The Alaska daily empire., 1918-03-15
THE KING OF SPAIN

Spain and it's affairs are more or less i'll the pu c eye. The clashing forces of the war tnd eApte on there in diplomacy and riots and cabinet resi- ations Internal ambitions and social condltions a ,metimes so mixed with outside influence that 1t fficult for the outside observer know always jul hat is going on. An Associated Press correspon nt recently interviewed the King and gave some ,restng observations He says:
 The first thing that strikes one in King All fonso apart from the fact that he young man of extremely agreeable manners. IS certain modesty of mind which I imagine IS unusual in ruling monarchs It is true he is the King of Spain; but you feel also that ne resarus that position furnishing him with the means means of his lifes work rather than as pelng ltsei the end that he values it much less Tor the sake of it's privileges than of it's opportunities In every serious word he says you realze Ills Ills own sense that besides being King he IS hu man being in position of great responslpll ity towards other human beings that ms iot is cast in difficult time, in which all true true men are called upon to exert tnelr whoie strength and pull their whole weight
 "These are not easy times in which to be King" he said to me; "one mas to hnow aa d great deal more and work great deal haroer than in any other time. And if you fali' your failure means great deal more. l. may not be good enough for the post, he added, put any how I mean to try my best.
 I quote his remark because I believe it repre- sents no mere affectation, but genuine sense of his responsibilities and of the difficulty or dischargng them alright. It is not that ne mas an obsesson as to the greatness Of his posi- ton; rather that he has arrived at the concus ion along with most men of sense and spirit that is too easy a task to fu1lll one whole obligations in any walk of life, and that the complication of constitutional sovereignty not exactly things that make it easier.
 His conversation is, l think, less an express sion of his mind than search and angling exploration into the mind of the person he IS talking to. He wants to know things you you ieet, o to inform him, to fish out and extract the note of truth from that changing tune Of vctees, all modulated to more or less deferentlal Key with which it is the royal lot to be surround ed And his methods are very clever He has trick of starting subject by suddenly ex- pressing a view, probably rather startllng view, and possibly not at all his own voice, in order to hear what you have to say. He is much more interested if you disagree with him than if you agree; and I am sure he takes sly pleasure in the endorsements Of those who desire but are afraid. to disagree with him. And he is successful in his method. At the end of a conversation he will probably know much more about you than you know about him.
 once said to him that the real danger to a king in his position lay not in the poor people who had not enough to eat not in the strikers against economic injustice, but in the idle young men of the upper classes who do nothing. sacr flee nothing. create nothing for the good of their country.
 q quite agree with you" he said and proved it by telling of some of his schemes for training and inducing this idle class to take some real part in the work of the country. His in-
 
 an appalling task even for king to undertake almost single -handedA the reformation of whole class But here aso whether he succeeds not it will not be for lack of courageous effort
 Of course we talked of the war; but here he asked questions more than expressed opinions and can honestly say that occasion did he say anything to where his private sym pathies lay. But 1 am entitled to my own opinion, and it of nature to make like, and not dislike, telling him about the as I have seen it by and land.
 His courage is perhaps the noblest and the most conspicuous thing about King Alfonso It is courage of the very finest temper. 1 speak of the young tree swaying in the winds, untried as yet by the tempest. Really have no doubt as to the result of the trial Courage like his can bend almost infinitely but it can also stand firm as a we-rooted tree in the storm.
 And the storm is coming. When or how from what direction, I am wise enough not to predict only say that in Spain are all the elements, ripe and over-ripe, for a commo- ton of the first magnitude. It is often threat ened; I have him in one moment when it seemed imminent, and found him ready to meet it with the smiling gravity. the calm but alert courage, that has visualized the worst that can happen and finds 1t neither terrifying nor unbearabe.
 When the trial does come, whether 1t takes the form of violent crisis or the long drawn az ony of the birth of Spain, it will find King Alfonso ready and resourceful He is not afraid of the coming storm. Perhaps-who knows?-he may find in it his true hour, his supreme opportunity At any rate. to hope is to wish him well in the highest and best sense.