The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-08
Dutch Indies
By T MILES
Editor. e Service

SS@~SJS VI 49, - ALL 01lO4 \, dllA 4OL
it go at that. He is blond, blue
eyed, clean cut, young at so, and
as he formerly served in the Dutch
embassy in Washington he knows
and loves the u. S.
Furthermore, H. E. has a Balti-
more-born wife who is a dandy
and a perfect balance, check and
offset for that other Baltimore
born gal who has achieved more
notoriety but less deserving fame
than this modest lady who rules
over the palace in Batavia.
H. E. rates as a world ruler of
increasing importance because he
holds in his hands the destiny of
an area nearly one-quarter the
size of the United States, COM
prising principally Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, Dutch New Guinea and a
thousand-odd other islands in the
south Pacific, not overlooking Bali.
It has 260, 900 Dutch and 60, 600, 900
native inhabitants, three-fourths of
whom r on the island of Java,
which is twice as densely populat-
ed as Japan. Sumatra alone is as
big as the original 10 United States
and has natural resources of tobac-
CO, oil, rubber, hemp, tim, palm
oil and spices to STAG g the mag
nation. The best customer of all
these Netherlands East Indies is
your United States.
H. E. REALLY
HEAD MAN
Make nc mistakes about tn e
rule of the East Indies residing
here. The islands are possessions
of the Netherlands, but. when the
Dutch government moved to Lon
don, communications were serious
ly interrupted if not practically
severed.
Headquarters of all the Dutch
companies exploiting the islands
were automatically shifted from
Amsterdam to Batavia, and the
money stays here. All the profits
from these Dutch companies are
now put in a pool, and these pro-
fits can be drawn on for taxes,
increased defense, or whatever the
needs of the country may be.
And if by some tough break,
the Netherlands should not be
able to resume their former place
in the European sun, there is no
reason why the seat {: the Dutch
government should not be trans
ferred to Batavia.
As to the present powers Of His
Excellency, consider the setup:
AL legislation for the Indies is
initiated by the Governor General.
H. E. drafts the bills, and sends
them to a Parliament, the Folksra-
az, which is one half elected and
one half appointed by the governor
himself. The Folksraag can ap-
prove the law, or, if it doesn't,
H. E. can declare an emergency
and put the law into fret any
how. The judiciary is appointed
by H. E., and there is no such
thing as legal precedent.
Below this neat top structure
of super government, there is as
complex a local administration as
was ever devised. There are ma
tive sultans ruling some areas,
with Dutch "big brother advisers
pulling the wires. There are gov
errors appointed ~ H. E. for other
areas, with the broadest of pow-
ers. All these governors are career
men, trained Dutch administrators
who, not having to Monkey with
being reelected to office, 60 about
their jobs with a degree of eff
ficiency that should, but probably
won't, put to shame most political
hacks of all laundering democraci-
eS. w
STRAWBERRY
PLATFORMS
Take the case of the governor
of East Java, Oh. o. van der
Plas, whose Delft blue eyes spark
lie over a quaint but youthful
u%nderbrush of black beard. He rose
through the Dutch consular SER
vice, and at one time served in
Arabia. He therefore understands
the Mohammedans, who comprise
a large part of his population. He
is al authority on native langu-
ages, and the agriculture, art and
archaeology of his state. In an area
where every inch of land must be
cultivated, he is at work on prob
lens of recolonization to less popu-
lated islands, finding new crops
for his people and new markets
for the new crops. Whe- he intro
duced strawberries, the patient ma
tives took the trouble of putting
two crossed bamboo splits under
the stem of each berry to keep it
off the ground and make it per-
feet. The governor got a big kick
out of that.
All these governors have under
them a thoroughly schooled Dutch
civil service, formerly educated in
a special college Of colonial ad-
lninistration in Holland, but now
being trained in the Indies. All
over the islands, you see these
smart young Dutchmen, white
linen uniforms, white sun helmets,
doing the job of civil administra-