The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-11-08

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ica-but not enough.
This lack of industrial fuel
the Dutch are now resorting to
peat for some purposes-haS held
up production for home consump-
ton as well as export. Particu-
larly, lack of fuel has caused Sc
we're shortages in building mate
rails, and housing is extremely
acute.
The average Hollander, with
out enough to eat or enough to
wear, blames much of his diff
culties on what he calls "the In
donesian situation" He is not
sympathetic with any view which
holds that the rest of the world
has any right to interfere in the
Javanese dispute.
Holland, a small country, has
depended for her economic sue
cess to very large extent upon
her colonies and dominions. She
has built up a large debt during
the war, which through her colo
NAL trade might have been re-
duced or wiped out within a rea-
sonable period of time. But colo
NAL troubles have prevented this,
with the result that the Dutch to-
day have little foreign exchange
to buy things they need, not only
to rebuild but to live.
The average Dutchman feels
that the mother country has done
much for her colonial empire
and that she should reasonably
expect return on her invest
ment. Without that return" one
Hollander told me, 1--WE arc lost"
All that Holland can do now
is to sell as much goods abroad
as possible to develop foreign
exchange. This is why the stores
here are not as we'll stocked as
in Belgium, and why, on the black
market, an American is invited
(quietly) to trade his dollars for
guilders at the rate of four guild
ers to the dollar-nearly twice the
official rate.
The Holander is not at all sat-
isfied-if he is the father of a
working class family. he envies
the middle class, who can afford
to buy black" If he is middle
class citizen he pities the work
man, but envies the shopkeeper
1.-THE shops" he declares, "are
making enormous profits" But
the shopkeeper, while he pities
the workman and the salaried
man, complains about taxes. "The
more you take in, the more pro-
gressively exorbitant the taxes"
But support for the govern
ment appears to be solid. 1t is
a coalition of the Catholic and
Labor parties, which account for
over so per cent of the vote. Com
munism is growing, principally
among the lower income groups
and its present strength is placed
at about IL per cent. as compared
with 2 to S per cent before the
war.
The position of the royal fam
lily is secure. although there
seems to be some disposition III
some quarters to criticize Queen
Wilhelmina for leaving Holland
in time of war. Prince Bern
hard, husband of Crown Prin-
cess Juliana. was extremely
popular during the war for the
part he played as an active SOL
dier against Germany, which is
his native country
But some Hollanders criticize
him scvely for what they de-
scribe as bad mistake" after
the war was over. He met his
brother, a German who hao
fought on the Nazi side, ir
Switzerland after Germany haC
been defeated. This feeling i:
understandable only when yol
realize the bitter hatred of the
Dutch toward the Germans. no.
only for the terrible destruc
ton they wrought but also fol
Nazi treatment of Netherlar7
civilians during the occupation.
An example of the treatmcn