The Washington herald., 1920-07-07
Men and Business
BY RICHARD SPILLANE.

esheShc IN 1oiihuu Since Sahuafy 10
1918. and representative or the War
Trade Board in the Netherlands dur
ing the war. is here to give such
Information as he can. and that is
considerable. to Philadelphians re-
garding trade and financial condi-
tions in Holland and the Dutch col
onies.
He says the attitude Of Holland
toward trade with her colonies has
undergone q complete change. Be-
fore the war the Dutch idea was for
the mother country to monopolize
this commerce. During the war
something happened that got the
Dutch 'in dutch" At any rate, the
mother country was cut of from
communication with the colonies
for quite q time. When communica-
tion was restored Ii was under q
censorship and SO irregular and
! precarious as 10 be untrustworthy.
Without her colonies Holland
would be nothing. The colonies
make Holland national. The Dutch
are a wise people. With the war
lesson before them they decided it
would be prudent to have some
powerful friends interested in their
dependencies. The Americans are
intimately concerned in Far Eastern
affairs through possession of the
] Philippines and trade with China
Why not get the Giant of the West
interested commercially in the
Dutch East Indies?
Today the great commercial pub.
/ lications OF Holland, such as the
Import and Export Trader, of Am
sterdam; the Pioneer of Amsterda m,
and Commercial Holland, of Rotter-
dam, are actively promoting COM
merce between the colonies and the
United States. The government de-
! termined this policy and the people
are backing II up. The Dutch are
perfectly willing TO have Americans
invest in the East Indies and buy
from and sell to the colonies in COM
petition with Hollanders. Why not.
when IL means a friendship based
On trade that means security for the
colonies?
Continental Holland has only
6.500.o0o population. The Dutch
East Indies have a population OF
36,000,o0 Continental Holland has
an area of l2.6Is square miles. The
Dutch East Indies comprise more
than 750,o0 square miles.
Today Holland is the richest
country per capita in Europe. Agri-
! culturally she has more than she
needs. At present she is somewhat I
overstocked with goods. Immedi-
ately after the war ended the
Dutch imported freely. piling up the
! tobacco of Sumatra. the cotton of
America and other goods as rapidly
| as they could be obtained. but with
the fall in exchange and the de-
moralization that followed, the
| Hollanders had to halt. The only
way on which trade can be con-
J Quoted now is to extend credits or
wait until the purchasing nations
have something to sell in exchange.
To keep prices from falling to a
point that would be ruinous. the
| Dutch have been ready to lend
zoe. 900 900 guilders (SSo,Ooo, ,00O) to
| Germany and buy a certain amount
of coal each month from the Ger
mans, but this credit is held in sus-
pcnse until the Reparations Com
mission approves IL. and IT isn't
sure approval will be given. Mean
while. the Dutch have extended a
credit of slo.ooo.Ooo in order to keep
! perishable products moving.
| Edwards says the Dutch have
given a considerable, quantity of
food to Austria without any COM
pensation, and as a nation Holland
has done more than any other coun-
Not only that. but. in his opinion,
the rehabilitation OF Central Europe
has come from Dutch initiative.
The Hollanders have no Illusion.
regarding the European problem
and no particular prejudices. for
they have no territorial ambitions
or desires. They prospered through
the war, but their future prosper
ity, as well as that of their neigh
bors, depends on peace.
A part OF their prosperity was
forced upon them. Rightly OF
wrongly. II was supposed the Ger
mans would liquidate a lot of their
securities through the Dutch. This
led the British and French to exer-
else a rigid censorship on Dutch sf-
fairs through the N. o. T. (Nether-
lands Overseas TrusD, which also
saw to II that contraband stun
didn't get into Germany.
! The Dutch financiers not only
found II difiicult to dispose of Ger
man securities, IL they had them to
sell for the Teutons, but they had
trouble in disposing of their own.
for the suspicious gentlemen of the
n. o. T. might consider the Dutch
man ostensibly was selling his own
/ stun when, in reality, he was act
ing for the Germans.
The Dutch had large investments
| in the United States. They had to
hold on to them whether they wish
ed to or not Many OF their securi-
ties were of industrials.
When the financial blockade was
| lifted the American dollar was at
a premium of 20 per cent. Not only
| that, but the industrials had ad-
! vanced greatly. The Dutch cashed
in. They cashed in on Steel, on
Central Leather, on everything.
There was a bull market under way
and II took everything they offered
and seemed eager for more.
One thing gave a severe pain to
the Dutch. however. That was our
| income tax. Every time the Hol-
| landers think of our income tax
they get red in the face, emit a lot
| OF language and shake their fists
| in the general direction of the U. s.
A. They are what the stock brokers
call on of American investments
| from this time forward. There are
more profitable fields in Europe,
| they think
This is not pleasant. The Dutch
| have been heavy and persistent in