The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-22
Work Expected to
Take a Generation
and Provide 100000
Acres Of Arabic
Land
By ROBERT C. SKERRETT.

0uC-u " PioNSN nv
upon the bill authorizing the work. By
this act Holland is starting a great en-
gineering task which has for its ultimate
purpose the reclamation OF quite SUI
square miles of arabic land.
PROFESSIONALLY the shortage OF food
caused by the present war has brought the
project TO the point of action and made
it apparent to the nation that the drain
ing of the inland sea should be fastened.
The scheme in itself is not new, because
the Dutch for decades have had the matter
in mind.
One of the things that have inspired
the Hollanders to go ahead has been the
results following upon the draining OF
Haarlem Lake between 1910 and 1852,
when approximately $4,000 acres of pro-
ductive soil were added to the nations ag-
ricultural lands. From then on the Dutch
pondered the much larger project in
volved in bringing 10 the light of day the
area covered by the waters of the Zuyder
Zee
Idea Started Thirty-two Years Ago.
Thirty-two years ago the Zuyder Zee
Association was called into being, self
appointed body comprising some OF the
most representative men of the Neither
lands, and the organization at its own
expense made extensive engineering exam
nations looking to the practicability OF
diking off the Zuyder Zee and then I'M
watering the lake that would thereby be
formed. From time to time the assocla
ton has introduced bills in the States
General, but the national Legislature
looked with disfavor upon them because
of seemingly more pressing economic de-
mands.
Five years ago the project received
substantial encouragement from the
Crown, but it was impossible even then to
win over the tight listed members of the
States General. However, in September,
1916, the present bill was presented for
consideration and after various mOditca-
tions it was passed by both chambers Of
the legislature last June.
In order to realize what the scheme in
wolves it is necessary to recall some of the
Typographical peculiarities of the Neither
lands and to bear in mind that a very
large part of the country now cultivated
and inhabited is below the sea level. But
for an elaborate system Of dikes the salt
water would inundate these sections, and
even to-day it is a constant struggle be
tween the indomitable Dutchman and the
menacing seas to hold the hard won acres.
DESPITE his efforts he is not always sue
cessful in this and every now and then
storm waves breach his sheltering bull
warks of sand and sweep in upon wide e1-
panses of his fields, submerging his crops,
killing his cattle and once in a while
drowning some of his kith and kin.
How the Zuyder Zee Was Formed.
1t is not this phase of the conflict that
is. likely to be altered by the draining Of
the Zuyder Zee, for that body of water
presents its own special problems. As
seas 60, this landlocked arm Of the North
Sea is of comparatively modern origin,
and in its present proportions it dates IN
the main not much more than 500 years
back. Its actual beginning was 800 years
earlier, when the North Sea, after sue
cession of violent westerly storms, broke
through the Friesian coast line and formed
the Islands of Texel. Vlieland, Terschel-
ling and Ameland, and thus opened up the
initial stages Of the shallow reaches which
now separate these islands from the shore
line of Friesland.
That primary conquest seemed to whet
the appetite of the North Sea for further
aggression, and in l410 it swept south
ward and down. tearing away the last bull
wark between It's former limits and the
erstwhile isolated Lake Flevo. Not con-
tent with obliterating this body of water
it swept further southwark, overrunning
the region now lying beneath the Zuyder
Zee. In this devastating work the North
Sea washed away many prosperous towns
and occasioned the loss of scores upOl
scores of thousands of human lives. Is 1T