When there are heavy rains in Germany the Rhine brings down a great
additional volume of water, which has to be checked by the dikes and led
away by the canals. Holland’s fight against water has been a warfare of
varying fortunes. At times in the past dikes have been broken, great
tracts of land have been inundated, and thousands of people drowned.
The Dutch are a careful, plodding, and industrious people, and they have
profited by experience. As a result they are now not only holding their
water enemy in check, but they have actually advanced upon the sea, and
have taken from it sufficient territory to add materially to their
cultivated lands. But the contest with the rivers and the sea has to be
constant. A special body of engineers is appointed to look after the
work, and the Dutch government spends annually several million dollars
to keep the dikes in order and hold the ground. Water is confined in
canals and in large basins; and the ever-faithful windmill, when not
otherwise engaged, is employed to pump the water from the lowlands.