The Indianapolis times. [volume], February 12, 1930, Home Edition, Page PAGE 4, Image 4

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PAGE 4
a f * / P P 1 • M am D
Who Won?
Whatever the people as a whole may gain
from the services of a Noblesville editor as
a collector of revenue for the state, a post
important to politicians since it comes into
very close contact with big incomes, the pro
fession of journalism will gain little in public
confidence by this appointment.
In the family quarrel—if there was one—
it would appear that Watson deserted his
friends and that Robinson punishes not only
those who fail to regard him as the greatest
of all statesmen, but serves notice that no
one with relative who refuses to accept this
creed can hope to gain recognition. The
women of the state will understand that they
are merely useful at elections and then for
gotten.
Before the senate approves of the ap
pointment of the Noblesville editor, someone
should make immortal his services to the
state in an important hour.
It was this editor who rushed to the de
fense of Ed Jackson when he stood accused
of attempting to bribe his way to power and
who lauded Coffin as the greatest of all
leaders.
That a very few of his colleagues re
printed the appeal, which was broadcast at
great expense, is a tribute to the judgment
and the journalistic honesty of the others.
The selection may be useful. It should
serve to remind Republicans of the state of
the rule of Jackson and the statute of limi
tations.
The Man of the Ages
Each one may find some reason of his own for
paying tribute today to the memory of Abraham
Lincoln, enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen
as the most human of all Presidents, perhaps the
greatest contributor to its destiny.
Descendants of slaves reverence him as the lib
erator who struck away their shackles and left them
free to work cut their own destiny.
Students of history acclaim him for iris great faith
in the power of the people to rule themselves and
his insistence on the traditions of popular govern
ment.
His tragic death now seems the work of fate, rather
than that of an assassin, for it aroused sleeping
loyalties and invites a reverence for his memory that
might have been dimmed had he lived through the
hates of the days of reconstruction.
Certain it is that he would never have consented
to harsh means of reprisal toward the southern states
nor permitted the traditions of self-government to
be violated. The result would have inevitably been
his own descent, in public confidence in the north for
the hates of war do not die with the echo of the
last shot. They live as bitterly in the hearts of the
victors as they smolder in unforgettable resentment
in the souls of those who lose.
Perhaps the highest tribute is that he understood
the age in which he lived, caught its aspirations and
its hopes and was thus able to lead and guide when
conflicting views were threatening to disrupt and
divide those who, by tradition, desire and necessity,
should have a common purpose and a common destiny.
That Indiana contributed to the formation of his
character is a matter of pride. It was in this state that
he developed those qualities of mind and soul which
were to later direct the nation in its hour of test.
Here it was that he came to understand the real
meaning of liberty and the real foundations of all
freedom.
Maligned, criticised, opposed at every step, he saw
clearly and thought straight. For that reason he lives,
not as the Emancipator, but a believer in his fellow
man, whose vision reached into the ages, who saw
human rights ever dominant, and man the final con
queror in oppression, hate and tyranny in every guise
and every form.
Congress Can Help
Congress is about to have its long-awaited oppor
tunity to co-operate with the administration in
Indian reform. The Indian bureau under the Hard
ing and Coolidge administrations was among the
worst of executive services, and that was saying a lot.
Congress, quite properly, objected. Now there has
been a sweeping change.
One of the finest things President Hoover has
done is the appointment of Indian Commissioner
Khoads and Assistant Commissioner Scattergood.
They are men of wide business experience and high
in the public confidence. They know the Indian.
They have no axes to grind, political or personal.
These executives have been given a free hand by
the President in their difficult job of housecleaning.
So they have been able to improve personnel and to
evolve an intelligent and constructive policy.
That policy aims at making the Indian a “sell
. ustaining, self-respecting American citizen just as
apidly as this can be brought about.” This involves
raising the health, living and educational standards
of the Indian dependent on the federal government.
nd at tne same time gradually transferring these
functions to the states under proper safeguards.
Indians would be absorbed into the public school
systejn. It is hoped to eliminate the Indian bureau,
and much of what is known as the special Indian
problem, within twenty-five years.
With this progress in sight, unexpected opposition
is developing in congress.
Whatever may be said of details of the individual
bills necessary to carry out the administration policy,
it is difficult to believe that congress will put itself
in the position of obstructing that general policy
of reform.
Stimson’s Submarine Gesture
Secretary Stimson's foot slipped when he lectured
the London naval conference., demanding abolition of
the submarine on grounds of high morality. It is
dangerous for one nation to lecture others on their
morals. They are apt to turn the point against the
lecturer.
Said Stimson:
"For this conference, called under such influences,
to sanction an instrument of war, the abuses of which
....... .
The Indianapolis Times
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BOYD GURLEY. ROY W HOWARD, FRANK G. MORRISON,
Editor President Business Manager
PHONE—Riley 8851 WEDNESDAY. FEB. 12. 1930.
Member of United Pre**, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Asso
ciation. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations.
“Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way”
were directly responsible for calling the western world
into the greatest European war of history, would be a
contradiction of the pui poses for which we have met.”
Doesn't Stimson know that the same argument
can be used with equal effectiveness for the total abo
lition of all naval vessels?
Does he think, in face of all the counter-evidence
of history, that he can make war pretty? Does he
think that abolition of submarines would make any
future war, with the present improved methods of
frightfulness against belligerents and noncombatants,
more “humane” than the last?
Does he not know that the submarine is the only
inexpensive weapon which smaller and poorer coun
tries have to protect themselves against the great
powers, such as America and Britain, with our large
offensive fleets and battleships? That is the answer
made by France and Italy, and it can not be refuted.
Does Stimson not know that there is only one way
to abolish the submarine, and that is to accept the
fair bargain of the smaller countries for abolition of
submarines in exchange for abolition of battleships?
America has blocked the proposal of Britain and
others for abolition of the battleship; America even is
demanding the right to build anew and stronger
battleship.
Then by what rule of fair play, or of morality, or
of sheer diplomatic strategy, can Stimson make his
submarine proposal, which drives other nations into
an anti-American bloc?
All agi'ee, including American naval officers, that
there is no chance of abolishing the submarine on
Stimson’s one-sided terms. Therefore the proposal
generally is interpreted merely as a gesture.
If it is a gesture, it may be a costly one.
Efficiency and Profits
Private operation of public utilities is defended
with the argument that competition assures lower
rates to the consumer as operating efficiency increases.
If this defense is sound, electrical rates through
out the United States should be on the decline. A
report from the bureau of mines reveals that the fuel
cost of electrical energy has been almost cut in half
since 1919. In that year it required an average of 3.2
pounds of coal, or coal equivalent, to produce one
kilowatt hour of electrical energy.
In 1928 the average fuel-cost was 1.76 pounds a
kilowatt, or 55 per cent of the 1919 cost. These figures
are computed by the bureau of mines on the basis of
monthly reports from central stations producing 95
per cent of the nation’s electrical power.
Wages for plant operatives have remained prac
tically unchanged since 1919, but the number of
employes has decreased, while the total output in
creased. Thus, the labor cost per unit of power has
also declined.
Finally, twenty billion kilowatts of new water
power energy has been added to the average annual
electrical output since 1919. Water power energy
everywhere costs less to produce than fuel electricity.
In 1928 two-thirds of all the energy produced came
from water plants.
These figures mean, first, that even the most ex
pensive production methods are becoming yearly less
costly a unit of output. They mean, second, that the
proportion of water power energy—less expensive to
produce than the least expensive fuel unit—is in
creasing.
The logic of these considerations is that the average
production cost for all electrical energy has been
reduced by approximately cne-half in the last ten
years.
To what extent have the consumers shared these
benefits of operating efficiency? Refusal of the elec
trical industry to present its financial reports to the
federal trade commission inquiry makes the statistical
answer to this question unavailable.
The only answer to be given is that which each
consumer can provide from his own experience.
REASON
NOBODY is excited these days on reading that
smallpox has broken out here and there, but in
former days such news was like a fire bell in the
night, arousing entire communities and filling them
with fear.
Then the ravages of the disease were great and
out from each town there was a pesthouse where the
victims were confined and after school curious chil
dren, holding their noses, would gaze upon it from
a distance of 200 yards, then turn and run.
a a a
Thanks to vaccination and cleaner living, this
scourge has lost its terrors: thanks to the constant
labors of medical science this and other plagues which
slew our ancestors have been controlled or banished
from the land.
If the lawyers of the country only would band
together to handle crime as the doctors have banded
together to handle disease, life and property would
be more secure.
u tt a
A DELEGATION appeared before congress, seeking
to have the high notes taken from “The Star-
Spangled Banner,” but after this has been done the
people wall have to learn the words before they can
sing it.
Now everybody sings the first line and hums the
rest.
n a tt
One trouble with this disarmament conference at
London is that all the delegates are technical experts.
If each nation had sent a delegation of ordinary
taxpayers the result, would have been the greatest
international scrap pile in all history.
tr b a
When one listens to the broadcasting of these
speeches from London he thinks what a chill it would
have given England if Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or
Death” speech could have been sent over the Atlantic.
808
THE papers say that Lindy and Anne expect an
heir some time in April, and if the little fellow
takes after his flying folks ne will cut his teeth on
a comet and employ the rolling thunder for a
rattle box.
B B ' B
The secretary of the Hammond (Ind.) Chamber
of Commerce announce that the industrial center of
the United States is only thirty miles from that
town, but the repeating center is much closer
than that.
B B B
Germany lias just christened one of her new bal
loons with a bottle of milk, but it would seem that
it would nave been more appropriate to use a bottle
of cream.
B B B
Senator Couzens of Michigan did right to forgive
his daughter for eloping with that young Washing
ton banker, for haring been an insurgent himself all
these years he could hot very well blame her for
following his example.
v * *
China is on the verge of another war, which
proves that you can lead a rebel general to market,
but you can’t make him sell^
„ FREDERICK
LANDIS
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
M. E. Tracy
SAYS:
How Lincoln Would, Feel
About Prohibition Is a
Good Question to Consider
Today.
LOOKING down from an eleva
tion of eighty-three years,
which nine-tenths of thoee who
read this never will attain, Thomas
A. Edison expresses the belief that
prohibition ultimately will succeed.
You know how most people will
answer that. They will say that
one man's opinion is as good as
another, which is not true.
Neither is it true that the same
man’s opinion is equally good about
all things.
Mr. Edison, for instance, can
claim the right to deliver expert
judgment on phonographs, motion
picture machines and electrical de
vices in general, because he has
spent his life developing and per
fecting them.
The average district attorney,
police chief, or even social worker,
though unable to count half his
years, probably could give more re
liable judgment as to prohibition.
tt tt a
The question of whether prohibi
tion will succeed is of rather less
importance than is the question of
whether it ought to, of whether
compelled sobriety is worth the sac
rifice of the rights and principles
which it necessarily involves.
One can admit that there is
power enough in the government of
the United States to enforce pro
hibition and still doubt the wisdom
of employing it to that end.
Such achievement would not be
unprecedented. At one time or an
other in the past, governments have
succeeded in denying people more
important privileges than that of
taking a drink.
But what happened to them
afterward?
a tt tt
Limit to Endurance
IT isn’t what a benevolent autoc
racy can do to purge and purify
the souls of men, but how much
human nature is willing to endure
that really counts.
The American revolution itself
was produced by some rather in
consequential taxes and restrictions,
w'hich the British parliament well
could have afforded to dispense
with, and probably would have dis
pensed with had it been able to
foresee the future.
tt tt a
No one can quarrel w r ith the idea
of sobriety, or temperance.
No one can doubt that we prob
ably would be better off without
liquor than with it, if a choice be
tween the twm extremes were the
only alternative.
Drunkenness has caused a deal of
trouble in this world, and doubtless
it will continue to do so.
But tyranny, even though rooted
in the best of intentions, has
caused more.
u tt *
.Lincoln Was Tolerant
is a good subject to
think about on Lincoln’s birth
day.
Lincoln’s character and career
represented nothing so distinctly as
a challenge to it in every form.
First, lie worked to free the slaves
from oppression. No sooner had
that been accomplished than he be
gan an uphill fight to protect the
beaten south against the very same
thing.
Lincoln was, above all else, a tol
erant man. He not only believed in
tolerance as a principle, but as the
most effective means by which to
gain people’s confidence.
Others would have used a club to
hold Kentucky, Missouri and Mary
land in the Union, and probably
would have lost them in conse
quence. Lincoln was patient and
won.
This is not the country Lincoln
left on that fatal night sixty-five
years ago. Its political ways he
might find easy to understand, but
its industrial, financial and me
chanical ways would stagger him,
not only because of the change they
represent, but because of their
largeness.
Lincoln once expressed deep con
cern for the safety of this republic
because of “the growing power of
corporate wealth,” and that at a
time when what we would regard as
a second-rate railroad was the big
gest thing in sight,
How would he feel toward the
stupendous mergers and combines of
today.
tt tt tt
How Would Lincoln Feel?
PUTTING that aside, how w’ould
Lincoln feel toward prohibition,
with which he could claim some
experience? Would he regard it as
the natural result of certain re
form waves which began to surge
and seethe in his own time, or as
more or less of a stampede, due to
war fever?
As President, would he make he
roic efforts to enforce prohibition,
out of regard to his oath of office
and to the Constitution, or would he
conceive it a higher duty to work
for the repeal or modification of an
amendment which is robbing the
latter of its reverence?
Daily Thought
And It shall come to pass in the
day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I
will punish the princess, and the
king’s children, and all such as
are clothed in strange apparel.—
Zephaniah 1:8.
tt a tt
Though punishment be slow, still
it comes.—George HerberJ.
What is the greatest depth ever
attained by a deep sea diver?
Frank Crilley, while working on
the salvage of the F-4 off Honolulu
in 1917 reached the depth of 306
feet.
Are alien residents of the United
States required to pay federal in
come tax?
Yes.
What is the Jewish population of
Chicago and New York?
The Jewish population of Chicago
is estimated at 285,000; of New
York 1,643,012.
1 w v ?s^rf
Underwear for Babies Important
BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN
Editor Journal of the American Medical
Association and of Hygeia, the
Health Magazine.
COMFORT while asleep and good
health associated with perfect
rest will depend to a large extent
on the temperature of the body and
its retention of heat.
It is recognized that still warm
air, which is extremely uncomfort
able, becomes quite comfortable
when the air is in motion. Heat on
the surface of the body is extremely
uncomfortable, whereas evapora
tion and absorption of moisture
from the skin may aid comfort
greatly.
In the infant, warmth is of far
more importance than in the adult,
because of its tendency to sudden
changes of temperature and the
fact that its rapid growth uses up
far more energy than is used up in
the adult.
Recently Drs. C. E. Snelling and
A. Brown have made a study of the
various types of material used for
infants’ underwear, with a view to
the comfort of the infant’s skin and
the general effects of the underwear
on infant health.
IT SEEMS TO ME
BY now I know how a guinea pig
feels and the answer is, “just
terrible.” The Columbia Broadcast
ing people played something in the
nature of a practical joke upon me,
and it was through their kind of
fices that I learned the inward
emotions of such beasts as are sacri
ficed to science.
It began with a letter inviting me
to come to the studio to witness ah
interesting experiment as to the
manner in which various types of
individuals would react to different
kinds of music.
I can imagine few things which
arouse in me a smaller amount of
passionate interest. In my own ex
perience there are only two types of
reaction to music.
There are the pests who hum the
tune along with the band, and the
rest who keep their mouths shut.
And, oh, yes, there are those who
tap time with their feet.
Although not minded to exclaim,
“Goody! Goody!” at being let in on
the ground floor of the research, I
replied amicably to the invitation
and in the affirmative.
It so happens that I have been
snooping around trying to get a
broadcasting job, and in such cir
cumstances one can't afford to carry
his hat too high. With me every
week is “Be King to Radio Stations
Week.”
808
A Martyr
IGOT more than I bargained for.
It wasn’t the ground floor on
which they let me in but the cellar.
Arriving at the studio, I found that
I was no spectator, but one of the
subjects to be experimented upon.
They had a minister, an orchestra
conductor, the leader of a jazz band,
a couple of assorted business men,
an actress and a stenographer. I
was introduced as representing
“journalism,” which made me self
conscious from the start.
We sat in a circle and a man with
a machine which looked like a cock
tail truck, was in the middle. It
was a sort of super-sensitive stetho
scope which greatly amplified the
sound of the heartbeat.
I used to be a hypochondriac and
at one time I had the largest col
lection of cardiac experts in the
country.
In fact, most of the leading spe
cialists got their start on me. Pret
ty nearly all of them spoke of my
heart pleasantly enough, but I kept
going back and tack for examina
tion, just on the chance that they
might turn out to be wrong.
nun
Medical Shopper
AFTER heart doctors I went In
for psycho-analysts, and the
fifth time it took. Asa reformed
medical shopper I shy away now
from all the paraphernalia to which
I was once enslaved.
A stethoscope is not. entertain-
What’s in a Name
DALLY HEALTH SERVICE
Not infrequently the skin of the
child is irritated by wool. To over
come such irritation, fabrics now
are made with cotton on one face
and wool on the other. Infants with
skin eruptions of the type of
eczema do not tolerate the woolen
garments very well.
It is recognized that wool Is not
easy to launder as other fabrics.
The best woolen garments have
been preshrunk and stand launder
ing without shrinking.
They will not, however, stand boil
ing or being rubbed with strong
soaps. Cotton may be boiled and
sterilized, but strong soaps and
bleaching powder ruin it promptly.
Rayon garments have to be han
dled as carefully as do wool.
In tests made by the investigators
it was found that ribbed knit cot
tons stretched from one-third to
one-half longer in washing.
Fleece, canton flannel and flan
nelet had a large amount of the
fuzz worn away, whereas the woolen
fabrics, rayon and bird’s eye were
practically unchanged by several
careful washings.
In diaper fabrics, durability is im
portant. Flannelet and canton flan-
lIEYWOOD
’ BROUN
ment to me any more. In fact, one
might just about as tactfully wave a
whisky bottle under the nose of a
man who just has taken the Keeley
cure.
Still everything was set for the
big scientific experiment and there
could be no last-minute dodging.
The stunt was to have the resi
dent orchestra play a tune and
then see how it affected the pulse
rate of the assorted guinea pigs. As
I remember the band began with
“Carmen.”
It wasn't quite a fair scientific
test as far as I was concerned.
“Carmen” leaves me calm enough,
but to one who is stethoscope shy,
the big electrical cabinet was suffi
cient to produce a flurry.
By the time the wagon got around
to me, the orchestra was playing a
fox-trot. This produced the second
highest pulse found during the eve-
HSi
LINCOLN’S BIRTH
Feb. 12
ON Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lin
coln, sixteenth President of
the United States, was born in a
i log: cabin in Hardin county, Ken
j tucky.
Asa boy, Lincoln knew the hard
j .ships and privations of frontier life.
; All his schooling combined probably
| would not have made up more than
I one year.
After serving as a captain in the
| Black Hawk war, Lincoln ran for
the legislature. Following his de
feat and the failure of an attempt
a little later to run a general store,
he began the study of law.
In 1834 he was finally elected to
the legislature and was re-elected
two years later. About two years
before his election to congress he
| married Mary Todd.
Asa representative In congress
j Lincoln found in the senate a great
rival in Stephen A. Douglas, wdt.h
whom he engaged in several his
toric public debates on slavery.
Nominated at Chicago in 1860 for
| President, Lincoln won the election
He was in office but six weeks when
; the Civii war broke out.
Shortly after the battle of Antie
i tarn, in which the Union forces had
the upper hand, the President issued
his famous emancipation proclama
j tion, declaring he would, on Jan. 1.
: 1863, free the slaves of all the states
then or thereafter in rebellion,
j Lincoln was re-elected, but his
second term was cut short when he
was mortally wounded by an assas
sin’s bullet while he sat at Ford's
theater, Washington, watching a
*lay.
3
nel lose the nap and their power of
absorbing water after washing and
scrubbing.
Knit fabrics stand up much better
and one set of knitted diapers has
been found in hospital wards to
outwear three sets of the woven
fabric.
Practically all families must con
sider the cost of various garments.
Cotton Is cheapest; cotton and
rayon mixed cost slightly more.
Wool and cotton or wool and ray
on are next in order. Pure wool
is higher and silk and wool is most
expensive. Perhaps the best choice
for the average person is a mixture
of rayon and wool, which looks well
and. is not irritating.
Bird’s eye and flannelet are more
popular for diapers, but the knitted
fabrics out-wear them in the long
run and are therefore more
economical.
Doctors Snelling and Brown are
convinced that the ideal underwear
is one which combines warmth,
ready and rapid absorption, lack of
skin irritation and durability with
moderate cost.
For this purpose the two-layer
fabric seems most desirable.
Ideals and opinions expressed
in this column are those of
!>ne of America’s most inter
esting writers and are pre
sented without regard to their
agreement or disagreement
with the editorial attitude of
this paper.—The Editor.
ning. But it belonged to the stenog
rapher and not to me.
She was a very pretty stenog
rapher and to her the oom-pah-oom
suggested whirling around a ball
room floor with a boy friend and
giggling, “Now, do behave!”
tt a a
His Pulse
FOR me there was no such conno
tation. The picture conjured
up in my mind by a fox-trot is that
of a large man left alone at the
table with an intense inclination to
have the party break up so he can
get home to his bed and books.
Mine was a wallflower’s pulse of
68 2-10. But the girl at the end of
the line reacted as the belle of the
ball ought to react to dance music.
About that time, the experimenter
looked around among his subjects
to find a hefart which might be am
plified and broadcast to all the
world. I had a bit of a scare before
he passed me up.
Still, I can’t say that I went away
without any happy memories. I
always will treasure the fact that
the Methodist minister developed a
pulse of 121 over a tune called “You
Do Something to Me.”
(Copyright, 1930. bv The Times*
Reduce interest payments each
month on your
Mortgage Loan
We will make loans on city
property up to 60 per cent
of its appraised valuation,
and at the lowest prevail
ing- interest rate. Interest
and principal are reduced
monthly.
Ask us about our mortgage
loans.
FARMERf TRUfT CO
150 EAST MARKET ST.
-FEB. 12. 1930
SCIENCE
BY DAVID DIETZ
The Netherlands Will Gain
5:10,000 Acres of Land by
Gigantic Drainage Project.
BY 1934. the Netherlands will be
larger by 550.000 acres of land.
That much land—equal to 7 per
cent of the total area of the na
tion —will be reclaimed by a great
engineering project now under way.
The new land, turned into farms,
will provide a livelihood for 500.000
people.
The aim of the project is to drain
the famous Zuider Zee. t.You pro
nounce it by giving the "ui” the
sound of ‘‘oi’’ in ‘ oil.'’ and the “ee”
the sound of “a" in “say.” That is.
as if it were spelled "zoider zay.”>
The Zuider Zee is a shallow gulf
penetrating far into the northern
part of the Netherlands. It com
municates with the North sea. but
is almost cut off from it at low
water by islands and sand banks,
its depth at low water averages fif
teen feet.
The problem is complicated by the
fact that the Netherlands already
has vast areas of reclaimed land
which are drained into the Zuider
Zee. It is not possible, therefore, to
eliminate the entire body of water.
It is planned to create a lake with
an area of 250,000 acres. This lake
will be a gigantic reservoir under
control so that flood conditions and
the like can be handled by it.
Two rivers, the Yssel and Vecm
which now flow into the Zuider
Zee, will flow into the new lake.
Tt is planned to call the new lake
Lelv lake, after the late Dr. Cor
nelius Lely, former secretary for
public works of the Netherlands,
who drew up the plans for the proj
ect.
tt tt tt
Vigilance
\ WITTY Frenchman once said.
■Fx- “God created land for all na
tions except the Dutch; they cre
ated their own.”
The observation expresses what
the Dutch have had to do to find “a
place in the sun.”
The northern and western parts
of the Netherlands consist almost
entirely of reclaimed land, land sur
rounded by dikes to keep out. the
sea In many places these re
claimed areas, known as “polders,”
are twenty-four feet below the level
of the sea.
Constant vigilance is the price
which the Dutch must pay to keep
the sea, the Rhine and Meuse riv
ers and their tributaries from flood
ing the land.
The ZUider Zee project first was
suggested in the seventeenth cen
tury by Simon Stevin, a famous
mathematician. Two centuries
elapsed, however, before any prog
ress was made. In the nineteenth
century a society was organized to
make a scientific study of the
problems involved.
The society engaged Dr. Cornel
ius Lely to work out a scheme. At
the end of five years he had his
plans drawn up. His plan was ac
cepted by parliament and he was
made secretary for public works.
Twenty-four years passed by,
however, and nothing was done
about the project. In 1918. after
the end of the World war, parlia
ment voted to begin the project.
The cost was estimated at SIOO,-
000,000,
Actual work was begun five years
ago. It is hoped that the job can
be completed by 1934.
a tt u
Dike
'T'HE work entails the building of
’*■ a masive dike nineteen miles
long. No dike of such size ever lias
been constructed before.
At the bottom of the sea, the dike
will be 336 feet wide. The dike will
ixtend to a height of 24 feet above
the average level of the sea. The
top of the dike will be wide enough
to accommodate a double railway
track, a motor road and a sidewalk.
The dike is to be constructed from
material dredged up from the bot
tom of the Zuider Zee, sand and a
very heavy clay. The side toward
the North sea, however, will be re
inforced with heavy rock.
Two great locks will permit en
trance of ships from the North sea
to the new lake.
The reclaimed area will be divided
into four areas or “polders.’-’ Each
will be inclosed in its own dikes
and the building of these dikes is
being carried on at the same time
that the large one is being built.
It is expected that the smallest of
the four polders, the northwest one
will be drained within the course of
a few months