Evening star., 1940-11-01
Those Dutch Indies


Japan has her eyes on the Dutch
Indies. No doubt about that And
with good reason, because the Dutch
Indies are the greatest colonial prize
in the whole world. Their wealth is
incalculable and their strategic sit
uation Is such that their possession
would clinch Japan's mastery of the
Far East. Furthermore, we Amer
leans have big stake in the fate
of the Dutch Indies, since we are
vitally dependent upon them for
three of our key imports-rubber
tin and quinine.
The Dutch Indies are a chain of
islands stretching almost due east
and west along the Equator for 5000
miles. If map of the Dutch Indies
were super-imposed on map of the
United States, one end of the island
chain would stick out into the Allan
tic Ocean while the other would
project into the Pacific well beyond
Jul WSSIS11l 6a1SO, o41lSC l11C41
combined area is approximately $780,
600 square miles, they are nearly as
large as the United States east of the
Mississippi River and they have a
population approaching 100000.
From time immemorial, these
lands have been famed as the chief
Of
was the lure of those legendary
Spice Islands" which first attracted
adventurous Hollanders more than
three centuries ago. Organized in
their powerful East India Co., they
laid the foundations of a colonial
empire that has endured and
fourished ever since. Spices have
long since become relatively small,
though still lucrative, sideline. Rub
ber is today the leading product.
The Dutch Indies grow more than
one-third of the entire worlds rub
ber crop and, incidentally, another
third is grown nearby in British
Malaysia, which Britain could not
long hold il the Dutch Indies fell
to Japan. From those two sources
we get ninety per cent of our rubber;
so it is easy to imagine what would
happen to our industrial life if that
supply were suddenly shut off. An
economic disaster of the first mag
nitude would enSue. Despite recent
large purchases, we have only few
months supply of rubber on hand.
That supply would be exhausted long
before we could increase our produc-
ton of synthetic rubber, regardless
of the huge expense involved.
From the Dutch Indies and British
Malaysia we likewise get ninety per
cent of our tin, on which our whole
canning industry depends. To be
sure, we are now turning to Bolivia,
the only other major source of sup
ply; so here the situation is not so
risky, though Bolivian tin should be
mixed with the Far Eastern prod
uct in order to get best results. Still
more absolute is our dependence on
the Dutch Indies for quinine, that
vital drug on whose production the
Dutch Indies have a virtual monop-
oily. These three items by no means
exhaust the list of our imports from
the islands. The figures show that
in 1889 our direct trade with them
amounted to $93,000,000 And that is
by no means the whole story, since
large amounts of Dutch Indies prod
uctS were transhipped to us via Euro
pean or British Malayan ports.
The Dutch Indies are likewise one
of the worlds chief producers of oil.
Their great oil fields do not directly
interest us commercially, since we
ourselves are we'll supplied with the
vital liquid. But Japan is oil hungry,
and those Dutch wells are one of
the main bats which lure her am
bilious militarists bent on carving
out great Far Eastern empire. The
Dutch are prepared to blow up the
wells, and their small yet efficient
colonial army, navy and air force
might put up a stiff fight against a
sudden japanese descent. But the
vast extent of the Dutch Indies
would make it impossible to guard
anything more than few key points
even for a short time. Help would
have to be forthcoming, and that
fairly soon. The British could supply
some, both from their Malayan base
at Singapore and from Australia.
Combined Anglo-Dutch forces might
thereby fight a delaying action for
some time. Still, in the last analysis,
only American aid could hold the
far-fung defense line if Japan
should venture a major stroke. This
is the issue which the United States
eventually may have to face squarely