Show I 1 7 CONQUESTS OF PEACE je ite enterprising hollanders are input to under undertake tak e a gigantic piece of completed will be a when c wb which ich en engineering gingering gi skill and a horment Mw hou ment to addition to the wealth of the lf the propos proposition is to erect a afton of the bay known saat mouth aish a t the athe zuyder ze zee e or south sea and ds its water wate r into the north sea 4 shall have been accod athen tills this pS teed about acres of most terland ferland the of been added to area nd has me foundation of the dam or dyke of stone atone and be feet III be s laid SN W width on this wall will be an la with trees As planted I 1 th fth bank structure has reached as the e the sur surface falce of the sea pumps ibe be employed to transfer the water side of the wall to the other exma one at or 1 cost is estimated but as land in holland WO per acre 1 expensive the government feels imUs fied that the e enterprise n ter prise will more than cover the outlay with the draining brainin g of the zuyder zee the hollanders Hollam ders prop propose ose to retake from the he ocean a piece of territory formerly invaded by that en enemy emy of the country the formation of that bay is comparatively recent history in the thirteenth naury century the north sea broke in over the he low coast and formed the zuyder zw aee beautiful gardens and fields were and lives were lost ach calamities have been frequent in we vae history of the country ten years the inundations mentioned forty athe es were destroyed in a similar laas r in the fifteenth h century 1 were lost at one time experiences have taught the peo 12 pie to be ever watchful against the inroads of the sea on the dykes watchmen are on the lookout day and night whenever any sign of danger is seen an alarm is sounded and the male population of the district turns out to repair the damage this condition has been created largely by the fact that much of the coast land is wrested from the sea and consequently is below the surface of the water not less than ninety lakes and bays have in the last three centuries been dried out and changed into farming land thus where the harlem mere once was is now dry land that sustains a population of people it took four years to make this transformation the work of pumping the zuyder zee into the north sea is calculated to require five years when this work is completed another of still larger proportions is likely to be commenced the government engineers are speaking about connecting the islands on the north coast with each other and with the main land by means of dykes and in this way add 1000 squar emiles of fertile land to the area of the kingdom honor to a nation whose ambition it is to make conquests without infringing on the rights of others who by engineering skill accomplish com what others seem to be unable to do except by destructive wars |