Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 17.djvu/390

 HOUiAND 3t4 HOtXAND

by the male citizens of the kingdom who are dependent entirely on imports conditioned on an twenty-five years of age. The Government and exchange of exports and was generally viewed with the second chamber only may introduce new Bills, suspicion by the opposing nations. Within her bor- the function of the upper chamber being restricted ders unscrupulous profiteers did not hesitate to sell to approving or rejectmg them without the power available food stocks to foreign buyers to an extent of inserting amendments. The executive authority, that threatened depletion and famine. There are vested in the sovereign, is exercised by a responsible four principal railit)ad lines in Holland, all pri- Council of Ministers. There is a State Council, vately operated and owned, with the exception of Road van State, of fourteen members appointed by one which is Government owned but operated by the sovereign, of which the soverei^ is president a private company. A movement is now on foot to and which is consulted on all legislative and a great consolidate all four roads in one organization, to be number of executive matters. The territory is publicly supervised but privately operated. In divided into 11 provinces and 1110 communes. 1919 the tbtal mileage was 1830, and the revenue Each province has its own representative body, the amounted to 96,006,000 guilders. Provincial States, the members of which are elected Financb.— In 1919 the total revenue was 760,- for four years directly from among the Dutch 091,000 guilders; the total expenditure, 1,024,- inhabitants of the province. The provinces are 676,000 guilders. It is estimated that the deficit of allowed to make ordinances concerning the welfare the Netherlands budget will be approximately of the people and to raise taxes, but the ordinances 250,000,000 guilders in 1922, some 20,000,000 higher must be approved by the Crown. Each commune than the deficit in 1921. In 1921 the total funded has a council. national debt was about 2,575,000,000 guilders; a

Education. — ^The new educational provisions of little over half of this amoimt arises Aom direct the constitution which have recently come into and indirect war costs, called ''crisis expenditures." force in Holland provide that private (reneral ele- Recbnt History. — During the World War the mentary education shall be paid for by public position of Holland as a neutral nation was ex- money on the same basis as public education, and tremely difiicult. At the outbreak of the war in that the freedom of private education in the choice August, the Government issued a proclamation of books and equipment and the appointment of of neutrality and mobilized its army of 125,000 men teachers shall be respected. Thus the private church in order to be ready for any emergency that might schools are placed on a par with the State schools, arise. Thousands of Belgian refugees poured across The law of 1917 forbids school children under six- the frontiers into Holland, and with 22,000 interned teen vears of age to do any farm work between Belgian soldiers and 1560 British Marines to sup- 9 in the evening and 5 in the morning. The school port, the Government was involved in great ex- age is from six to thirteen. In 1918-19 there ^ere pense. Holland's shipping losses were large, and 3I24 public elementary schools with 19,757 teachers her trade suffered greatly during the World War and 620,737 pupils; 24i56 private elementary schools due to the system of control exercised by Great with 14,795 teachers and 443,258 pupils; 208 pub- Britain, the United States and Germany. England lie kindergartens and 1147 private kindergartens, stopped all Dutch vessels carrying contraband, de- Besides there are 6 universities, and 34 classical manded that they be used in certain ways. Ger- ( public) schools, 525 schools for working people, 13 many retaliated by refusing safe-conduct to Dutch navigation schools, and 139 middle class schools, vessels which conformed to English rules and

Economic Conditions.— Prorfuch'on. — In 1919 the when the United States entered the war, she backed total cultivable and forest area was 6,078,947 acres; England in taking drastic steps to prevent the im- there were 141,340 acres under wheat, with a pro- portation of cereals in order to prevent Germany duction of 774,918 quarters; under rye 502,676 acres from obtaining any food during the blockade. Most with 1,296,293 quarters; barley, 57,784 acres and of the present trade consists of goods on transit 311,833 quarters; oats 380,270 acres and 2,388,823 from and to Germany, notably the imports of silk quarters. Owing to lack of coal to operate the goods and metal goods. In 1919 relations between factories, in 1919 the output of beet sugar was only Holland and Belgium became strained when the 175,000 tons, compared with 259,550 tons in 1916-17. latter demanded that Limburg, Zeeland, and a The coal output in 1919 was 3,401,346 tons, valued part of Staats Vlaanderen be surrendered to it. at 70,909,000 guilders (1 guilder = 10.402, normal This demand was finally presented to the Peace exchange). Most of the mines belong to the State. Conference and was refused. At the same time the On 24 October, 1920, a law went into effect estab- Dutch ships which had been seized in the United lishing as the legal maximum of labor 45 hours States during the war were returned, a week, an eight-hour day with half holiday on In April, 1915, the International Congress of Saturdays. Sunday labor is permitted only by order Women to denounce war and to demand peace was of the government and the employment of chil- held at the Hague. After the Revolution in Ger- dren under the age of thirteen is prohibited. The many, Holland became the refuge of the abdicating result has been to curtail production. Industry has Emperor Wilhelm II. On 15 January, 1920, the suffered also from the fall in foreign exchange. Supreme Council demanded that the former Em- German competition, and excessive wages. The peror of Germany be surrendered to the Allies for total imports of the country (not including the trial, in accordance with the Versailles Treaty, transit trade) had in 1920 a value of $1,122,490,600 Holland firmly refused, on the groimd of the inter- as compared with $1,318,434,000 in 1919 (including national law of asylum for political refugees, and the transit trade). The total exports had in 1920 said that she would take necessary precautions to a value of $582,837,800 (not including the transit prevent the ex-Kaiser from endangering the world's trade). The imports of the country in the past four peace.

yesirs have reached a total of 7,730,954,200 guilders. Colonial Empirb. — Holland's colonial possessions and its exports only 4,313,219,600 guilders, leaving include the following: Java and Madura, 51,000 an adverse balance of 3,417,734,600 guilders, or at square miles; Sumatra, 163,000 square miles; Dutch normal exchange, $1,459,189,800. During the war Borneo, 214,000 square miles; Celebes Islands, Holland held geographically the position of lying 73,000 square miles : Molucca Islands, 44,000 square across the path of traffic between the belligerent miles; Timor Archipelago, 154,000 square miles; countries and the world's food resources. She was other islands, 27ftQ0 square miles. The colonies are