The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-04-03
SPAIN AND THE SPANISH.

II Is interesting to know that the total pop
/ lrtion OF Spain - ls.hgs.fSs. Many people.
! without looking M the matter, would say at
! ruoss that Spain's population was Ss,coo,oNe
or ac.couooo. But II is, n reality, not 1900
oA Spain has an area OF 1850 square miles.
The aica OF France Is only few thousand
\ miles greater and set Fra,rv has n ropuia-
ton Of very nearly ic,cnocoo. Texas has an
| area OF s1t,3i6 square miles, spain eneld be
laid out on Texas and Texas would have se,ds6
/ square miles len over The states OF Penn
/, sylyama. New York. illiuols aud Alabama
have more population tcgethor Than has Spain
| and arc Immensely more wealthy. These
/ States could borrow enough money with their
| whole Geld OF commodities men aud capital
| h,hind the loan. to pay on at one coup tho
/ Whole rational debt OF spain. They could
raise. my and maintain bieser army tnan
/ Sraii' could. Their natural resources could
4 outluss Spa'ns ten to ono. Their Msai,,
| power ss infinitely greater. aud as man power
van always be saugcd 10y steam power you
| Scan imagine tho difcreu,es These four States
i could exist II they were stuucetratcd from MI
the rest OF the world. Spain could hardly
| liyo,;t day. g+..5
| spain was once the greatest nation on the
fats o. the globe, Say. rasher, she was twice
] SO First us II center Of learning and science
| uader the Saraconic rule, when the city OF
| Corduva had II mile Of gas-lit streets and tuun-
| tains of quicksilver played In tho palace yard
| Of tic ealiph; second when she was ire grrat-,
| cat military power In Europe II YOU looI, az
! the names OF countries. cities and places m
the Western hemisphere you VIII realize What
/ n Grand empire Spain WAS and what n power
/ she welded over men. Hut Spain rn0ld not
| sfnid the march of modern Invention, She
| has steadily shrunk and shriyoled and lost her
! possessions. until now ali she has left worth
/ speaking OF Is Cuba, The Philippines are IN
| siru.fitunt possessions.
| Why has Spain lest nil her powers The
! theorist who holds that education Is the cause
oi prosress win point YOU the answer in tho
| statistics ccnceralug SPANS illiteraey, Only
one ration In Europc is lower In dnllshlcu-
ment than spaiu. That IS Italy. Oh all the
| population Of spain only ~ per cent can reln
| ald write, 1 per cent gan read only and hS
| per- cent can neither read nor write, When
| yng come to think of II this fact stAgEcfs tho
| MIND Here is nation iii the heart OF ciyil-
/ aaation, ana Gs per cent Of Its people have no
| corecrtlon whatever OF the maryels OF the
| printing press or of the letters than Cadnus
/ brought to Europe. But lot us 90 little
| dccrcr into this matter OF ilitoraey. do not
| desire TO talk about causesi the sociolng'sts
1 can do that. But were onc IN the mind 10 10
| II n sociological study of Spain would be worth
the writing Spain us have said, has
! population Of less than 1890, GOA, and sS per
| cent OF her population can rot read or WITT.
| The United States has n population OF, let US
| say, 7o,ooe,Uoo or the native white popula-
ton in this country only 9 per cunt enn mol
| read or write. OF the foreign whites only 10
I per cent can not rend or write. hnd OF The col
oied population 10 per cent can not read or
| write, But, accounting for the torsisncrs anu
| the negroes In the computation, there w nut
| I per cent of the population In this country
| that rsn not read or write Think OF II. ou,
| of nearly ie0oo,Doo native white Americans
| on'y c. cent can not rend or write, ana
| Spnin's . fHentage is es!
| Let us see how Spain compares In lihtoracs
| with her neghhors II Is not precisely Just
! to Spain to compare her with such wonder
| fully fortunate people as we are In Eng
| lani tLondonl per cent Of men and per
| cert OF women make their marks on the mar
rase register. English illteraey Reaches n
! l,ttlc higher percentage In some of tho conn
| tiet Sweden has hardly any llltoraGy al all.
| Only oil per cent Of the recruits can not read
| or write. or the French cunscripts only Va
| POI cent can not read or write vi INC re-
cruit, In the German army only ono-quaftur
| o: per cent can not read or write In Aus
| trln So per cent OF tue children of school age
| nre at school In the Russian army recruit
| ing II was found that only 20 per gent OF i'ie
| men were ignorant of letters. Russians NJ
| large may be MS iliternte az are Sphnlatds,
| but the statistics available do not 90 to snow
| that such Is the case. Tho ntntsiics ~ tnt
| Strtesmun's Year Book show Italy TO be con
| sjdcrably more iliterate than Spnin, but out
| side of Italy Spain's Ignorance IL monstrous
| in Europe apains banking power. IKE her
| stcain rover is practically in. She has IN
| ali rot quite 1000 miles OF rarcad u IS i.,sh'
ion,tle TO laugh at China With her seventy
eight miles of steam railroad and her back
ygrJnesR IN point OF civilization. But II must
b. admitted, however mach wo disiiht 10 90
so, thSt, making allowance lor Der .nNi ,,...
mcnt and her advantages Spain Is worse thpn
China.
Who are tho spunarjs2 What Is theii
bluod, their ethuography. their rGcoY We have
no end of history about Spain. Pbioogy tells
MS they nre Latin, Their language Was otce
vulgar Latin, such as the Romans spoke. Bnt
II WAS corrupted by invaders from the North
and grew 10 DO what It now Is, There are
traces In the language of ancient dialects
which tho Spanish got from the Greeks, the
CGrihaRoniuns and the Phoenciuns, me
Goths took the vulgar Latin which tie no.
mans had left md made the language OF Es-
Dand. In remote antiquity there were certain
Celts who mixed with the lberans toIiginul
inhabitants OF Sphini Then came the PDor-
n.cisnt and the Carthagcnians, and later the
Roiia and last the GOllia and pisgoths.
Aud thnro you have the story OF Spanish blood
and race. Tho Vandals conquered part OF
Spnin and their section Of 1t was called van
dalusia twhcnce The modern Audninsial, 10
not think We paG say the spanish hasn hhd
any worse origin than the rest 81 W., we
have Tho same anpestors, hui the other Meui-
behind MS they have left tho hongolh inr
Basques are not OF the same blood ns other
SppiiiBfdS. Proi. MuniirT u. ms Rt"l "plN,
"Anihtopology, - Gays ihn Bnsqnea IRE the
remnant Of = distinct race. and Prof sInest
Iigccbcl snyH tho Bnsaues are descendaniE
from e totally different apcllkc man tlnn mat
which was the father Of the indo-Gcrmanic
ti.bcS.
Before tho agc of steam engines and teie-
gr.,fhG. when Europe was setni-ciyllzcd,
Spain was great natlou, She was q strong
savage among gayages. Rni this 10 the ags
not Of cruelty Cana hos erucl spain haB been
and isi II Is the ago when ainlty not cnmity
rules or is making 10 rule For the sake ~
romance ! would not Ike TO sec spain dlr.
snc is 10 full " collar. 70 ngomalc.r, 80 alone
IN Europe 80 nohly herce. 10 proud among ma
tinnS that hive almost given ~ the savage
prihr wc had froiu the old tinies. sbe 10 IKE
drosm gimpses OF Harohn.aI kasphd Ana
yrf wlthal. there " no more pathetic thing in ]
all the world. We arc Impressed Nheii wy ef9
the death Of a man. How much niorr snonll
We be Impressed as we look thougt,fuiig ana |
aueppyely nt the quick roapiialioe q 2 dylnS
naiion. ~ a. Lane.
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