Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-02

THE Incumbered Estates Act" In Spain
for years wretched system has prevailed
and the timber fit to be fefied. Very often
the crop was deficient. or failed altogether.
A new bill, or larger debt, or a new
mortgage resulted. The bankers are fire.
quently the money lenders, and foreign
ers hold the mortgages and the bonds.
Because of this overburdened condition,
the land owners have been able to do but
very little to develop the resources of the
country. These are both many and great
III half utilized the work made necessary
would give abundant and lucrative employ
ent to the peasants, and would yield a
steady and large revenue to the owners.
But the mines and quarries are either I'M
wrought or are in the hands of strangers.
One direct result of this really bankrupt
condition of many of the 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 necessity, and not seldom with
one clear object. That purpose Is to secure
some post in a colony where by we'll
known and commonly practiced methods,
fortune can be laid up for speedy return
home in after years. Here we see the out
stretch of the iron hand that has killed
ard Is killing the geese that have laid for
Spain the golden eggs.
An ex-mfnister of Spain stated IN Mad
rid that the amount of money misappro-
priated by the officers of the army must
amount to millions of pesetas a month";
hitting from Havana to his wife at home
about 5000 In one half year.
The State of the Peasantry.
Ignorance, misgovernment, extreme pow
erty and sullen endurance That is the
condition of the peasant. He deserves a
better lot. He Is today the best man in the
land. He has fine qualities; he has large
capacities; he has many virtues. Give
him real school. a fair days wage for Il
fair days work. an honest and capable
government and well-fOunded hope of
enjoying the fruits of his toll, and he
would rise UP to be the new man of a new
land, one of the finest peasants In the
whole of Europe. But he has not had a
chance. Today he has not a hope. The
Spaniard as he was is not, and the world
will never see him more. A thoughtful
German who has lived for years in Spain
declared that the old cavalier with his
haughtiness and his honesty, his pride and
his honor, his punctiliOus ceremoniousness
but his essential gentlemanIiness has gone
forever. And if Spain is to have a nation
al and social resurrection the masses, not
the classes, must be looked to. The hope
of the future lies with the ''gente ba ia"
that is, the yeomanry and the peasantry.
1t is sadly true that at this hour these
masses are fearfully, distressingly ignor-
ant. No power has done anything effec-
tive to save them from sinking lower and
lower into the slough of semi-animal stu
picity. OF course they are poor. What
other result could years of merciless tax
alton, pressing chiefly on them, yield? OF
course they are Superstitious. What full
beam Of light has ever been poured
around them? OF course they are now
often passionate and stealthy. What other
than this fell fruit would you look for
from the wretched culture which has been
their only care? OF course they are lazy.
But what openings have they had? What
incentive to toll?
How Long:
But when all this disparagement has been
set forth it remains true, according to the
firm belief of a score of competent wit
nesses, that the peasant, the small farmer
the workingman, is the hope of this de-
graded land. And he Is the coming revolu-
tionary. The air is heavy with the brew
ing storms. The tempest may burst in an
hour. Sleeping in these poor peasants, who
have never had a fair show in the face of
Europe. are great qualities. These men,
now scoffed at as soldiers because, undr1ll-
ed unfed, unled, they have had to go from
bitter defeat to defeat, can yet prove them
selves worthy of the praise of Napoleon
and Wellington the raw material out OF
which might be made the toughest In
fantry in the world.
These masses are strangely patient and
rduring-"sufrida.' to use their own preg-
nant word They have great pluck and
heroism- They are cheerful. grateful, ar
fectionate and hospitable. But they have
Deel ground GOWN the good IS
out of sight. The evil has been called out.
The mobiles have racked and spoiled them.
The government has known them only as
patient beasts of burden whom must
be laid the multiplied and oppressive LOADS
of petty taxes till they are verify crushed
beneath the pitiless weight. For this op-
preston, this extortion, the peasant gets
nothing The bad roads grow worse and
the appropriated road tax fills the pocket
OF some official. The fallen bridges are not
hav,. tad
The children are left without school or
teacher, yet school tax is levied. The
beardless lads are hurried off to Cuba or
some other colony and die soon, but their
pay Is drawn by the officer. The navy is
made up of many phantom ships and yet
the taxes are collected for the naval bu-
reau A well-informed friend stated that
the population of Spain was somewhere
ABOUT 1I,0OoOOO; that of these 5000 900
could not write; that 100000 could neither
READ nor write, and that about half of the
Whoie had no sure and paying occupa. ion
here is, indeed. a submerged half, And
over this submerged half rules a tenacious
bureaucracy. incompetent and regardless
OF the obligation flowing from place and
power and trust. How long can this mis-
rule last? ~ ti'-
JAPANESE SCHOOLS.