Arizona citizen., 1876-01-29
Spanish Vitality.

I There is growing tendency of th, day to sheer at Spain and its people, fol
 what is called its great deseneracy
 from former power and grandeur. Bu
 it behooves Us to go slowly with oui
 slurs. It was a grand old race, with it's
 sharply cut iron-pointed features, Its
 genius, bravery and fertility of resource
 and in the ashes of its partial ruin there
 shoulders yet mighty fire of life and
 vitality.
 ] Under the head, ~Spain al the Gen.
 tennlaL" The New York Herald has
 something which seemed interesting
 to us on first reading, and may interest
 others. The article says:
 The journals from Madrid announce
 that Francisco Lopez Fabra has been
 appointed Royal Commissioner to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia,
 and would sail from Liverpool for New York early in the present month.
 To the newspaper press of the United
 States his selection has especial inter est, for he was the founder and Is the manager of the Fabra Agency in Mad rid for the collection and distribution of news. Since his royal appointment the number of those proposing To ex- hibit Spanish products in Philadelphia has suddenly and enormously increas- ed. His popularity among the rich manufacturers and farmers of Catalonia and Valencia rests largely upon the intelligence and activity with which al the Vienna Exhibition he assisted the. Commissioner Emilio de Santos.
 There are facts in the official report of the awards made at Vienna to differ ent nations for excellence in agricul- ture which are calculated to arrest thel attention Of those who associate thc Spanish peasant with an ignorant work CT in exhausted fields, untaught in the use of modern machinery, uninstructed in the application of steam to the cul- tivatiOn of the soil, trudging Stupidly behind & plough made after the pattern of the primitive agriculture of Rome.
 It will be remembered that the year of the Vienna Exhibition was one of the darkest and most distressing in the annals of the unrelenting civil strife of Spain. One wonders how, out of such trials of war, she sent 10 Vienna either or exhibitors of peace. Indeed, her exhibitors in some departments were so few in the number actually present in Vienna that she was not, under the rttln la1 Ia, nd f-I may at least be taken as evidence that there was not intrigue or undue infu- ence in her behalf And yet out of this blood and fire in the Peninsula, IS00ex- hlbitors sttested by their exhibits the vitality of the Spanish race under long years of most calamitOus diversity, of which 1, l4s were rewarded by prizes,i and of these 5 were wer,eea,es ,ef ltBhfs ltBhfs pltieslss.;i medals for fac arts, i for good taste, 43 for co-operatOrs, and 56 diplomas Oi merit. The United States, on the other hand, had but 6t3 exhibitors, and re ceived only 349 prizes.
 The awards at Vienna placed Spain in the fourth national rank as to agri- culture, while in other industries the Spanish section exhibited conspicuous ly the useful combination of cheapness and goodness. There was no gorgeous ( display of high art, but in her woolen, cotton, leather, earIhenware and other minor industries she was well repre- sented. The tiles of Valencia and Barcelona received the same medal of as did Minton of England, but with the practical difference that the former were muck less for the same quantity. Her woollen manufactures the grand diploma of honor, her leather goods the medal for pro gress and her inlaid steel and Toledo blades the diploma of honor.
 It is among the many advantages and benefits of the coaing Centennial that it will, through the eye, teach our people so many things about foreign nations of which they are now profound Iy ignorant, and remove mass of pref ldice unconscieusly imbibed. For .he reason, among others, we ought tO welcome to Philadelphia, Spain, her Royal Commissioner and her daily in cressing exhibitors.