The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-02
INVENTIONS OF
THE OPPOSITION
Rum0rS of Revolution in P0r-
tugaI Started by Enemies
of Premier Franco.
KING DRIVES UNATTENDED
FORM MEASURES.
KING DRIVES UNATTENDED

Lisbon. Dec. 1.-The baseless charac-
ter of the alarmst rumors represent
ing that Portugal was on the eve o.
civil war and revolution has been fully
established by the independent inves-
tigat'3n of a staff correspondent of the
Assocla-ed Press.
There never seems TO have been the
slightest excuse for the stories circu-
lated from the frontier that the king
was a prisoner i'm the castle: that the
crown prince had been banished and
that the navy had mutinied.
strong suspicion exists that such
reports were part of a campaign of
Premier Frances enemies. instituted
i'm order to create distrust abroad in
the cCuatrys financial position ami
thus dlscredit and bring about the
downfall of the premier at home.
Ruse Partially Successful.
I. To a certain extent this ruse was
successful, for the premium on gold
rose to a figure unprecedented in re-
cent years, the movement doubtless
being accumulated by the monetary
stringency abroad. The furry in ex-
change. however. rapidly disappeared
as The gravity of the situation here
was disprOved.
the appearance of the country through
which the Associated Press corre-
spOn lent travelled from Madrid TO Lis
bon. During the entire journey down
the Tagus valley not the remOtest evil
dence OF popular excitement or agita-
tion vas observed, and not single
soldier was seen at the stations. In
Lisbon business moves on as usual
| The king drives and walks daily, and
unattended, in the parks and boule-
wards, and last night occupied his ac-
customed box at the opera.
Franco, the dictator" goes abroad
unmOlested.
The American minister. Charge Page
Bryan. who has just returned from a
35O-mile business trip through the
country. observed similar tranquility
everywhere.
Holiday in Progress.
Today was a national holiday. COM
memora tive of the downfall of Spanish
domination and it was celebrated, as
usual. with music and fetes, fireworks,
professions and bull fights. although
troops were held in reserve to break
up any attempt at political manifesto
ton.
Nevertheless, Portugal is passing
through a history-making epoch. The
parliamentary government of Portugal
is modelled after the English pattern,
but the system has degenerated here
into the organization of a perfect pO-
litical machine capable of turning out
at will majorities for either party, and
Franco claimed that both the regen-
orators and progressists in their years
under the rotative system devoted
themselves solely to spells instead of
principles These parties have clients
who provided places without work n
influential men acquiring accumUlative
salaries. some of them drawing as
many as five simultaneously.
Sinecures Hereditary.
By this system sinecUres became he
reditary, in several cases society wo-
men serving on payrolls but nowhere
else. The premier at the outset re-
solved on a program of reform, but
the radical measures to which he was
driven developed gradually an OppOsi-
ton which frustrated his plans. His
original program includes, first, the es-
tablishment of a system of public ac-
countability; second, ministerial re-
sponsibiHty; third, the voting of an
electoral law which would make par
lament reflect the popular Will, and
not merely register the DEGREES of
political machine.
The old parties holding the majority
i'm the parliament f1libustered for sew
eraI mCnths, until the premier in de-
spair threw up his hands and dis
solved the parliament, with the inten-
ton of himself resigning. The king,