Evening star., 1941-07-27
Preservation of Dutch
Windmi!Is
By Frederic J. HdSkin.


Netherlands, there is determined effort
to preserve its time e-honored windmills.
For many years the Hollanders, with
apparent indifference to traditional
charms, have forged ahead. They have
pushed the motorization Of the country
until, it is said, there remains but
single old-time canal boat, propelled by
man on shore with rope and pole. The
Hollanders go about the task Of draining
the Zuider Zee to add TO their acreage
at the sacrifice of story-book fishing
villages But toward their windmills
they feel differently.
Faced with the possibility that these
| colorful institutions will vanish after
many centuries of service, the Hollanders
| have set themselves TO the task of res
! cuing their ancient windmills from the
fate that modern developments have
| tended to close around them With
| this in view they have organized the
Society for the Preservation of Dutch
! Windmills.
! Dutch painters have made the wind
mill symbol of the national soul, and
! there is hardly Dutch house in which
windmill reproduction in some form is
/ not in the living room. Left TO sentl-
/ ment the mills might be remembered
! today only by the paintings in the
! Ryksmuseum and by the big mill that,
/ like a national hero, stands perched on
its pedestal in the heart of Rotterdam.
! When running water is plentiful wind
! mills are not needed, and where woods
/ and hills obstruct the free course Of the
wind they are useless, but conditions in
| these loW-lying lands are ideally suited
! to their functioning. Moreover, the
! windmill is as much part Of Hollands S
history as that played by the successes
| of the Thirty Years War.
In every industry that has played its
part in the upbuilding of Holland, the
windmills have had vital share. In
the old days they produced cocoa, spice,
! paper. oils of all kinds. sawed wood
and peeled rice. In fact, wlndmllls per-
formed practically every task which the
steam or electric mill later was able
! to do.
The industry mill of the NetherlanG-
| for the most part. however, was long
| ago supplanted, but at least TWO time
! honored Offices it still performs. II
| grinds the Dutch farmers corn and
| it drives the encroaching sea from his
fields A few of the industry mills have
| been preserved for traditions sake and
are among the showplaces of the land.
| A few windmills continue TO saw wood,
/ but practically all of the countrys an
! cient Windcraft which survive are en-
gagged in draining marshes or grinding
! corn.
/ Although the Dutch windmill has be-
come a stereotyped form, generally
recognizable for what it is. even when
its wings are gone, considerable vari-
alton in the type is seen. Sometimes
construction is of stone. sometimes OF
I brick, sometimes of wood. and occasion
ally the sides of the shafts are hairy
with thatch.
| The rounded form tapering to a
bumped top, typified by the great -four
windmill at Hoogerheide in Noord'
/ Brabant or that at Kortgene in Zea-
| land, is perhaps most familiar. But
/ there are other styles. The closed post
mill at Oud-Gastel in Noord-Brabant,
! for instance. resembles a wooden box
with fancy lid poised on a stone shed
! and steadied by high flight of ladder
/ like steps. The ornamental windmill.
! De Roos, at Delft, is girt about its base
with a nesting. vine-clad miller's house.
/ The famous Ruysdael windmill at Vilk
BIZ Duurstede astride the narrow thor
oughfare, has a paSsageway through 1t
that serves both pedestrians and vehicles
as a gate to the village.
! In most countries windmills survive
only as museum pieces. In England
they are used as pubs. in France as
cabarets. In both countries the wind
is left to what Ruskin described as its
proper work of bringing up clouds and
! tanning flowers. But in the Netherlands
some $500 vindmills still dot the coun-
tryside, although most of them are no
| more than the last remnant Of the nobls
| race which once ruled the land. The
! introduction of electricity and other
| forms of power threaten to doom an
! institution which has served for more
than 1000 years.
The day of the windmill, however,
is by no means gone, many Hollanders
insist. The organization bent on proving
this has already done much toward
preservation of historic types, spreading
a protective wing over them by pur-
| chase or subsidy. In the latter case,
If the miller hesitates TO incur expense
of repair, or is financially unable to do
so, the society will make donation for
the purpose. The amount of the subsidy
is determined by the societys technical
commission The society, however, has
rigid policy to aid no windmill which
cannot be made self-supporting.
The primary aim, however, is to show
that the windmill still has economic
value. The organization argues that in
country like the Netherlands, where
water power is unavailable and electricity
accordingly expensive, but where winds
are strong and constant, windcraft re-
mains of vital importance. Besides,
it is pointed out, windmills offer pos
sible means of snatching electricity out
of the air Technically, such feat is
held possible by the engineering profess
sion, for the invention of some device
to this end is considered only a matter
of time. 1t has been regarded as a
practical possibility since the time Ben