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And the tulips—they are important, too, in this rising of the Dutch spirit. First, they are a symbol of beauty and dignity to a people which has produced much that is beautiful and has lived with dignity; then, they are a reminder of the years of indignity when the Dutch grew tulips rather than grow turnips for the Nazis. In those days the starving Dutch ate tulip bulbs. (Many got sick from the bulbs, and some died.) Lastly and practically (for the Dutch are ever practical) the tulips are an important item of export.
Since war's end Holland has sold abroad (mostly in Great Britain) $12 million worth of bulbs as against $20 million worth in the peak year of 1930. To capture the U.S. market, where Dutch bulbs compete with native breeds, the Hollanders have produced a "predated" bulb, which will bloom on a desired date, depending on controlled temperatures and selected soil. New blooms were developed this spring. The President Truman is a satin-pink tulip; the Joseph Stalin (unveiled in Moscow on May Day), a fiery red, fringe-edged "parrot tulip" selling at $10 a bulb, twice as much as the Truman; the General Eisenhower, a rich purple hyacinth; the Field Marshal Montgomery, a tulip with red and white blotches.
Planning—with Freedom. The Dutch drive to regain their prewar prosperity through beer and Blue Delft, through electric bulbs and flower bulbs and gin and cheese, is not a haphazard effort. It is planned by a Government that contains few brilliant men but possesses one brilliant idea—that in The Netherlands it is possible for free enterprise and a planned economy to go hand in hand. The Dutch Government does not coerce Dutch businessmen for two good reasons: 1) it couldn't if it tried, and 2) it doesn't have to. Dutch business goes along with Government plans because it realizes the necessity of planning in the reconstruction period and because the plans themselves make sense.
The Cabinet is young, hardheaded, practical (although four of the 15 mem bers are academic men who had little practical prewar business or political experience). All but two of them came out of the resistance movement.
New Faces. The Prime Minister, Willem ("Wim") Schermerhorn, former professor of agrarian economy at the University of Delft, established his political reputation in St. Michielsgestel concentration camp.
The Finance Minister, Pieter Lieftinck, is a brilliant mathematician who sleeps little and often. He drowses at will in Cabinet meetings, always snaps wide awake when the discussion returns to finance.
Homely Hendrik Vos, Commerce Minister, is the chief planner. Some businessmen kanker (grumble) against his blueprints, but Vos does not stop for kankerers.
Quiet Socialist Drees, Minister for Social Affairs, was a companion of Schermerhorn at St. Michielsgestel. Wilhelmiaa used to hold herself strictly aloof from Socialists; now Drees is her favorite Cabinet member.
Not new but still remarkable is the face of Minister Eelco van Kleffens, the one important holdover from the Cabinet in Exile. Those who call him a skillful negotiator pay him an accurate but trivial compliment. He is also a man of heart and humor and profound wisdom, one of the few great contemporary Europeans.