HOLLAND—THE SPIES' MECCA.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13275, 2 September 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOLLAND—THE SPIES' MECCA.

"liicy are on vour trail | nun the '""""•"i V'MI 1" I! (' 11 1i.,1.1 lllshillg," 1 ' ■ ' ' • l '> I'H'.T, W III) ||; (s ociitly .viMti'd Holland and lee|> mu. Ii j ~V i' ! <-<-'bb did when 1,,. S ;| l( | t |,. u ln<l|v Diiv.'icv Than a ••okho one (msiiii'ss of spydom is put suit ot illicit knowleago. but nowadays there are so U'v. places where spying is ,-it hop •V: i ; V °'' i ' irollla,,lt ' ! countries • ' 1 may carry on this mtei cstiiig trad,, without the necessity sooner or later ol being the cent ral (Hire staged >hoo, um-p.-n-t x ln , s V X! '1 tlu ' n, *>' ''if stealthy--1,,0t(,'! t|j the -Netherlands. ThenJ" ;| y 1,(1 liul " hero to spv upon, hut ai,st sonu> guarantee of ininnmitv from i ' , ; n>st spies may "spv on T' really the i<]ca| lorn. «? J ' anyway. Holland is mil ol j] ° ;1 " »»t'ons (says a special eor- !."; po "; " 11 "/ \nv York Herald,. 1,1 ' ""ordain the German s J)v ij; v V ] r - v " l r ,v - 1,1 tl'«- hotels. coucertjajK theatres, and cafes." As u>

''ven the American .Minister a immune, as only a few I \ S ' -r" ll '. 'oiled a scheme whicl t,)r lh( ' placing of a sp, ; rnie o! the belligerent Powers on hi; 1 ' . : V a ' '"nestle servani. Ujicn 1 reached Rotterdam I went io the over-crowded cale attached to r (,lilll| l Hotel ( ouynians, and while 1 sat there, bewildered bv the sound "/ tongues that out-Hal,eled Mabel. :• 'lapper. clean-shaven man. who mi-dit liave passed lor twenty-live, but re.dh about lorty years of ;'ige, ioo| c elinir next to mine and opened the ball <} asking, 'Are you an American?" tiling the next ten minutes lumen none, the names of a score of -New \ork business men who weren't him tell it—intimate friends, and Uieii he sought to discover uhv I was in Holland. As a reward for frank'V >Ss . w liicli livalled hi,s own and tlierelore revealed nothing, he named ">e to guard my papers carefully and "cut to leave them in niv hotel, as were hundreds of German spies 1 . "no would not stop at anything

to gain lnlormation for the Fatherland. * ,s 1,1 r 1 ' 11 '_ cale a London acquaintance dropped into his vacant chair and « lispeiod. "Do you know the man with whom you were talking?" replied, "but I like his brand ol cigar. ' Well, said my Englisiiian. "beware ot him : he is a German secret agent who poses a> an American." 1 thanked him lor his warning, accepted a cigar from him. too, and was told next morning that he also is a German agent. "This is no place for another innocent Abroad was my thought, and I quickly 'etc lor The Hague, onlv to find tint J had stepped Jroin the frying-pan into the lire, lor outside of diplomatists business men and the legal inhabitants, a l the rest of the residents of this tov.o »»t fascinating city seem to be entitled to the lamily name of Pry. There is only one attractive thine a lout those spies in Holland—their money, which they spond freely, and this makes tor their entry into iill the leading hotels, rostraurants, and places of amusement in which, as is the rule throughout Europe to-day, American

ragtime music. American drama, and American "movies" are the rage of the hour.

Although when the war is over there may be a change in this respect, for the present Holland presents a most cosmopolitan a.spect. "I pass my evenings in the Hotel Central." says the writer, rubbing elbows with poor man, rich man. beggar man—and spy." Ho continues :

Ihe orchestra, screened by palms, and Hungarian in name though Dutch in nationality, gallops through "When the midnight Choochoo loaves for Alabam, and the street urchins, passing by. whistle stridently that old-time favorite. "1 want to go, I want to go, I want to go down South in Dixie."' This fondness here lor things American applies to all classes. American shoes are driving out the wooden shoon of 1 'V\ ynken, Blynken, and Nod"; American clothes are rapidly replacing the baggy monstrosities ' that once reached here from London; the girls look like American girls—and theretore they look good to me —and your Dutchman is very happy when you tell him that lie speaks English like an American. The only foreign touch in public is supplied by the spies—and not- by all of these,'either. In fact, the hotel section of The Hague looks at night like a slice ol the Broadwav white-light district, and the modern Dutchman looks like and is the American of Europe. Once in a while one sees here an

aged man or woman who might have stepped out of a Frans Hals or a Rembrandt, but 00 per cent, of the inhabitants, including tlie smartly set-up soldiers, look typically American.

So there is reason to be thankful for the little, bit of foreign flavor imported by the spies who give an additional spice to lilt* by manufacturing rumors like the one that was set afloat when general mobilization was ordered by the Government, but which has lost its savor now that the world knows that that sensational move was purely precautionary and that the outcome has been merely confirmation of a report that has been current for many years—"The Dutch have taken Holland!"