Jackson County journal., 1919-06-27
THRIFTY DUTCHMEN TURNED
INTO DESPERADOES BY WAR
Genuine Shock Has Come to Those Who Old DAYS Admired Indus
trous Holander Whose Only Occupation Now Is in
Deeds Of Daring and Robbery-Country Is
Now Paradise for Thieves.

The Hague.-To those who knew ,
the Hollander before the war as a
quiet. well-behaved, thrifty and indus
trious soul, content TO pursue the even
tenor of his way and sticking religi-
ouSly to Orderliness and good behav-
Tor, his transformation since the sign
ing of the armistice last November
will come as genuine shock. :.
Crime, in the pre-war days, was at
It's minimum in Holland. Her stand
Ing army Of some $4,000 was COM
posed Of young men who served their
allotted time In the military service
of their country with the minimum of
grumblng, returning cheerfully to the
plow, or the dairy, or the fisheries, as
soon as their term of army service
was over.
Except for an ever watchful eye on
her frontier, Holland lived a calm.
Contented existence, turning out her
world-famous cheeses and her per-
haps. more Infamous gins, her citizens
secure in the feeling that theirs was
Il land where the law was observed,
where their chattels were safe even
though their front doors remained un-
locked and where the infrequent Of
fender against the penal code could
not hope to get his full name in the
papers, much less his photograph with
a pretty border around it.
Today all this is changed. From a
land Of safety Holland has been trans
foraed into land of danger and the
Hollander-that Is, he who is repre-
srnted in the ranks of the plOw boy
the driver Of the horse or donkey
along the tow path. the churner of the
butter and the cream. the farm hand
or the miller's assistant-has been
transformed into a shiftless, lazy. dis
orderly ne'er-do-well, whose principa
occupation is burglary!
II Is a New Crime.
Burglary in Holland was not a usua
crime in the pre-war days. That fac
makes the present wave of lawleSS
ness all the more striking. The grea
truth that has dawned upon the cOun
try is that the 100000 Hollanders VIII,
have been doing military service a
non-combatants since the beginning o
the war have come to hate work an,
to hate having to provide for thei
own living, after enjoying food, cloth
ing and shelter at government expens
for nearly five years.
When Holland mobilized her youn
manhood middle-aged manhood an
full-grown manhood during the fir.
six months of the war, when ther
was momentary danger of German
suddenly getting 1t into her disordere
brain to invade and despoll the Netl
erlands as we'll as Belgium, the Dutc
government provided for the supper
of the families of the soldiers whol
she mobillzed as wei. as for the SUI
port of the soldiers themselves.
In her well-ordered house, Hollan
could not see 100000 families In wal
because 100000 male supporters wei
taken for the defense Of the fathe
land. She provided this support {
punctiliously and as carefully as ST
provided for the thousands Of Belgio
and French refugees, who have live
on the country's bounty from the d.
of the siege Of Antwerp to the ds
that Marshal Foch handed his fou
tain pen to the German armistice col
missoners and said: Sign
With the rehabilitation that beg,
during the latter days Of last Mover
Der the discharged soldiers found
irEsome to resume their duties as fal
lily providers instead of letting w