Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-07-17

the Hollander before the war as
quiet, well-behaved thrifty and indus
trious soul, content 10 pursue the even
tenor of his way and sticking religi-
ously to orderliness and good behav-
ior, his transformation since the sign
ing Of the armiStice last November
will come as genuine shock.
Crime, in the pre-war days, was at
its minimum in Holland. Her stand
in1 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
grumbling, returning cheerfully to the
pillow. or the dairy, Or the fisheries MS
soon as their term of army service
was over.
Except for an ever watchful eye on
her frontier. Holland lived calm,
cuntented existence, turning out her
wdlld-famOus cheeses and her per-
haps more infamous gins her citizens
secure in the feeling that theirs was
q land where the law was observed,
where their chattels were safe even
though their front doors remained I'M
locked and where the infrequent Of
fender against the penal code could
not hope to get mis- full name in the
parers, much less his photograph with
n pretty border around 1T.
Today all this is changed. From
lnnd uf safety Holland has been trans
..llnrd into a land of danger and the
Holi:nder--that is, he who is repre-
s'ntrl in the ranks of the pillow hoy.
the driver of the horse or donkey
along the tow path, the churner of the
iuti,r and the cream, the farm hand
or ii.e miiler's assistant-has been
Transformed into a shftless, lazy. dis
o,'rrly neer-dO-well, whose principal
occupation is burglary!
It Is a New Crime.
Burglary in Holland was not usual
Cr'n'n in the pre-war days. That fact
makes the present wave Of lawlesS-
ness all the more striking. The great
trutI, that has dawned upon the coun-
try IS that the 100000 Hollanders who
lave been doing military service as
non cOmbatants since the beginning OF
III war have come to hate work and
to hate having to provide for their
own living, after enjoying food, cloth
Ing and shelter at government expense
for nearly five years.
When Holland modified her young
manhood, middle-aged manhood and
full grown manhood during the first
six months of the war. when there
WIS momentary danger of Germany
SuH,i"nly getting it into her diSordeFed
bran to invade and despoil the Meth
.rI; ndS as well as Belgium. the Dutch
government provided for the support
q. the families of the soldiers whom
III i"obiliZed as wei. as for the sup
y, IT of the soldiers themselves.
H. Ter well-ordered house. Holland
could not see 100000 families in want
because 100000 male supporters were
taken for the defense of the father
land. She provided this support as
p,nctiliously and as carefully as she
provided for the thousands Of Belgian
and French refugees, who have lived
on the cOuntry's bounty from the day
OF the siege of Antwerp to the day
that Marshal Foch handed his foun-
tain pen to the German armiStice COM
miSS:nners and said: "Sign"
With the rehabilitation that began
during the latter days of last Novem-
Der the discharged soldiers found 1T
irksome to resume their duties as fam
lily providers instead of "letting Will
helmina do it," The pillow did not APP
III much tho IiOhf field
equipment along the frontier. The
lon" hikes along the tOwpaths were
not nearly so attractive as the short
stretches between sentry posts on the
border between Hollands eastern
provinces and the Westphalian or
PrI'e :ian country 1t was found
hard matter to get the Hollander back
into civilian job, not because the job
waG not there but because the erst-
while thrifty Dutchman no longer
cared for the job.
Food Shortage Cause.
For many months now life for the
law-ub,ding Dutchman and his family
has been anything but a paradise and
the shortage Of food has been but
small matter in the grand total of this
general unhappiness.
The principal thing that has been
worrying Holland has been the bur
glar. who has since before the Christ.
mas holidays become sort of nation
i'll institution, like the cheese and the
gin. Acts Of violence are of daily, in
fact. of hourly, occurrence In the
country districts as well as In the
cities. Not alone must doors be Sc
cureiy locked and bolted at night, but
If during the daytime the household
or turns his back to look over his
chickens in the barnyard without first
closing his front door he will most
likely return to the "pronk kamer"
(parlor) only to find every article of
Intrinsic value has disappeared.
The theft of siiverware, jewelry,
clothes and even pots and pans from
the kItchen is reported to the police
in every town and hamlet on an aver
age of once every hour during the "a
hours of the day. The flow of COM
plaints IS 10 steady that In most
place" one man is assigned to do moth
.ng but record these repOSts of bur-
glaries.
While, of course, 1t would be unfair
to say that every one of the demobil-
lied soldiers has turned burglar after
receiving his discharge from the army,
II is safe to say that one-half of the
100000 troops has turned it's atten-