Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-23
Some Interesting Facts About the
Kingdom Of Spain.
NATION With A BRILLIANT PAST
How the Members of the Cortes
Are Elected.
HER FOREIGN POSSESSIONS
Written for The Evening STIR.

| of all the large cities. The libraries have
been SO pestered by the demands of the
| public that they have placed all the books
relating to Our friends. the enemy" on
shelves where the people can pick them out
| for thems elves. Even, then the general
thirst fer facts about Spain does not seem
| TO be satisfied. and all kinds of impossible
requests are made for information which
cannot be furnished. 1t would SEEM there
| fore, that a few plain statements concern
| ing the actual condition of the land OF the
| dcns will make timely reading.
The Kingdom of Spain constitutes what
| might be called the southwestern arm of
| Europe, where IL reaches down and almost
touches northern Africa. 1t is a true Pc
ninsula. washed on three sides by the
waters OF the Mediterranean, the Bay of
Biscay and the Atlantic ocean, and joine,i
| by a wide neck of land to France. The
Great Fort Of Gibraltar. cut from the solid
rock or its southern extremity. completely
commands the entrance to the Meiterra n
can III IS, however. owned and garrisoned
by Great Britain. Spain Is a monarchy
founded by the union of the houses Of Ara
gon and CASTLE during the 18th century.
She mas been ruled internationally by the
houses of Aragon. Bourbon. Savoy and
napsburS Tor no years. except once when
Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed king by
his brother, the Emperor Napoleon and
ing 1913 and 1874 The house of Bourbon is
III power at present. although its suprem-
acy Is opposed by the Carlsts who claim
par sinister interferes with the purity OF
the descent. The present king is Alfonso
XIII. who. however. is but twelve years
old, and whose mother Maria Christina is
the regent of the country
How Spain Is Governed.
The present constitution of Spain was
proclaimed In 1876. 1t proclairns the gov
eminent to be constitutional monarchy
the executive resting in the king the pow
er to make laws lin the cortes with The
KING The cortes are composed OF a SEN
ale ana a congress equal in authority
mere are three classes of senators-first
senators by their own right: secondly sem
ators nominated by the crown and thirdly
senators elected by the corporations or
state. that Is the communal and provincial
STATES ire church, the universities acad-
ehiies' ana by the largest payers of contri-
buttons. Senators by their own ripbt ar.
the Srandees of the kingdom whose titles
ana possessions entitle them to the nriy-
nese. Inc congress is formed by deputies
III the proportion of one to every 20 ON
population. In 1878 Cuba was piren tba
right TO send deputies to the CORES in tb..
Pioportioh or one to every 4uosl free in
IL, M paying 10 pesetas in taxes year
IL CONSTITUTION further enacts that
me KING is inviolable. but his ministers ara
responsible. and all his DEGREES must ha
SouIi'eisiShed by one of them. The cortes
must approve his marriage before he can
, II, ana he cannot marry any one
excluded by law from succession 70 81
crown. If all the lines become extinc, IN
Ains would be elected by a vote Of tba
nation After the king the reips of o.,
e,,nent are guided by president OF the
council and ministers of FOREIGN oy.;
justice, finance. the interior var $50
seuture, commerce and public worLs
anu minister of the colonies
opaih area and Population a. il Ia NJ .b
LteSent time, Is Interesting I'm yieu- 90 ~
lact That once her possessions 80, Va the
IMAM those OF any other Euroneap -
81. rier present area. including the r.
~ TIC ana canary Islands, each of which
Is considered province is 10, ;-n s",'a.
miles. New York. New Jersey pann Jduare
, s,iu an OF the New England states COZ
Dihed nave ali area of lG3 ,ps, sou,ra Ill
,ha aai 10 therefore,. trihe larger than
an 80 or .,,, On tho other hand. Texas has
a.. .iea oI Sh2.-D square miles so 1b.t AZ
SPAN Is 35.GS square miles larger tban -,
states above named, Texas is in it, -,
't'"o square miles larger than Spain Th,.
reputation Of Spain is estimated To Ia ~
GD.S'4. about the same as th., ne T..
New England and middle states namnS
above. named
Her Foreign POssessfon..
BESIDES the Canary and Balearic Islands
spain holds the colonies of Cuba areo 4,
I'D" miles. population before the war
i't'e'; Porto Rico. area $500 square miles
population S6.7OS. Total area and nonu-
iatioh IN America. 1926 square miles and
14Ss.f9o persons respectively Her nos
area il4326 square miles. population 7Ws,
VD: The Sulu Islands. area 80 SQUARE miI.s
population I5.OO0: the Caroline Islands ana
palaos, area $50 square miles. population
toVU' TEE Marianne Islands area 4rn
square miles. population IO.I72 Total area
ana reputation in Asia, 1l6 &c square miles
and '.l2l.1f2 persons. Her possessions in
Airlca are Rio de ORC and Adrar area
If'.N" square miles. population 10000: Ifui
Chear Cape Num- area - square miles
population 5000; Fernando Pc Annahon
Ccrisco. Elobey and San Juan area S,n
square miles. population 10000. Total area
ana population in Africa 2E3S17 SQUARE
miles and 10000 persons The total 80
or SPANS foreign possessions is 4,,5 ,:,S
square miles. The total population is a.
oo''."' persons. So that her foreign Dos
large as her own and a foreign Incubation
nearly half the size of her own OF cours.
II she loses Cuba, her foreign area will he
reduced ne-nfnth and her foreign popula-
tion, II the loss of garrison is considered
Will be reduced nearly one-sixth
Cannot Read or Write,
Census returns show that a very large
proportion of the inhabitants of Spain ar.
illiterate. Nearly 12.OO0,OOO in the king
dom can neither read nor write. In the
whole OF Spain it was found that but g.
Oo4. 400 persons could read and write. s1S-
U5 persons could read only and yet Spain
supports 24.J2S public and 1876 private
schools. law making education compul.
sory was passed in 1857, but IL was never
enforced, partly for political reasons. and
partly because Of the wretched pay of the
teachers-$5O to 500 a year being d usual
fee In higher education Spain is not be-
midland. She has ten large universities
carrying an enrolment of 5000 students
Spain gets its revenue by a system of
direct and indirect taxation. stamp duties.
government monopolies. etc. Direct taxes
are imposed on landed property houses.
live stock. commerce. registration acts
titles of nobility, mortgages ETC.; the in
direct taxes come from foreign imports
articles OF consumption, tolls. bridge and
ferry dues. Her revenue for 1896 and %
was f30 .450: her expenditures EDO. 49,
5Si. She had besides this however an ex-
traordinary expenditure of f9.3S0WW Her
public debt Is now over $1,000 00o.,O0, in
GLIDING over $s50.OO0, 900 incurred in Cuba
Her RcsOurces.
Spain is an agricultural country. In the
carly part of the century the country vas
owned by landed proprietors who had ac-
quired great tracts of lard. but in recent
years these tracts have been divided and