Evening star., 1936-09-11

and hate dictatorship. our sole busi-
ness Is to keep It OF American soil
In other words, clearly to define what
our business is and then mind 1t.
When the President according to
Mr.. Krock) was considering q peace
conference Of world statesmen he evi-
IDENTIFY planned to invite only states
men from countries which have re-
Gently been involved in war and which
may soon be involved again. He
might have planned to invite the
representatives Of some Of the
countries who stayed out Of the last
war and ask them how they did it.
Holland, for instance. For that
country has right to talk about
peace.
Holland gave up war great many
years ago. She had had a lot Of
wars, and she had lost most of them.
and apparently it dawned upon all
Dutchmen, who are very practical
men, that wars don't pay. Holland
seems to have decided by an almost
unanimous attitude of mind that it Is
cheaper to buy what one wants than
to fight for it. Holland didn't go in
much for pacifism. She went in for
peace. In 1910. when the premoni.
ton OF war was hanging over Europe,
Holland decided to fortify the mouth
OF the Scheldt River. There was an
international outcry. The Entente
contended that it had the right to
use the Dutch part Of the Scheldt in
case of German threat to Antwerp.
Holland fortified, ard sent her Am
bassadors to Brussels and Paris to
make clear that she was fortifying
for reasons of peace. in order in the
future to allow Germany no pretext
for possible Intervention.
Germans Rearranged Plan.
As q result of this move, the Ger
man general staff rearranged its plan
OF operation in case Of war with
France. Won Moltke's memoirs reveal
that the original Won Schlieffen plan
contemplated the violation Of both
Belgium and Holland.
Holland built q crack army, and
when the war broke out modified 1t
and kept it mobilized at great ex-
pense during the entire hostilities.
1t was perfectly clear that any one
who invaded Holland would not have
An easy time OF it, small though the
country was. But having done this,
Holland took more blows on the chin,
more insults to national pride, more
interference and more suffering than
Is easily imaginable. She was between
two fires. Her economic prosperity
was bound up with that Of Germany.
Most individuals in Holland we're not
neutral in their feelings. For one
thing, the Boer War was not yet for
gotten. On the other hand, Dutch
men did not like German militarism
and were outraged at the violation of
Belgium. The entente and the alli-
ance both conducted propaganda
campaigns in Holland. Britain en-
forced . blockade against Dutch food
ships to Germany; Dutch neutrality,
on the other hand, protected Ger
msny's right flank. And the closure
Of the Scheldt-against which France
had protested-prevented Germany
from using Antwerp as a submarine
base. German and British airplanes
both strayed onto Dutch territory.
Protests came to Holland from both
sides; from Britain when Holland ex-
cluded armed British merchantmen
from her harbors: from Britain again
when Holland allowed the Germans
to transport sand along her water
ways for dugouts. Both sides penal
lied her. and both sides violated her
neutrality. London rationed her on
the basis Of pre-war statistics, and
Ludendorff threatened to overrun the
country as a result. An ultimatum
was actually presented by Germany.
but Holland kept cool, and it was
withdrawn.
Holland Needs Foreign Trade.
We are told that capitalism and the
trade conflicts are responsible for
wars. Holland Is a conservative and
highly capitalistic country. She de-
pends for her life on international
trade. Four-fifths of her grain supply
comes from abroad, and she must
import coal and raw materials as
well. Her sea-borne trade was
strangled. The Germans laid mines
before English ports, the British laid
them in the North Sea, and regardless
Of the treaty of London Britain con-
trolled the trade Of neutral states
adjacent to Germany. and, finally in
the Spring Of 1915 did away with all