The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-05
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5ss Sa' Psg' K Sn So .sz A Dept 364, Nc, Hamilton PI., Boston; No 42W. s-dst.'., .r Iork; Nos 5s-6oWabash Av., Chicago --r-rT- '-----,----- --s-- conceit and competition explain the present condition of things. Lethargy | and procrastination everywhere reveal | themselves. Never do to-day what may be put off till tomorrow is a fixed | article of faith "Manana, Senor." To- I morrow is Gods day! Ignorance of any improved methods of caring for | and cultivating the soil rules. The | farming and the implements are of the | olden days. The pride that counts the | farmers honorable toll disgrace holds | in bondage the small proprietors. The | idea of husbanding the resources of the | land rarely shows itself in either land | renter or gardener. Get all out possible
 and give nothing back. Then great de- | pression, and in some cases hopeless | ness, have arisen from the growing 1 competition of our own farmers and | fruit ranchers. American grain and | pork, fruits, and even wines, have made
 serious inroad on the markets open to the Spanish husbandman and fruit | growers. Prices have fallen. Or
 chards, olive yards vineyards, with or
 ange groves and lemon gardens, are | now seen frequently abandoned or half | neglected. Irrigation, which would
 make this sunny land bring forth by 1 handfuls, is not only not pushed and in creased but the old channels and wa
 terways are uhcared for. If to all this | neglect you add the wanton destruc- | tion of forests and woods, it is not very l hard to realize that what the industri- | ous Moor made garden and what long
 was very granary to Europe is to-day i decaying and wasted land. 'The
 king lives by the field" This wide
 spread and growing agricultural decay 1 and this progressive exhaustion of the
 land work mischief all round. The | small trades, industries and manufac- | lures that are linked with and live by ] successful and profitable farming and 1 uit-growing are either dead or dying. | Large numbers of persons are without l their natural employ in the fields. | Food is scant and of inferior quality. 1 Money, even in the form of small sil-
 yer, is scarce. Hence arise the circum- l stances when fools betake themselves | '@'~Ns e%"
 and lotteries, and desperate men to rob
 bery and brigandage.
 According to competent authorities, a | large proportion of the old estates are
 very heavily, if not hopelessly, encum-
 bered The landowners are to a great
 extent held in the bitter bonds of des-
 perate debts. A condition of things ob-
 tains strikingly similar to that found | half a century ago in Ireland, and l which called for the drastic measures
 but the wise legislation of "The En-
 cumbered Estates Act" In Spain for
 years wretched system has prevailed l of borrowing money on the growing | crops and the timber fit to be felled.
 Very often the crop was deficient, or
 failed altogether. A new bill, or a 1 larger debt, or a new mortgage result
 ed. The bankers are frequently the | money-lenders, and foreigners hold the mortgages and the bonds.
 Because of this overburdened condi- | tion, the landowners have been able to
 do but very little to develop the re-
 sources of the country. These are both
 many and great. If half utilized the
 work made necessary would give abun-
 dant and lucrative employment to the
 peasants, and would yield a steady and
 large revenue to the owners. But the
 mines and quarries are either un-
 wrought or are in the hands of stran-
 gers One direct result of this really
 bankrupt condition of many of the l landed gentry is the crowding of the
 younger sons into the army, the navy
 and the colonial offices. The military the naval, the official life is adopted of l necessity, and not seldom with one
 clear object. That purpose is to secure | some post in q colony where, by we'll known and commonly practised meth 1 ods, a fortune can be laid up for a
 speedy return home in after years 1 Here we see the outstretch of the iron l hand that has killed and is killing the
 geese that have laid for Spain the gold | en eggs.
 An ex-minister Of Spain stated in Ma | drid that "the amount of money misap-
 propriated by the officers of the army l must amount to millions of pesetas a
 month" And a story is told of a poor
 captain remftting from Havana to his ! wife at home about six thousand dol I lars in one-half year.
 Ignorance, misgovernment, extreme | poverty and sullen endurance That is
 the condition of the peasant. He de-
 serves a better lot. He is to-day the
 best man in the land. He has fine
 qualities; he has large capacities; he
 has many virtues. Give him a real
 school, a fair days wage for a fair
 days work, an honest and capable I government, and a well-founded hope l of enjoying the fruits of his toll, and he
 would rise up to be the new man of a l new land, one of the finest peasants in ] the whole of Europe. But he has not