The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-24
NEUTRAL HOLLAND
HAS BIG PROBLEM
Question of Care of German
Children Causes Tempest
in Teacup"

| The Hague, Netherlands, September 10.
| Correspondence of the Associated Press)
| The question whether German children
| should be entertained in Holland, and
| fattened there on Dutch milk and butter
| has led to a storm in a teacup here.
Columns of the newspapers have been
devoted to articles on the subject by
learned professors and editorial writers.
Germany is a besieged fortress" it
is declared on the one hand land it is
| unneutral and, what is more, opposed to
all Hollands interests to help defeat the
object of the besiegers by relieving dis
tress there" How can that be?'' is the
question posed in reply, when Germany
has free access to Holland, Scandinavia
and Switzerland. Holland is sovereign
of her own frontier and the feeding of
hungry German children is our good right
and not the faintest violation of neutral
ity." IF you have money to spare for
poor children is the retort, give the
benefit of it to many thousands of half
starved children in your own cities, who
are suffering from too large exports to
Germany, or lavish your pity upon the
millions of suffering children in Poland,
Servia, Belgium and northern France,
the countries ruthlessly desolated by Ger
many. Moreover, you are endangering
our own food supplies by giving the
allies ground for thinking that the goods,
imported here will indirectly help their
enemy to hold out"
Even assuming that Germany is a
besieged fortress runs another argu-
ment, ''does not belligerent sometimes
allow the siege of a city to be prolonged
by sparing the women and children as
much as possible? And, if you say we
70 boI
such noble work as that Of the Red
Cross which is universally recognized to
be within the province of neutrals,
strengthen the forces of the belligerents."
1T is but an act Of chivalry and COM
passion: it would be a shame to exclude
it by carrying logical strictness to ex-
tremes,' says another. That's all very
WE'LL" is the answer, "but to nourish
German subjects is to prolong the war
and so sacrifice more of the allies men;
and if the Dutch government Is to per-
nit Germans to have recourse to public
charity here, at least let it point out to
Germany its obligations toward this coun-
try, and to the civil population of the
regions occupied by German armies"
So runs the strange controversy. and
meanwhile, all unconscious of the mild
storm they have raised, little parties of
German children, many of them pale
faced but some looking in fairly good
condition, are daily crossing the Dutcn
border They come in parties varying
from dozen to several hundreds, and
are being accommodated about the coun-
try, mostly in children's holiday camps
and such institutions, but also by twos
and threes in private families.
The work has been organized by va
rious committees set up by Hollanders
with family ties in Germany and others,
and naturally the German authorities
have willingly extended their co-opera-
ton. There are now between 1000 and 1000
such children in the country, and they
are Still arriving.
A movement is also now on foot to bring
| children from the occupied districts of
, France, SO that Holland promises to de-
velop into quite children's refuge, fol-
| lowing the claims upon its hospitality
made by the fiocks of Belgian fugitives,
| part of Antwerp's escaping garrison and
many hundreds of. fleeing prisoners of
| war