass of the
 people is still strong in its support
 of the Allies. On the one hand, there
 is a leading newspaper delighting on
 every possible occasion in denouncing
 the ''unscrupulous scoundrels of
 central Europe, anu on the other, it
 would be difficult to find more bitter anti British and anti-Ally sentiments than those breathed by the Dutch ed itors of the pro-German Toekomst C"The Future'D. AS a people the French certainly seem more popular
 than the British. The South African
 war still rankles in good many
 minds The most pro-German ele-
 ment in the political world is found
 among the church .,arties of the Right, the veteran ex-Prendier. Dr..
 Abraham Kuyper, a great Calvinist
 stalwart, leading the van.
 Outwardly Holland has not chang
 ed much. save for the numerous mill itary element everywhere in evil dence. The principal seaside resort,
 Scheveninsen, is daily crowded with pleasure-seekers, including many
 Germans and Belgians. Places of
 amusement are we'll. attended. Cric- ket and other sports are proceeding
 as usual. The sprinkling of Belgians in centers like The Hague has some
 what smartened up the dress of the fairer sex. Beneath the surface, how ever. the war is putting great
 strain on people generally. The
 monopoly of so much labor by the army means far more work for large sections of the nation. while the food eaten is not of such good quality and Is dearer. With large masses of the people 1t is a bitter struggle to make
 both ends meet Some of the small
 CT conveniences of life, that used to
 come from Germany. especially rub
 ber articles, are unobtainable. Some articles previously imported are,
 however. being now supplied by native industry.
 Practically everywhere there Is a
 shortage of housing accommodation,
 and particularly in those places
 where either Dutch workmen have returned from Germany or where
 they no longer cross the frontier to
 work There is such scarcity of
 houses in the northeastern province of Twente and in the fen regions that comparatively well-to-do families are often obliged to live in miserable
 novels and often even in temporary
 huts. The rise in the prices of build
 ing materials, particularly :. timber,
 building of workmen's dwellings. In the large cities people are crying out
 against the raising of rents.
 kl- A. Ax cations of the Netherlands Oversea
 Trust have extended very far It's headquarters at The Hague now com
 prised thirty different departments, housed in some twenty-five buildings
 in all parts of the city. It will be
 recalled that the Trust is allowed by the Allies tosimport goods from over
 sea under guarantees that these shall
 be for home use only. It seems inn
 possible, however, to put down the smuggling traffic on the frontiers,
 which has lately revived and is de- moralizing big sections of the border population. despite the governments system of controlling goods in the frontier zone and the appointment of several thousand soldiers as paid [customs officers. The fishing indus ttry, which has been sending hundreds of thousands of tons of fish to Ger many and Austria and making enor- nous profits, has now had the iland of the Allies laid heavily upon it.
 As regards shipping, the arrivals at Rotterdam, Hollands chief port, have SO far this year ltotaled only some 1.700 vessels of tonnage of nearly 1,S00. 900, as compared with 5000 vessels of 7.60O,000 tons in the cor responding months of 1914. On the other hand, Hollands own merchant fleet is extremely active and pros- porous in view of the shortage of cargo space. earning big dividends. The shipbuilding yards. too, are hovercrowded with orders, and the clank of the hammers sounds for mile ion mile along the Dutch waterways.
 On the Stock Exchange there has been a remarkable revival of business since its reopening in February. 1915. and big rises in important classes of shares. Gold is still steadily stream ling into the country, and the stocks i of the yellow metal in the vaults of iFthe Netherlands Bank now amount to i $232, 900, which. is two or three times their normal size. The farm CTS ana market-gardeners of Holland
 have probably never experienced such prosperity as now, owing to the heights to which prices have scared. particularly across the eastern iron tier; but the bulb industry is suffer- ling from the import prohibitions is-
 sued by certain belligerents. Save in
 such exceptional cases as stevedores there is very little unemployment. and the mobilization has led to women re- placing men to some extent, as for in-
 stance in offices, brickworks, textile
 and other factories. Over a thou
 sand more women and girls are now employed in the ready-made clothes
 factories ef Amsterdam as result of the big army orders for uniforms.
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