The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-05-02
SAGASTA AND HIS ASSOCIATES.
Character of the Man Who Is at the Helm In Spain

D. 3
assailed when Sagasta talked of court
martialing him. At the late election
the Conservatives cut a Door figure,
but elections in Spain possess little sig
nificance; last March only % per cent
OF the lawful voters cast their ballots.
If Weyler thought the time was pro-
pitious he is quite capable of issuing a
pronunciamento, and declaring himself
to be prime minister, with his army
behind him.
The queen regent is honored and loved
by the people. Her face is sad. with
the appealing look of one who has gone
through great sorrow; her tastes are
domestic; she only holds her office in
trust for her son. More than once con-
spiracies have been concocted for her
overthrow, but in Castelars words,
Spaniards cannot fight against a wo-
man or against a. child in it's cradle -
Canovas appealed to his countrymen
to grant 'the widows truce" John
Foreman wrote to her: Among all the
confusion of Spanish politics. the whirl-
wind of lamentation, intrigue, religion.
corruption, collective patriotism and
individual grabbing, there is one noble
inquire which prominently stands forth
In vivid contrast. model of virtue and
enVlable tact. Her majesty the queen
regent, notwithstanding her Austrian
birth, knows exactly how to do the
right thing at the right moment with
exquisite taste. She has won by her
charitableness the alteration of the
masses, by her gracious sympathy the
love of the middle classes, by her clear
comprehension of all that is tradition
ally Spanish, the esteem and admira-
ton of the aristocracy"
Those who are best informed regard
ing Spanish politics concur in the opin-
ion that the leaders of every political
party-Conservatic Liberals, Repub-
licans, Monarchists-would willingly
assent to the independence of Cuba if
they were not afraid of the cry that
they had sacrificed the honor of Spain
1t looks as though. like Lady TeaZle,
they were going to have to leave honor
out of the question. Three or four
years ago, the peninsula was highly
The demand for Spanish
wines was on the increase. Industry
was developing in Catalonia. Agricul-
ture was thriving. Taxes were easily
collected, and Senior Gamazo laid before
the corteS a budget which. incredible
to state, did not show a deficit. Span
ish rentes were firm on all the bourses,
and Spanish credit stood high. What
an awful change since them
The cost of the war in Cuba has i'm
poverished all Spain. Starvation stalks
not only in the byways, but on the high
roads. 1t has always been chronic in
the north-when the Asturian peasant
has no dinner he just takes an extra
hitch in his belt. But in the south. in
the fertile plains of Maria Santissima.
where bread and wine and oil have
always been poured out in profusion
by the bounty of providence, and the
land owner has fattened in the shade
Of his orange and his olive, famine is
impending. whole families are starving,
typhus has broken out from INSULT
Client nutrition, crowds of gaunt peas
ants are flOcking into the cities for
food; for, by cruel blight, the orange
crops and the melon. the olive and the
grape have been simultaneously de-
stroyed- At the same moment the i'm
ninent prospect of war with the United
States has paralyzed the industries of
Catalonia and a steady decline in Span
sh bonds has closed the money mar !
kets of the world to Spanish financiers.
Such an accumulation of disasters
has never failed in Spanish history to |
De followed by civil war. The Carlists |
and the Socialists will hardly let the |
opportunity ship to take the field In |
very province they will find idle, hun |
cry men ready to believe that their |
'ufferingS are the fruit of misgovern- |
nent, and We all know how quickly an
Unpopular government is overrhrown /
IN the peninsula. Time was when Es-
'artero, Narvaez, O'Donneil or Prim |
,ould have held the soldiery loyal to /
heir colors and suppressed rebellion. /
There are no such men now. In course.
# time war would develop them, but /
ong before then the controversy with
he United States will have been adj
usted.-John Bonner in San Francisco
Chronicle.