The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-07-21
THE SPANISH EDITOR
THE NEWSPAPERS CONDUCTED
UNDER DIFFICULTIES,
Liberal Journals Not OF
the Periodicals Lead a Precarious
Existence and Those Best Managed
Receive the Least Patronage. .

In spite of the ignorance Of the
Spanish people, there are more
newspapers and periodicals pub
lished in Madrid than in any other
European capital, writes Murray
Michel from SPANS capital. One
third of the people cannot read; the
rest lack either the time or the desire
to do so and, therefore, the reading
public is very small. Generally speak
ing, it is only the politicians who read
the newspapers. A newsdealer in the
Passage Maten tells me that he sells
almost as many copies of the Paris
Figaro and Petit Journal and the Brus-
sells Independence Beige as of the Lib
eral and Impartial, the important
Madrid papers. Yet the foreign colony
il Madrid is not very large.
The life of the Madrid papers is
very precarious. Not one of them has
a circulation exceeding 100, 900 copies
in spite of all manner of lofty preten-
sions. Those of the papers here which
have the largest circulation are the I'M
parcial, the Liberal, the Correspond
encia de Espana and the Heraldo.
The Impartial is edited by Senior
Carrot, a deputy, and the second by
Senior Moya, formerly a deputy from
Porto Rico. The Correspondence,
once one of the most popular of all the
papers, is now going to pieces; its CHI
entele is abandoning it for the Heraldo,
the organ of Senior Canaljas, a former
deputy, young, ambitious and rich.
With the exception of the Liberal,
all these papers are monarchist. The
Liberal is called republican, but it is
altogether too timid and panders to the
monks and bishops. The Oldest Of our
political journals, La Epoca, the organ
of Senior Silvelva, has almost no read
ers in Spain, but it is doubtless the
best known of them all outside this
country. One finds it everywhere in
Europe, and even in America. Its di-
rector and editor-in-Chief, the marquis
de Valdeiglesias, is a senator, very re-
served and reactionary.
The papers which have a compare
lively large circulation get 1t chiefly
in the provinces and in the former
colonies Of Spain. The publications
which are really the most widely read
are not the newspapers at all, but the
merry, sometimes grotesque, papers,
devoted to bull fights and political
f 20 rioot11rnc FThnrn 1pn f1n tWn Score
of these. The true republican press Is
represented at Madrid by lie Nuevo
Regimen, a weekly federalist journal
inspired by Senior Pi y Margall; also
by the Pals, a unitarian, apparently
revolutionary journal. The Matin Is
also in this class. 1t is anti-clerical
and opposed thoroughly to the present
regime. Perhaps the Revista Blanca
ought to be added to this list, though
it is mainly anarchist in principle.
There is a military section Of the
Madrid press of some Importance
There are also a considerable number
of papers devoted to different sciences
and to the arts, but about them the
general public knows and cares moth
ing.
Spanish journalists are, as a rule
young men who have never had any
particular training for their profes
sion, and this explains why so mar
untrue and ridiculous things can DC
read here. I have seen statements tt
the effect that the Spanish cuisine Is
the finest in the world, and that Gen
Cronje is a native of Andalusia, ant
that the T%ransvaal Is in America
There are, nevertheless, some ablt
journalists here, and of these Senol
Pi y Margall is the most eminent
Among others are Ortego Munilla, {
monarchist, on the staff of the Impair
cial; Senior Nakens, editor-in-chief o
the Matin (the Revolt), and Senol
Dionisio Perez, of the Vida Nueva
The latter publication has been in ex
istence only a year, but it is fast be
coming very popular. 1t Is a weekly
illustrated, rather literary than politi
cal in character; but it seems that tn
government intends nevertheless t.
kill it, for it suppresses nearly ever,
number on the plea that the paper i
anarchistic in principle. This is alb
surd; but at least ten suits have beer
brought against different members o
the staff.