I have just received a paper from Hans Krabbendam, `A plant of
American origin, fit for Ducth soil?' American Proetstantism and the Dutch
Reformed temperance effort, 1835-1935, pp.57-78 in: George Harinck
and Hans Krabbendam, eds., Sharing the Reformed Tradition: The
Dutch-North American Exchange, 1846-1996, Amsterdam: VU Uitgeverij,
1996.
   The paper gives a short history of the Dutch temperance movement in
the course of emphasizing the Reformed Church aspects of it and the
extent to which America served as an inspiration and an influence.  The
paper can profitably be read along with Sidsel Eriksen's paper comparing
Swedish and Danish temperance.  Krabbendam also tries to solve for
Harry Levine the puzzle of whether the Netherlands would count as a
temperance culture or not in Harry's dichotomy (Harry had presented it
as a borderline case).  The verdict still appears to be mixed.
   Relevant to the puzzle of how a country with Calvinist roots can end
up with the present tolerant drug policies, Krabbendam remarks that the
failure to pass "moderate restrictive legislation" on alcohol in the 1910s
and 1920s "was a result of their failure to assuage the tension between
private freedom and public policy".  Robin