Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1920 — HOLLAND HIT HARD BY WAR [ARTICLE]

HOLLAND HIT HARD BY WAR

Impression She Was Enriched by It Dispelled by Figures. GOST COUNTRYJ477, 787,000 All of Her Industries Suffered, and Much Was Sunk In Certain Foreign Bonds—Suffered Most ■ of Any Neutral. New York. —Impressions that Hol%hd became enriched by the war are combated in a pamphlet Issued by D. J. Steyn Parve, acting consul general for the Netherlands, showing that, by reason of its geographical and economic position, the pressure and evil effects of the war were probably more seriously felt there than in any other neutral country. On the mainland, the pamphlet says, Holland was entirely surrounded by territory in the hands of one of the belligerents, while the North sea, more than any other waterway, was part of the war zone. As the prosperity of Holland depends upon international Intercourse, industries were choked, large outlays were imposed In the maintenance of a defensive army, there was growing unemployment and the people generally suffered. Shipping Shrinks. In 1913 shipping in the ports of Holland amounted to 36,229,000 net tons. That volume shrank to 3.363.000 tons in 1918. Traffic in Amsterdam decreased from 2,597 ships In 1913 to 378 in 1918, and in Rotterdam from 11,285 to 1.181 ships. Rhine tonnage dropped from 1.168,614 in 1913 to 490,732 in 1918. Dutch foreign trade became entirely disorganized, owing to restrictions enforced by both belligerents.' Import duties in 1913 amounted to $5,447,040. In 1918 they were about $3,000?000. and domestic trade suffered by the reduction. Individuals made excess profits here and there, producing a crop of the newly-rich, but they thrived at the cost of an impoverished country; and against these profits should be reckoned the loss of 247,348 tons of shipping, representing 22.38 per cent of the fleet of 1913. Large profits came from agriculture, in clay soil, tn the first years of the wflT,.. Sandy noil could not be cqltt-

vated, owing to lack of fertilizers, and the requisitioning of rye, formerly used as fodder, caused serious reduction In the number of cattle. It was necessary to kill off the smaller species of iive stockrte" order to save food for the more valuable species. War conditions proved favorable to the fisheries in certain periods. At other tiipes that Industry was doomed to practical inactivity. As many as 135 fishing boats were sunk and many fishermen perished. Dutch holdings of foreign securities were affected. In 1918 the nominal worth of Russian bonds held In Holland amounted to $364,120,000. and additional Netherland interest in Russia represented a value of $52,800,000, all of which may be considered lost. Losses on securities of central Europe, especially In Hungary, were very large. Owing to the limitation of Imports by the allied governments, many of the Dutch industries could work only under heavily restricted capacity. It was extremely difficult to obtain raw materials, coal, “oils and other articles essential to the industries, which had to shut down for varying periods, dismissing their employees. The Royal National Committee of Assistance paid out $22,423,360 from August, 1914, to December, 1918, toward the support of persons made Indigent by the war. In the same period the government allocated $107,200,000 toward expenses of the food supply and $27,840,000 to assist the needy and to combat unemployment. Cannot Be Expressed In Figures. Disadvantages connected with keeping under arms all the able-bodied part of the male population for four years, taking many of them from their studies or their regular productive work, cannot be expressed in figures. The most Important single item was that of the cost of mobilization, which amounted, at the end of 1918, to $330,560,000, bringing the government expenses, due to the war, io a total of $411,787,006. Nearly $160,000,000 was raised by direct taxes and $352,000,000 was obtained by loans. Additional extraordinary expenses have already absorbed $27,520,000, and the debt must inevitably be increased to pay off the original loans in from twenty to twenty-five years. As a consequence taxes per capita must be raised ,to about $23.48 annually, an increase to 188 per cent compared with 1IH&. ,