The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-04-27
Germany and Holland.

~. Y TImeS.)
isrmanv's renewed turbulence to-
ward Holland may have the object ~
forcing Holland into the war on her
side or may have the object Of max
ing war on Holland. The probabll-
lilies favor the second theory Hol-
land might Ice of use is furnishine
Germany with several hundred thou
sand unwilling and disguised troops
"a no V@uld havt TO he watched
but she wou'u ne of no use as ter
rtorv from hlch TO plan strategic
operations ON the other hand. in
Gcrmanys present frame Of mind
there would be a clear gain to he
derived from making war upon her.
Gcrmauy's demands are provocative
in the extreme. they threaten the ruin
Of Holland Not only must Holland
permit the shipment across her terri
tory Tor German use of ordinary com
modities, but it is demanded that war
material for Germany shall have the
right of transit over Dutch railroads
and canals. In short, Germany in
sists that Holland shall become a Ger
man province. BV complying with
these demands she would be guilty of
unneutral conduct, would abandon her
neutrality She is called upon. as
neutral nation, TO resist by every
means in her power the enforcement
upon lbF OF ATtFildUN > VIII. ~ IIti c
pcrfunctory opposition will not Suf-
fee, sha must fight for her rights, or
the allies will be warranted in view s.
ing her attitude with suspicion.
Hollands position is most dangerous
and difficult She may be forced to
take up arms against any attempt to
enforce GermanS's demands. That
would expose her to conquest and sub
iugation, for the time being. In view
Ce ho ~ NJ hnr de1iNnr1nce
when Germany is overthrown, that
would be a disastex less serious than
the fate that would be hers should she
be persuaded or by any means IN
duCed to join Germany in the war.
Then the vast and rich Dutch colonies
would become prizes OF the powers
that control the seas In East In
dies Holland has Borneo, Java. and
other islands; in the Caribbean She has
valuable islands and Dutch Guiana
all told, colonial possessions more
than n million square miles in extent
with some IS 900, 900 of population,
nearly six times her home population.
obviously tho allies hold all sufficient
hostages against the hazard of Hol-
land taking the part of their enemy.
At present Germany is engaged in
gathering up armfuls of small nations
wherever she can lay hold of them.
and without much regard to whether
she needs them or not, Those she
does not need she can use for bar
gaining purposes later, when peace is
made. The Military party is in the
addlc and every voice but theirs is
silenced. From the Arctic Circle to
Asia Minor, Germany is Selling terri
tory with frantic haste, SO that she
may have the title Of possession to
SHOW when the order Cease firing"
is given. Before the Brest Idtovsk
victory the civilian party had some
thing to say not very effectively, but
still with the privilege of being
listened to; now the Military party
is the whole nation. In such situa-
ton, when Germany begins to finger
her gun and look calculatingly at
some small nation, her Intentions can
he appraised easily enough by simply
asking, Would that small nation be
of any use to her."
Apply that to Holland, and the
answer is easy. The German Jingoes
have always regarded Holland as
destined some time to S5oin the Ger
man empire. Treitschke, their
teacher, never wcaried of saying that
Germany must have tho mouth of the
Rhine. which she cannot very vel