Evening star., 1917-01-14
BY CHARLES M. PEPPER.

~ PAIN looms up in the foreground
of the neutral powers. 1t may
M be that her statesmen will
~ realize their dream to restore the
country something of her former pres
tige.
SPAIN like all the European neutrals.
has suffered from the war. She also
has gained somewhat, but on the whole
she has been less benefited than the
Scandinavian countries. which. while
they have suffered loss, also have
reaped immense profits in their carry
ing trade and in supplying both sets
of belligerents. Spain has suffered less
than Switzerland. because of her geo
graphical position. The seas are open
to her. and she has a merchant marine
of her own. This is not large. but it
enables her to obtain supplies.
The loss to Spanish commerce when
the entente allies began their paper
blockade was in the loss of trade with
Germany. The Krupp works a; Essen
from the start were unable to obtain
iron ore from their mines at Bilbao.
Copper from the great Rio Tinto mines
was obtained by getting it across Italy
until that country entered the war.
commerce maintained in .he same man
ner
Spain's Indirect losses We're when the
allies took charge of the Argentine
wheat crops and used what they want
ed. without regard to the wants of the
neutral countries. There was some loss
through the inability to procure coal
from England. because the English
coal was wanted for the British navy
and for the munition works and the
Industrial plants. This deficiency. how
ever, it was possible to supply with
coal from the United States.
With the allies keeping open the
seas Spain continued to find profitable
market for her iron ore and copper
which more than compensated for the
loss of the German market for these
raw materials. 1t leaked out, however.
not long ago. that the German sub
marines had been able to interfere
with some Of these ore cargoes. just as
they had been able to interfere with
some of the Norwegian ships carrying
food supplies for England
Spain's protest against Germanys
submarine policy went beyond that of
the United States. and possibly one
reason was because of the sinking of
ore-Iaden ships. A recent Madrid dis
patch has stated that no protest of the
kind indicated was made to Berlin. but
that inforfna tion merely given to
the newspapers of Madrid of the feel
ing of the government that the German
submarine policy could not be acqui-
esced in. This statement is to be taken
with some allowance. 1t is possibly a
diplomatic euphemism for whatever
representation was made to Germany.
Aside from the commercial considera-
tions. Spain's political relations give
her unique position This may be
why she took what seemed to be an
isolated attitude in regard to the peace
proposals of Germany and to President
Wilson's first note. 1t was intimated
that SpainS action in regard to the
Presidents note was a rebuff. This is
not correct. 1t was a surprise, but not
a rebuff.
Spain in effect said that she took the
liberty of disagreeing with the Presi-
dent in his opinion that the time was
opportune for neutral nations to try
to find out from the belligerents what
the war was about in order that the
path might be opened for peace
The Spanish government courteously
explained that the action in which
Spain was invited to participate would
be ineffica cious. especially since the
central powers had expressed their in
tention that the peace conditions should
be accorded exclusively among the bel
ligerents But it politely declared that
having in consideration the noble de-
sires of the American government it
was disposed to associate itself with
every negotiation which had for its OBJ
ject the facilitating of the humani-
tartan work of ending the present war
Yet Spain would suspend action until
the time When her efforts and work in
favor of peace could be more useful and
efficacious than at the present time.
This was to say that Spain recognized
in principle the desirability of peace.
This is the old diplomatic formula for
describing deadlock.
Something in the nature of a scoop
or news beat came from Madrid fol-
lowing the declaration of the govern
ment. This was the intimation that