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Biggest Belgian political problem was to insure neutrality while popular sentiment favored Great Britain and France. Radios gave both sides, but when a Ministry of Information was organized, censorship was called off by a loud howl of protest. Ticklish situation resulted when a Belgian and a British plane were shot down as the war broke (TIME, Sept. 18), but Belgians agreed it would have been a crisis had German planes been involved.
¶To refugees of all nations, The Netherlands closed its frontiers tight as a bulkhead. The water level of Dutch lakes was raised to facilitate flooding should it be necessary to breach the dykes. War newsreels were banned. As a precaution against violations of territory, the Minister of Defense instructed the Dutch Air Force to shoot down any alien planes which might fly over Netherlands territory. Two days later, a patrol plane spotted a German plane over Dutch waters, attacked, got itself shot down. Germany's Minister to The Netherlands apologized and offered to replace the wrecked plane.
The Netherlands grain shortage was so severe that 50,000 ducks were killed for lack of feed. Steel mill production near the German frontier was down; no ore. Crashing down came Fuhrmann Co., Amsterdam's biggest wool export firm—no wool from Australia to ship to Poland as usual, no capital from London. Loss: about $5,000,000. Rotterdam's Sas van
Gent starch and glucose factory went out of business: no maize. Germany's news agency reported that Netherlanders were boiling because British mines in the North Sea threw Dutch fishermen out of work. But when, after ration cards were issued, Queen Wilhelmina, Prince Bernhard with Princess Beatrix in his arms, and Princess Juliana surprised the people by going for a sportive walk through the streets of The Hague (see cut), round Dutch cheers were as loud as ever.