The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-07-07

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 a genuine shock.
Crime. In the pre-war days, was at
Its 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
grumbling, returning cheerfully to the
pillow, 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
w~orld-famous cheeses and her per-
maps. more infamous gins, her citizens
secure In the feeling that theirs was
a land where the law was observed,
where their chattels were safe ever
though their front doors remained I'M
locked and where the ~infrequent Of
fender against the penal code could
not hope to get his full name In the
papers, much less hts photograph with
a pretty border around 1t.
Today all this is changed. From a
land of safety Holland has been trans
formed into a land of danger and the
Hollander-that Is, he who is repre-
scented In the ranks Of the pillow boy,
the driver of the horse or donkey
along h tow path, the churner of the
butter and the cream, the farm hand
or the miiler's assistant-has been
transformed into a shiftless, lazy, dis
orderly ne'er-do-well, whose principal
occupation is burglary!
II 10 a New Crime.
Burglary In Holland waslnot a usual
crime In the pre-war days. That fact
makes the present wave of lawless-
ness all the more striking. The great
truth that has dawned upon the coun-
try Is that the 100000 Hollanders who
have been doing military service as
non-combatants since the beginning of
the war have come to hate work and
to hate having to provide for their
W living, after enjoying food, cloth
Ing and shelter at government expense
for nearly FIVE years.
When Holland mobilized her young
manhood, fniddle-aged manhood and
full-grown manhood during the first
six months of the war, when there
was momentary danger of Germany
suddenly getting ii into her disordered
brain TO invade and despoil the Meth
erlands as well as Belgium, the Dutch
government provided for the support
of the families of the soldiers whom
she modified as wei. as for the sup
port of the soldiers themselves.
In her well-ordered house, Holland
could not see 800, 900 families In want
because 100000 male supporters were
taken for the defense of the father
land. She provided this support as
punctiliously 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
missioners 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
peal nearly so much as the light field
equipment along the frontier. The
long hikes along the towpaths were
not nearly 80 attractive as the short
stretches between sentry posts on the
border between Hollands eastern
provinces and the Westphalian or
Prussian country. 1t was found a
hard matter to get the Hollander back
into a civilian Job. not because the job
IA not there but because the erst-
while thrifty Dutchman no longer
cared for the job.
Food Shortage q Cause.
For many months now life for the
~law-abiding Dutchman and his family
has been anything but a paradise and
the shortage Of food has been but a
SAAAaA AuottCf III H sidid totui VI III
general unhappiness.
The principal thing that has been
worrying Holland has been the bur
glar, who has since before the Christ
mas holidays become a sort of nation
al 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
curely locked and bolted at night, but
II during the daytime the household
er turns his back to look over his
chickens In the barnyard without first
closing his front door he will mos
likely return to the "pronk kamer'
(parlor) only to find every article Of
intrinsic value has disappeared.
The theft Of silverware. 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 2.
hours Of the day. The flow Of com
plants Ii so steady that In mos
places III man u assigned to do moth
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