The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-28
DANGER SIGNALS In SPAIN
INDICATIONS THAT REVOLUTION
MAY SOON BE EXPECTED.
Alphonse Has Reused Hostile Feeling
Among Powerful People. and the
Outlook Is BAD for Royalty.
Madrid Letter in BROOKLYN Eagle.

10 Lidhe MS place dS the ruler Oh the
bulent Spanish people either stable or gen.
orally popular. He is liked by his people
because of his boyish desire to promote the
welfare of the lower classes. in whose sad
state, both moral and financial. he takes a
deep and abiding interest. He is disliked by
certain element, powerful, unscruplous,
scheming, which has for generations fat
tened upon the superstitions of the Spanish
people. The King openly declares his hos
tility to shams and the endless efforts at
hoodwinking his poor subjects. He has
made enemies of great bishops by his
straightforward declarations that while he
is in favor of religious fervor, he abhors
religious shams. and he has not been slow
in exposing those humbugs about sanity
gewgaws which litter Spain almost ankle
deep from end to end. Only in August Of
last year the young King paid a visit to
Ovideo Cathedral and was duly shown the
relics and jewels. Among these latter was
the Gross of the Angels"
why is it so-calledg' inquired the young
King.
Because" replied the bishop of the do
cese, sit is said that the angels made it to
reward King Alfonso the Chaste."
WELL insisted the young monarch,
what ground is there for thinking SOP
"Senor," replied the prelate, none what
ever. The time for superstition is passing
away
Shortly afterward the bishop showed the
| King a diminutive closed casket of ancient
workmanship.
There is" he said, "a superstition that
whoever opens it shall die a sudden death"
II would not mind opening it," said the
| King.
| Nor l." replied the bishop. "but I have
never done so for the simple reason that I
have had no key"
| BY the very act of his attempt at smash
ing these Superstitions the King has encoun-
| tered hostile feeling among a class of his
people who have for generations been the
most powerful of his subjects, and it will
| be able to weather the storm that is un-
doubtedly brewing.
A SERIOUS SITUATION.
The present social and political situation
in Spain is such as to cause serious trepi
| dalton in royalist circles. On every hand
| there signs of the grave discomfort of
the people, oppressed by burdensome taxa
ton. of the unsettled state of the labor mar
ket, and of the general dissatisfaction of the
army and navy with the niggardy govern
ment of the premier, Senior Villaverde,
which naturally reflects upon the stability
| of the crown. From one end of the land to
the other there are unmistakable signs oe
the Seething turmoil, which is suppressed
under the cloak of Indifference, but even to
the casual observer Spain Is as ready to-
day for revolt she was in the dark days
of 1868, prior to the revolution.
During the past six months strikes and
| disturbances have been of almost daily Oc-
| currence throughout the peninsula, and at
election times the people have openly de-
fed the authorities. Hand-to-hand fighting
has taken place in Madrid, Cadiz, Infiesto,
in the province of Oviedo, Barcelona and
| many other towns While the last elections
were taking place the voters in one constit-
| uency imagined that the Ministerialists were
| being favored at the expense of the Demo-
| cratic candidates, and they stormed the
town hall. The gendarmes opened fire on
| the crowd and used some eight hundred
| rounds of ammunition in quelling the cleo
| tors, with the result that ten persons were
killed outright, including two women, and
| numbers OF others were severely wounded.
| After this occurrence 10000 workmen pa
| raded the streets of Madrid, carrying the
inevitable red flags. Later on there was a
students riot in the capital, the working
| classes taking the side of the students and
| demonstrating in the streets, singing revo-
lutionary songs and crying Down with the
and used their Remingtons freely killing
three of the rioters and wounding fifty,
their own losses amounting to ten men
The election proved the strength of the
Republicans, that party capturing many
seats which were generally thought to be
Madrid, which may be considered the CEN
ter of officialdom, the Republicans polled a
total of nearly 2SUOO votes against the Mon
archists 1900. while in Barcelona, Valencia,
Saragossa. Badajoz Granada, Corunna, Lo-
| grono and Palma they also scored heavily.
In Barcelona it is not long since the police
| discovered number of rifles and 5000
rounds of ammunition, said to belong to the
Carlist agitators, while more arms are
known to be hidden away in the neighbor-
hood. A rising was said to be imminent and
the discomfort even went SO far as the cut
ting of the telegraph wires but the rest of
the programme was not carried out, owing
to the vigilance of the authorities in locat-
ing the arms and ammunition. More recent
ly the number of strikes that have taken
place In various towns is sufficient indica-
ton of the dissatisfaction of the masses
with the condition that at present prevails
During the present month no less than
three attempts have been made to bring
about general strike of the workers in
| Madrid.
There has just appeared in the capital a
daily paper, TERRA y Libertad Gland and
| Liberty an organ of the Anarchists, which
| is justly claimed by its promoters to be the
only journal of its kind in the world. 1t is
a significant sign of the times that such a
very shadow of the palace. Its daily edi-
torials TEEN with provocation and insult to
the authorities compared with which
| Admiral Topete's proclamation in the Bay
of Cadiz against the bad government OF
Isabella II was mild and unassuming.
Discomfort IN ARMY AND NAVY.
Perhaps the most serious phase of the
situation which the government will sooner
or later be called upon to face is the openly
expressed discomfort of the army and navy
at the treatment melted out to them. The
! premier's one watchword is retrenchment
and he remains absolutely blind to the
many broad hints given by the military
party who, since their field of operations In
the colonies is closed, owing to the victory
| of the United States over the arms OF
1 Spain, demand the expenditure OF more
| money on the navy, an increase in the gar
risons in Africa, the Canaries and tn,
| Balearic islands and a betterment of the
conditions of the soldiers life generally
The gravity of the situation may be judged
from the fact that even the most conserya
tive newspapers devote as much as sever
columns daily to the labor question; while
the military organs publish fiery leading
articles demanding justice for the army
yelled threats against the professional poll
ticians who stand in the way of the desired
reforms. Certain it is that before long tn,
present government Will be bound 10 obey
the popular behest. Already rumor has 4
that the redoubtable General Weyler who
is regarded a sort of Washington. ha:
received a hint from high quarters to b,
ready TO form a liberal Ministry before tn.