HOLLAND ON FIFTY DOLLARS
By Sydney A. Clark 'l2. Robert M. Mcßride & Company.
During the "inclement" early March weather of this past week in mid-April the reviewer has been doing some extensive travelling intensively. On Monday afternoon I went through France on fifty dollars with Mr. Clark whom I had never met before; on Tuesday I went to Lebanon by myself; Wednesday I toured Germany with Mr. Clark as company—again with fifty dollars—and I enjoyed this visit even more than a previous one that I had taken with Baedecker. Never having been to Belgium, Mr. Clark, now an old friend, and I did that little country on Friday and now, Saturday, with the weather changing for the better, 1 am just passing through customs after a comfortable crossing from Holland where my last fifty dollars has been spent in eight days of "doing" comfortably a country reputed to be sudden death for all tourists whose budgets do not permit of large scale expenditures. Again I have Mr. Clark to thank and this time it was the most recent account of his travels: Holland on Fifty Dollars.
I lite the organization of all the books in this series; the style enables me to picture clearly those scenes which I have visited and creates a desire to see the unfamiliar spots. Not too much history but still enough so that travel still has an educational value; an index so complete that one always knows just what to expect from each paragraph. A memory for each dollar expended in each country may not be the memory that will remain with us as individuals but the idea is a good one. All these features have made the books the popular guides to the countries visited by Mr. Clark.
Holland and the Dutch—we expect some mention of "Dutch treat," and you find it in the first few pages. You are early warned that you are in a country whose monetary standards are old fashioned and high but as your stay is shortened to a week, the strain upon those fifty dollars is not too great. The pages concerned with the reclamation project and the statistics quoted as to areas to be won from the sea were startling to one who had never given the matter any consideration. I knew that some of Holland was below sea level. I did not know that half of it was either at sea level or below and that the various reclamation projects would increase the total area by more than half a million acres or seven percent of the total. One thing leads to another and I shall take the advice Mr. Clark gives and read van Loon's R. v. R. Dutch food is praised; Dutch drinks are not neglected. I like the food references in all the books of this set.
The little book on Holland is every bit as good as the others Mr. Clark has written. Personally, I would have liked a little more of Rotterdam and a little less of Amsterdam. I would have liked a canal trip of some length. These are minor points and do not detract from the book and its appeal to the traveller. My only objection to the book is that of price. For the fifty dollar a week traveller, one twenty-fifth of thatone dollar and ninety cents to be exact—is rather high. Perhaps that cannot be helped and what must be, must be. The book is an excellent guide and if I am fortunate enough to visit Holland in the flesh, Mr. Clark will go with me in the book.
