The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1910-11-09
ROMANTIC /; SPAIN SPA! 4 On VERGE ,,,,,,
Anniversary Of Ferrer's Death,
Vatican Dispute and Rebellion
In Portugal Factors in Cas-
tiles Stormy Future.

lIltS OlUIIIIy TuluIE
country. The ~siesta, the afternoon
repose, still inheres in the very fiber
Of Spanish life. In the northern coun
tries, such as Germany, England and
the United States, the necessary
struggle against cold weather for a
considerable portion Of the year has
produced strenuous men. Strenuous
men do things and continue doing
them. Indolent lei may be aroused
at times, but they sink back into re-
pose. There is a fierce strain in the
Latin blood which, when agitated,
works ~valiantly for a time, but the
inevitable siesta strain s~upervenes.
| Spain has been able to conquer, but
she has not been able to keep. She
Castilian love Of ease lies at the root
Of SPANS downfall.
Spells of Conquest Lost.
England conquers and keeps her
colonies. Spain has conquered and
lost hers. Spain has shown no talent
for administration, though before the
northern nations became populous and
powerful she was a conqueror not to
be despised even according to modern
ideas. SPANS colonial possessions
have fallen away from her from gen.
GRAFTON to generation because she ex-
plotted them for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
of her own grandees, just as her in
ternal administration has exploited
the Spanish people.
Throughout the world there is no
nation more generally despised than
Spain, because no nation has commit
ted more and mightier crimes against
weaker peoples who have grown strong
despite oppression and have thrown
off the yoke. South and Central
America began the process of rid
fury ago. Forlorn little Cuba fought
the Spanish exploiters for generations
and won at last by the Intervention
Of the United States. That wars re-
suit was the climacteric humiliation Of
Spain. It broke her back, and it broke
her pride. It uncovered her unsus-
pected weaknesses. She has been ever
since a weakling nation, known of all
men as such.
Spain's present troubles have their
roots in the remote past. Taxation
without representation, the levying Of
tribute without corresponding return
in the way of benevolent assimilation
put your finger upon these things and
you touch the very pulse Of the ma
chine that now threatens with ami
hilation the Spain of today and of the
past twelve centuries.
Poverty of the People.
Both in her colonies and in her in
ternal provinces Spain has levied
tribute against the people to the ulti-
mate edge Of starvation and beyond.
A recent sojourner. in Spain tells us
that poverty Is "the most painful and
haunting fact that stared him in the
face.
"On every hand are men and women
in rags who have been hungry ever
since they were born and expect to
stay hungry until they die" says this
traveller. In the hills between Malaga
and Granada he found peasants work
ing for from 4 to 8 cents a day. find
ing employment in the vineyards and
olive groves only about seven months
in the year. Read here what he says
Of Spain:
Her public men aspire to be dictators
and negative every wholesome desire when
1t leaves no room for their personal ad-
vancement. All desires are of a sup
pressive character, press censorship, no
public meetings, no free education. no
unions or alliances, no emigration with
out permit, no petitions for work nor
demonstrations against repacious authori-
ty. With the placing of government sup
porters In every position Of profit, the
taxation Of every form Of labor, product
and enterprise. no more Is lone than will
raise revenue. fill the pockets and increase
the boasts of those In office and add to
the mountain of make believe composing
the political and social system Of Spain.
Dispute With the Vatican.
But the foregoing excerpt was writ
ten before Canalejas, the present pre-
mier, came into power. Canalejas is
what We in this country at the pres
ent moment would call a progressive.
He stands for a program Of progress
rather than for one Of stationary ad.
herence to the ~plundering policies Of
the past. An ardent Catholic himself,
he nevertheless stands pat upon his
demand for reforms, which are op-
posed by the Vatican. The anti-cler-
ical party calls for the taxation Of
certain church properties and insists
that the monks and other clericals
who have poured into Spain from the
Philippines and other countries, en-
tering various kinds of business, shall
be taxed as other business men are
taxed. Absolute freedom in religious