The record-union., 1898-11-15

country is another of those deliberate
lies which go on accommodating for
years, until at last they are swept away
by popular avalanche, and with them
much else that one would gladly have
seen spared The immunity of Gov
ernment scrip from taxation naturally
attracted all the reserve capital of the
population. The little money which
people ventured to invest in industry
was reserved for those branches which
were protected by customs tariffs, so
that purely artificial industry was
gradually created and fostered in the
country.
Most of the raw materials needed by
our industries are imported into the
peninsula, paid for in hard cash, and,
having been submitted to some manu-
facturing process which would have
cost much less abroad, are forthwith
enabled to compete with foreign goods
IN our colonies, thanks to the high pro-
tective duties in vigor there. Thus 95
per cent of the raw materials of our
paper industry is imported, and most of
the working capital comes likewise
from foreign countries. The woolen
industries of Catalonia import their
wool from abroad instead of pur-
chasing that of Castillo or Estrema-
dura- Our large flour industry, which
was supported by the markets of the
Antilles, consisted in our purchasing
Foreign corn, grinding and exporting it
to the colonies. The description has
undoubtedly a comical ring about it.
Spain, country whose agriculture has
1aIlen so low that it does not produce
corn enough for home consumption, yet
manages to create a flour industry by
SIMPLY grinding foreign corn and prac-
ucally prohibiting the import Of for
efgn flour into the coloniesl Nay, there
is worse even than this; in numerous
cases our large houses did not give
| themselves the trouble to do that much;
they merely purchased foreign corn
and exported it under the Spanish flag,
| and presto, the trick was donel
I'VE had a naval industry created at
Cadiz with a total capital of 100000
pesetas Cor say f30,000) which airily
undertook to build an iron-clad costing
from twenty to twenty-five millions of
pesetas. OF course these patriotic pi-
oneers had to be paid in advance, and
| when the work was finished the work.
men had to be dismissed, and the work.
shops closed. Our merchant navy re-
| lied not on fair competition, but on
| Government subvention, so much a
| journey-which sums had, of course to
be reimbursed by the unfortunate col
onies. The industrial spirits of the
province of Catalonia are wise in their
| generation, and throw money on the
political waters of Madrid, hoping to
get it back with interest; and their
hopes have invariably been justified.
1o1xr %l,<
politicians of the capital, and the re-
suit is that the latter actually protect
the Catalonian industries by sacrificing
the agricultural interests of Castillo,
which is likewise a province of Spain.
A house divided against itself!''
"a Spaniard" taxes members of the
! Cabinet with the dullest ignorance.
THE degree of intelligence possessed
| by our politicians, by which I under
stand the sum total Of the mental
equipment supplied by nature, educa-
| ton and experience combined, is almost
| imperceptible as compared with that
which is expected and found among the
| corresponding class of men in other
European countries The members of
| the present Queens Cabinet, for in
! stance, remind one of the Three Gray
| Sisters in Greek legend, who had but
! one eye among them-and that a very
| defective one. I gave oEe example of
Senor Sagasta's knowledge of geogra-
ply; let me now give sample Of his
familiarity with foreign politics. At
the beginning Of the war this eminent
Spanish statesman, and trusty adviser
of the Queen received an enthusiastic
telegram from Berlin wishing success
to Spanish arms, declaring that 'all
Germany was on the side of Spain,
whose cause was just, and signed Sew
erin Senator of Berlin Here was the
moral sympathy of a kind not to be
sniffed at, and Senior Sagasta and his
colleagues, overjoyed at the message,
! informed the representatives of the
| press at Madrid that one of the most
eminent members of the German Sem
| ate had sent a telegram to the Govern
ment which, judging by the language in
which it was couched, foreshadowed
| something more than mere platonic
! sympathy. The press published the
announcement with delight; the people
received it with childlike joy, and no.
! body stopped to inquire in what year
| the German Empire had received a Sen
ate as one Of it's political institutions
Some days later an enterprising even
telegram had been sent by German
named SEVERN Senator, who, being a
| manufacturer Of electric refiectors for
warships, had hit upon this delicately
/ refined way of directing the attention
Of the Spanish Government to the mer-
its of his goods.''
| AS to the money obligations Of Spain,
"a Spaniard" writes that the expenses
of the war will foot up III 900 millions
of pesetas, the annual service (interest?)
| of which will swallow up 740 millions,
| and the national revenue amounted,
when our industry and our trade with
| the colonies were hourishing, to $50
millions at most. Our ordinary ex-
penses amount to nearly as much.
National bankruptcy is an ex-
preston which has a sinister ring, but
then Spain has fallen upon evil times"
| And wherein lies safety? Will Car
| lists, Republicans, Alfonsists extricate
| Spain? Under the aegis of Dona Maria
/ Christina and Don Praxades Sagasta
! Spain makes her melancholy bow to the
vast continent which her enterprise
once opened to the world, and exclaims
! Moritura te salutat. Could despera-
tion go further than this? Spain is an
Augean stable, which no river could
possibly cleanse, even though it We're a
river of blood
What, no single gleam of hope for
Spain? We are by no means disposed
TO follow "A Spaniard" to the depths
of his depression-are even inclined to
| find fault with his repinings. Spain has