Evening star., 1898-05-31
TELEGRAPHISG IN SPAIN.
1T Is Generally Attended With Much
Difficulty and Uncertainty.

From the London Telegraph.
The Spanish ceremonies which accom-
pany the handling of a telegram would
be amusing were they not so irksome and
time-killing. You approach little window
i'll the one office in the city, and, when
your turn comes, hand in your message.
The clerk counts the words a couple of
times over, adds up the result of each page.
refers to the written tariff, and finds out
what the cost is in francs. Then he takes
another slip of paper, finds out what the
rate of exchange is at the moment, and
reduces the francs to Spanish pesetas
Finally, he reads out the result-say 597
pesetas, 30 sentmes. You engraye these
figures in your memory, and, leaving the
hall, go out to another window in a pass
age outside, and there await your turn,
repeating always the number 597. 30 till the
clerk asks You what you want. Then you
explain that you are come to purchase
spanish stamps for the sum of 597 pesetas
and 30 centimes, and you take out a note
Ter loo pesetas. The passage Is dark on
the brightest day, and you accept the
stamps and your change in spirit of true
religious faith. for you see not even darkly
as in a glass. When you return to the
inner sanctuary and help to make queue,
awaiting your turn again, the chances are
that you find yourself short Of stamps, in
clerk outside This happened twice to me-
but l am bound to say the individual dis
covered and rectified his error SO that my
only loss was of about thirty-five minutes
more.
But the most curious thing of all is the
process Of recovering your money If the
telegram be suppr ressed. There is no way of
obtaining 1t speedily. You must wait Mes
sages of mine to the value of several hun
dred pesetas were stopped. and 1 called at
the office for the money. In Russia, Ger
many. Turkey. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, in
fact-the money paid is refunded at once
But not SO in Spain. Here you have to
make various pilgrimages, from post to
pillar, interviewing officials, dignitaries,
clerks, porters. All shake their heads,
shrug their shoulders. purse their lips,
and assure you that the government al
lows them no special funds for the pur-
pose Yes, but II you do not forward
my message, for which 1 paid you in ad-
vance. you have no right to keep my
money "oh. no! of course not. We are
not to blame. you know. You had better
see our chief. He is very busy now but
II you call tomorrow, l am sure you can
see him
to subordinate. and from subordinate to
chief, and at last / received the following
satisfactory promise: IF you will write q
petition to the chief of the telegraph, ask
ing that the money be refunded you for
the suppressed messages. he will deal with
1t in due time What is due time?"
ventured to inquire. well. we cannot
pi omise anything" said the informant
Senor Perez except that. when the funds
allow 1t. you shall have your money back"
But could you. perhaps. say. approxi-
mately whenT' He could not. but nm
other Official could. and did-"Any time
between two and four months!'
Such is specimen-a tame, humdrum
specfmen-of the methods Of procedure in
the constitutional kingdom of Spain, under
the most liberal of liberal governments
in the cultured capital of Madrid. What
takes place In the provinces and what
takes place In Cuba we cannot affirm with
certainty, but here the old proverb un-
doubtedly holds good: IF they do these
things IN green tree. what shall be done
in the dry? Spain has truly fallen upon
evil days"