Semi-weekly herald., 1917-08-27
WILL IT AMOUNT TO ANYTHING,

In these days of general war and
political unrest. it is natural for the
student of political science to pom
den upon the cause and effect of dis
turbances among the people wherever
they exist. Lately these have been
reports of riots and revolution in
Spain, coupled with rumors of the
enforced abdication of King Alton
so. The Herald sought out local
man, who has travelled extensively in
Spain, speaks their language, and has
studied their phases of political life,
and asked his opinion of the signifi-
canoe of the present unrest in that
country. His opinion is given merely
as an opinion, but in view of his IA
miliarity with conditions, is interest
ing to the political student. He said:
What is the significance of the
Spanish revolution? Does it mean
the end of one more monar>ny, the
rise of a new republic in Europe?
These are important questions and
they will be much talked of the next
few weeks. They have their bearing
on the issues of the war and ON the
hope of an early peace. Spain is
no longer a power of even the second
class, still she is the most important
nation remaining neutral; she has
100000 inhabitants; her favor has
been zealously solicited by both
groups of belligerents. There is =
temptation to compare the situation
in Spain with conditions in Russia
as they existed just prior to the
March Revolution and to assume that
the monarchy viii be overthrown and
a democratic republic set up in its
place. 1t is possible that such pre-
dictons are little too confident and
tend to ignore certain fundamental
differences.
"For instance, the car of Russia
was a weakling, helpless creature
dedeviled by spiritualistic mediums
and queer religious fanatics-he was
| unpopular 70 d QeSrec.
ALFONSO XIII is generally conced-
ed to be the most alert, enterprisins
and progressive ruler in Europe. He
is young, sympathetic, and has al
ways enjoyed remarkable popularity
'1n Russia the revolutionary out
break was general, and almost at
once co-extensive with the limits of
the empire
"In Spain the uprising. thus far
reported, appears to be confined to
a small section in the northeast, to
what is known as the province of
Catalonia, and to the industrial city
of Bilbao. Now Catalonia is the
Ireland of Spain. A Catalan, as a
rule, has about the same love for
the government at Madrid that an
Irishman has for the English par
Lament. Indeed Catalonia is only
kept in the Spanish system by the
free use of force. For q good many
years the captain-general of the prov
ince has been a certain General Wey-
ler, once rather well known to the
American public as a man not overly
prone to err on the side Of undue
mildness. That, in time of intense
stress like he present, the Catalans
should get out of hand is not surpris-
ing. Neither is it surprising that
there should be an uprising in Bill
boa, the center of the Spanish steel
industry and the Pittsburg of Spain.
Labor is restless the world over, in
this country and in Europe, and the
Spanish working man is no exception
among his kind.
"There remains another difference
of the greatest importance. In Rus
sia, when the storm broke, the crown
was without defenders. Barring a
few police and scant handful of
robles all parties seemed to consent
to the change.
"In Spain, however, it must be re-
nembered there is formidable
party, literally more royal'stic than
the king. A party whose chief quar-
rel with Alfonso is precisely that, in
their opinion, he has gone too far
on the road of liberalism and de-
mocracy. This party, the Carlist, has
in the past waged bitter war in the
cause of absoiutism. Little as they
may love Don Alfonso they are not
likely to be enthusiastic over a re-
public.
"Finally in Russia, democracy, a
republic, had all the lure of the un-
known and the untried; but Spain has
once been republican, during the year
1874 under the brilliant orator En-
lilo CASTELAR,. her experiment was a
sad failure, which fell of its own