The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-29
A LESSON FROM BARCELONA.
What the Spanish Government Has
 Learned From It's Struggles With the

1 What the Spanish Government Hat | Learned From its Struggles With ths ! Guilds
 After a prolonged struggle the Gov.
 ernment has won the day in Barcelona
 and the recalcitrant payers of the in ] dustrial tax have consented to fulfill their obligations, but the price of the | victory is not yet known, for few peo- pie believe that the trade guilds yield
 ed simply to show of force. Their chief demand was for the "concierto economico''-the right to distribute and collect their own taxation-and it is
 widely believed that they have obtained what they demanded in some modified form, and that Catalonia will shortly
 enjoy the same financial autonomy that is still the privilege of the Basque prov inces. But, apart from the results, the conflict was productive of two lessons which may possibly be turned to ad- vantage in future by either side, even though one lesson may tend to neutral ize the other
 The story of the early stages of the struggle between the trade guilds of Barcelona and the Government has all
 
 Is unnecessary to recapitulate it's vari- ous phases here. It is sufficient to say titude about month ago the defiant at- titude of the taxpayers who still held out began to assume serious aspect, and that the Government was forced to take some action or to confess its in capacity. It Is true that the actual number of those who refused to pay the first quarter of the industrial tax, due, by the way, at the end of last Septem Der, was very small, hardly more than tenth part of the whole number who were liable. But they were supported by nearly all the various trade guilds of the town, and were more or less coun- tenanced by the hostile attitude as- sumed toward the Government by the Chambers of Commerce both in Cata- lonia and Aragon. Persuasion failed, as did also the earlier and milder methods of coercion, for the simple reason that the actual delinquents were conlpara- lively few an insignificant, and their supporters were numerous and repre- sented almost the whole commerce of Barcelona.
 But Senor silvela persisted in his de- lSIIlllfldLlOH tO GRITTY tlle udy Wttu d high hand. He would not, he declared, treat with men who were directly de- flying the law. The question of the "concierto .econQmico' was one upon which the Government might one day have to decide; but the privilege should certainly not be wrested from him by The law must first be and he would make it re- snected; and he would make it respect ed. even at the cost of shedding blood. | The declaration hardly made the inn pression that was intended, for it was [ generally suspected that Senor Silvela's | forcible rhetoric only covered rather feeble purpose.
 However. the Captain General of Barcelona made gallant show of au .hority; shops were closed and their owners arrested, and among the inn 1risoned traders some of whom had paid their quota were the presidents of he principal guilds A strict censor 'hip was exercised over the press, and he state of siege which had been de- Jared in Barcelona some time before began to wear an air of reality. And hen, without a word of explanation, he country was suddenly informed that