The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-12

never consent to do without. and that
is his cigarette. The number Of these
an average Spanish Tommy will con-
sumo in the course of the day is ap-
palling. He rolls them himself, using
yellow, dry. dusty-loolxing tobacco,
which possesses no more flavor 10 an
English smokers palate than would so
much chopped straw.
In theory every Spaniard must serve
his IL years in the army, but there is a
wide difference. in this case at all
events, between theory and practice.
To begin with. any citizen can dis
charge his liability to serve by the
payment. in a lump sum. of 1920 pc
setas. This sounds a good lot of
money, but it takes % pesetas to equal
an English sovereign, so that he really
has to disburse only about G4S. Enor-
nous numbers, even of the peasant
class, have taken to availing them
selves of the privilege. There has even
sprung up in many of the provinces a
special class of village usurers. who
lend the smart money'-at ruinous
rate of interest, of course-to young
men who have been drawn" Benefit
clubs, having the same object in view,
are also rife in the agricultural dis
tricts. This has the effect Of increasing
the Spanish revenues. but from a
military point of view il is depiorable.
Besides those who honorably purchase.
their exemption, large numbers Of
young men obtain what are known as.
'diSpensations," abSolving them from
serving their time under any circum-
stances whatever. To get one of these
'dispensationS" it is not necessary to
be either Drawer, wiser or better than.
ones neighbor. but one must have
what the Americans call a pull with
the authorities.
1t is scarcely to be wondered at that
the Spanish peasant tries his utmost to
evade the consumption, for his treat
ment from the moment he dons his
country's uniform until the moment he
is discharged, is of the vilest He is
buliied by his officers, ill-treated by his
Hnon-coms," and robbed by ALL Nomi-
nally his pay is rs centimes (71sd) a
day. Often. however, for years to-
gether he does not handle that much
tenn of army stoppages' is worked
upon a sliding scale The more money
Tommy has coming TO him. at the
end of the month, the greater is the
sum kept back for this, that or the
other.
And he dare not complain, for disci-
pline is enforced with a relentless Sc
verify that is neither more nor less
than appalling. DeSertion is punished
by eight years solitary confinement.
For theft the penalties are as follows:
If the amount stolen does not exceed
10 reals (2s), imprisonment with hard
labor for three years; from 10 to 200
reals e shillings to 92), ten years i'm
prisonment; above 200 reals, death or
hard labor for life. In the Spanish
military code of laws there are over
so crimes, many of them of the most
trivial nature. which are punishable
by death. Nevertheless, organized
military revolts known as "pronuncia-
mentos," are exceedingly common. and
the entire army is said to be honey
combed by secret revolutionary socie-
ties
The total available strength of the
Spanish army at the present moment is
believed to be not more than about
100000 men, and of. this number not by
any means are all efficient soldiers. On
paper, it is true, more than double this
number are shown, but it should be
borne in mind that the Spanish war
office authorities have a playful way
Of including in their annual returns
what are euphemistically designated
available recruits These are really
undrilled men, who have never been
enrolled, and who, most of them. prob
ably do not know the foresight of q
rifle from the trigger guard. Their
only claim to be designated soldiers is
that they have each signed a paper
agreeing to join the colors if called
upon.-Baltimore American.