Potencial de ahorro en la vivienda

In this section, the situation in the national and international transports sector will be discussed, since both suffered from the war. The Dutch book trade was internationally oriented, having many foreign trade partners. Besides, the na- tional transport as well had to change during the war.

International trading

Deliveries from other countries did not always arrive in 1915, though it was mainly a matter of delay. Deliveries from Germany did arrive most of the time, and were not more expensive than before. Britain did deliver with delays, and for a higher price. France was the worst; prices for French books and period- icals tripled and deliveries were always very late, which caused trouble with payments, because the sender had to be paid, but the receiver could not sell his goods on time.197 _{In some cases, overseas deliveries from France were inter-}

cepted by Britain, which caused extra work for the importers, since they had to go to Britain to set things straight.198

In August 1915, all exports via Britain had to pass via the Nederlandse Over- zee Trust Maatschappij (NOT), a company that had to give its consent to every single delivery, on which the sender had to pay per package. This caused a great stagnation in the supply of foreign books.199 _{As a consequence, Dutch import-}

ers decided to request the British government to obtain free exports of books and periodicals. An organisation was established for this matter, the Bond ter Bevordering van den Nederlandschen Handel met het Buitenland (Union for im- provement of the Dutch trade with foreign countries), which was to be active for five years with the aim to keep a watch over international trade and solve problems.200 _{After some officials had visited Britain to discuss the matter, the}

British government decided that they could not allow Dutch importers to skip the NOT, but that instead of an individual permit per delivery one permit for a longer period would be provided. Besides, the payment per package was not allowed anymore. On 6 August, the representatives received the following mes- sage of the British government:

The Customs-authorities have now been instructed to allow the exportation of British newspapers, periodicals, etc, to Holland under consignment to the Netherland Oversea-Trust, on a general license, thus

197 ‘De boekhandel in Holland gedurende den oorlog’, Nieuwsblad, 16 February, 1915, pp. 215- 216.

198 ‘Postzendingen van Fransche boeken en tijdschriften’ (advertisement), Nieuwsblad, 15 June, 1915, p. 744.

199 ‘De groote vertraging in de ontvangst der Engelsche en Fransche boeken en tijdschriften opgeheven’, Nieuwsblad, 13 August, 1915, pp. 1011-1014.

obviating the necessity for exporters to produce special permits issued by the Trust in the case of each particular parcel.201

With this promise, the main reason for delay had been solved for importers known to the NOT.202

In December 1915, a decree was issued by the British Government that Eng- lish newspapers could only be distributed in neutral countries by companies with a special permit.203 _{In April 1916, the intervention of the NOT was not}

necessary anymore; publications from France and Britain could be sent freely again.204

Belgium as well put limits on postal traffic, but the consequences for the Dutch booksellers were limited at first.205 _{In January 1916, it was only permitted}

to send magazines and newspapers to occupied area of Belgium as a publisher, or to a German magistrate, civil servant or army attendant. In June 1916, the rules for Antwerp became even stricter. Periodicals could not be sent at all, only Dutch and German books could be imported, while French and English lan- guage-learning books could only be exported if they were produced by a Dutch publisher, and after import duties had been paid to the German government.206

In September 1916, deliveries from France were causing trouble again, be- cause the regulations were not fixed.207 _{The NOT demanded a great deal of}

information from the Bestelhuis voor den Boekhandel before they gave their consent. Besides, as the trade in leather was prohibited, books bound in leather were prohibited as well.208

Britain caused even more trouble in international trade relations. German books sent by Dutch traders (some traders provided the German publishers with distribution of their books, and some Dutch publishers published German books) to the Indies and America were confiscated more than once, which caused the Dutch publishers to collectively ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs to help them fighting these confiscations.209 _{Moreover, in April 1917, the direct}

sea route from the Netherlands to the Dutch West Indies was blocked. Packages could still be sent, but only via an alternative route, which was more expensive,

201 ‘De groote vertraging in de ontvangst der Engelsche en Fransche boeken en tijdschriften opgeheven’, Nieuwsblad, 13 August, 1915, pp. 1011-1014.

202 ‘De vertraging in de ontvangst van Engelsche en Fransche tijdschriften’, Nieuwsblad, 3 September, 1915, pp. 1081-1082.

203 ‘De verzending van Engelsche dagbladen’, Nieuwsblad, 7 December, 1915, p. 1669. 204 ‘Invoer van gedrukte boeken en stukken uit Frankrijk’, Nieuwsblad, 21 April, 1916, p. 583. 205 ‘Postverkeer België-Nederland’, Nieuwsblad, 21 December, 1915, p. 1751.

206 ‘Bestelhuis van den Boekhandel – Verzending naar Antwerpen’, Nieuwsblad, 13 June, 1916, pp. 818-819.

207 ‘Postpakketten uit Frankrijk’, Nieuwsblad, 26 September, 1916, p. 1277. 208 ‘Het N.O.T. en de boekhandel’, Nieuwsblad, 24 November, 1916, pp.1621-1622. 209 ‘Boekenroof’, Nieuwsblad, 26 September 1916, pp. 1277-1278.

or when provided with the explicit notice ‘by surface mail’, which meant they would be stored until the route was available again.210

Trade with Britain and other countries took some time to recover after the war, but in the course of 1919 they slowly returned to normal.211

National trading

In October 1916, postal tariffs for letters, but not parcels, within the Nether- lands were increased by the government.212 _{Some claimed that this measure}

was unfair, since both the post offices and the senders were disadvantaged as the railway company earned extra money by demanding a higher price for transporting parcels.213 _{Plans were made by the government to increase the}

price of parcels as well.214

In October 1917 the Dutch railway company decided only to transport basic supplies, like food and fuel, for a period of three weeks. Luxury goods like books had to wait. Chaos followed. The commissioners of the Bestelhuis sent a letter to the Minister of Agriculture to ask if books, magazines and newspapers could be excluded from this measure and be transported freely. The minister quickly responded and the limitation was withdrawn.215 _{However, an announcement}

was made that cargo transports by rail on the track Amsterdam-Rotterdam would be stopped in early November, because such transports would now have to take place over water.216 _{In addition, many transport companies announced}

that they would increase the prices of parcels.217 _{These measures were applied}

nationally; no parcels heavier than 50 kilograms per parcel would be trans- ported by train anymore, while the inland shipping companies increased their prices with 50%.218

As winter approached precautions had to be taken. If domestic shipping had to stop because of frost, only food and fuel – like coal – would be transported by train, to prevent shortages.219 _{But as transport by boat became better organised,}

parcels needed despatch notes.220 _{Somewhat later, a special Beurtvaartcommis-}

sie (Barge transport committee) consisting of ship owners and various traders

210 ‘Brief- en pakketpost naar Nederlandsch West-Indië’, Nieuwsblad, 3 April, 1917,p. 444. 211 ‘De toestand der drukkers- en aanverwante bedrijven in 1919’, Nieuwsblad, 22 October, 1920,pp. 968-969.

212 ‘De Nieuwe Posttarieven’, Nieuwsblad, 13 October, 1916, p. 1384; ‘Postpakketten’, Nieuwsblad, 20 October, 1916, p. 1420.

213 ‘Het nieuwe posttarief – een misrekening’, Nieuwsblad, 3 November, 1916, pp. 1500-1501. 214 ‘Verhoging tarieven pakketpost’, Nieuwsblad, 24 November, 1916, p.1629.

215 ‘Een korte storing in het verkeer’, Nieuwsblad, 19 October, 1917, pp. 1436-1437. 216 ‘Staking van het goederenvervoer?’, Nieuwsblad, 23 October, 1917, p. 1457. 217 ‘Verhoging van het bestelgoederentarief’, Nieuwsblad, 26 October, 1917, p. 1472. 218 ‘Beperking van het goederenvervoer’, Nieuwsblad, 30 October, 1917, p. 1497.

219 ‘Vervoer tijdens stremming der vaart door vorst’, Nieuwsblad, 28 December, 1917, p. 1829. 220 ‘Binnenbeurtvaart’, Nieuwsblad, 8 February, 1918, p. 204.

was established. The task of the committee was to further transport and trading in good consultation between the different parties.221 _{This committee resulted}

in a separate organisation, the Nederlandse Verladers-bond (Dutch transporters union), which was mainly focused on inland transports.222