The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-07-25

NJ D D { RN SPAIN
A PROTESTANT WRITER SAYS
THERE is MORE GENUINE PROS
PERlTY IN CATHOLIC SPAIN
THAN IN THE LEADING PROT
EsTANT COUNTRIES OF EU-
ROPE.
A well-known English Protestant
writer, Bert Kennedy, has just pub
lished a book in which he records his
impressions of Spain after trip
through that country. He saw moth
ing of the ignorance and superstition
so often said to be characteristic of
countries under "the heel of Rome,' y
nor does he find Catholic Spain less
prosperous than Protestant England.
1T is just as we'll to say here that
Spain is in no sense the poverty
stricken country it is supposed to be.
1t is felt generally by Anglo-SaXon peo-
pie that Spain is much behind the
times; that she is unprogressive, I'M
alert, and not on the watch to keep
UP with the rush; that her people are
sunk in ignorance and superstition and
poverty; that her administrators are
at once inept and corrupt; that she is
a country of the past; that the sun OF
her glory and power has set.
"All this is false.
'And should a statesman Of the An
glo-Saxon race wish to point to coun-
try that has gone under-he naturally
points to Spain. Spain is a dreadful
example of the awful plight that might
not look we'll ahead-if she did not
keep for her administrators men who
were at once wise, subtle and pushful
In fact, Englishmen and Americans
Americans especially-are very sorry
for Spain. Why they are sorry is not
quite so clear as the fact that they
are sorry-Very sorry indeed.
when an American comes to talk
of Spain pity creeps into his voice
And still-well, | must say it, though
less hunger, less misery, more genuine
prosperity in Spain than there is in
America. | tremble as l say this. But
say it | must-for it is a fact. OF
course people do not work as hard in
Spain as they do in America. But hard
work is a blessing much disguised. Sc
disguised is it that | have never in
my travels met anyone who willingly
took it on. | mean real hard work
with the hands.
mo, it seems to me in the case OF
the American, pity might well begin
at home.
and l will go farther than to say
that the man of Spain is better of
than the man of America. | will go sc
far as to say that the man of Spain
is better off than the man of England
He has a better time-he has less
work to do-he is better fed.
"Of course in the big towns of Spain
the beggars go for the tourist tooth
and nail. There are swarms of them
and from these sWarms the observant
tourist gets the erroneous impression
that Spain is a hungrier country thar
his own happy, up-to-date land. An6
the observant tourist at once feels
bothered and grieved and sympathetic
But the reason for the presence o.
beggars is a simple one. Spain pos
sesses not that triumph of Anglo-SaXor
administration atrocious ant
abominable workhouse system. They
don't shut up their beggars as though
they were lepers. There are places O
shelter to which they may go, but they
may please themselves as to whether
they stay in them or not They are
allowed freedom. They are allowed Il
come out into the open and worry the
society that has produced them. And
this is both just and a good thing
Why should beggars be shut UP any
more than the thieves who sweat, anC
steal from, and rob the poor under The
aegis of the law? The giving of free
dom to the beggar of Spain is fins
and a humane piece of craftsmanship
Indeed, it is more than a fine piece
of craftsmanship. 1t is fair piece O
craftsmanship.
| ''If you are destitute in England Of
America you are criminal who i!
liable to be put into prison. If yol
are destitute in Spain you are as fire,
to move about as the man who is rich
So let no more be said about thu
Spanish beggars. They are treated
far more fairly and nationally than on
own workhouse beggars.
Between Madrid and Taragoza,
saw the people and the way they lived
in way that the tourist never see
them. | walked at one stretch wei
over two hundred miles right through
the heart of the country-througl
the poorest part of Spain. | stopped
with the peasants and the mule-driver
at the 'posadas' and 'ventas' and wen
torros. | stopped at the peasants
huts along the road. In fact, l live,
the life of these people. And what dit
l see?
Il saw a working people who wer
better off than our own working pee
pie. A people with more to eat
people better housed-a steadier pee
/ pIoa hoaltbinr po0nIo In fino n poc