THE NETHERLANDS: No More Dutch

Many a German gangster is called Dutch. Example: ”Dutch” Schultz. The Pennsylvania “Dutch” are of German, not Netherland descent. In the rumbling language of the Netherlands (Nederlandsch taal) there is no such word as “Dutch.” But it has taken Adolf Hitler to make “Dutch” an issue among phlegmatic Netherlanders.

Keen traders and not oversensitive, Dutchmen know well enough that to a foreigner almost anything written in their language looks unpronounceable or worse. As a matter of business the company which sells their Shell oil is known as the Royal Dutch-Shell. They sell tickets stamped “Royal Dutch Air Lines” for the ships of the K. L. M. (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij). And goods shipped from the Netherlands to English-speaking countries often are branded “Dutch.”

The Jew-fired boycott of German goods has made all the difference to Netherlanders who have begun to discover that it now cuts into their business. Ignorant boycotters refuse to buy “Dutch” goods under the impression that they are rejecting something German, smiting Hitler.

At The Hague last week Her Majesty’s Government issued a circular declaring that “the word ‘Dutch’ must be replaced by ‘Netherland’ to remove the possibility of disadvantageous confusion.” Ever alert for her trading subjects’ welfare, Queen Wilhelmina was said to be personally behind this move to wake up Dutchmen to their boycott peril. That Adolf Hitler aspires to absorb the Netherlands Her Majesty firmly believes, has taken steps accordingly. She permits Dutch Communiststo jeer at her when she opens Parliament but has outlawed the Dutch Nazi Party.