Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-17
SPANISH CITY HAS
WORKERS LOCKOUT
Ancient Barcelona, Home of
Aristocrats, Loves Both
Work and Play.

w nile tHc Oullcu 0tdtcS 10 SoPAhe
with the coal miners strike Spain has
Industrial troubles of an opposite sor
"a national lockout of workers. Bar
celona. meeting place of the employ
ers' congress, which ordered this
drastic action, is the subject of the
following bulletin from the National
Geographic Society:
Barcelona is the chameleon city of
Spain. In some quarters streets are
narrower and more crooked than
those of old London; in others are
avenues, boulevardS. shops and cafes
which vie with, those of Paris. The
city has an aristocracy which lives so
far in the past that it's scions still de-
plore the discovery of America These
gentle patricians are undisturbed by
the agitators for all sorts OF polltlcal
and economic novelties.
Until 1892 Barcelona was the New
York of the Mediterranean. Its pc.
sition in the northeastern coast OF
Spain, actually at about the same
latitude as New York city, relatively
is to the Mediterranean world what
the western city. is to Atlantic trade
routes. Columbus voyage was con-
sidered a bit of impertinence on the
part of the Castilian government 10
upset the balance of trade in favor OF
cities in western and southern spain.
Move for Annexation to France.
"Soon a movement swept the Cata-
Ian provinces, of which Barcelona is
the center, for annexation to France.
In 1910 Catalonia did rebel against
Philip w, gave itself over to french
protection, but its old allegiance was
renewed in 1852. and cemented by the
peace of Ryswick before the close or
the seventeenth century.
I'm four centuries this resentment
had ameIiorated enough to permit the
placing of statue OF CnrlstopheI
of Barcelona After the Spanish
American war mobs of Barcelona citi-
Gems stoned and egged the explorer
statue as punishment for his having
ventured to find so troublesome new
world for Spain.
"Despite it's commercial subsistence
when the Atlantic replaced the Med1-
terranean as the major water route
of civilization. Barcelona f1ourished. A
year after the late war oetween
George Dewey and Spain, as o. Henry
put it. Barcelona paid more than
tenth of the kingdoms entire revenue
from industrial taxation. Before the
world war some twoscore important
shipping companies had made 1t port
of regular call, and today the city has
a population exceeding half a million.
"In respect to publicity Barcelona
has hardly put it's best foot forward,
since it is heard of most often as
center of riots, strikes and rebell1ons.
Though one traveller found the CIT
izens pleasantly surprised that King
Alfonzo, who had just visited there,
had escaped with his life, he con-
cluded after staying time tnat win
all her reputation for turbulence Bar.
celona seemed an enlightened ana
thoroughly progressive city. Have
lock Ellis paid more glowing tribute,
after admitting the city's faults, by
saving: Barcelona is revelation OF
what a great commercial city may De
when humanely and harmoniously or
ganized. In a beautiful and exquisite
" tempered climate, a robustly inde-
pendent and clear-eyed population has
here freely expanded itself. loving
work and loving play, and combining
these two fundamental human I'M
pulses more completely and more ad-
mirably than in any other equally
great city,.
"Despite its disorders and its mod
ernisrn, Barcelona retains many relics
of those mellow times when Cervantes
made it the setting for Don Quixote's
later adventures. There stu are
lers, policemen with red coats and
helmets, flower stalls and Gagged bird
vendors. Folk lore embellishes the
story Of the girlish martyr, st.
Eularia, whose ashes lie In the Bar
ColOu8 O6tuSuTdI, pCAhdPo Sho o]A
of ali great churches. and among the
most beautiful in Spain. Cool foun-
tains play in the cloister garden.
among oleanders and orange and lem
on trees, and pools disclose geese. not
ytolators Of the medieval sanctity.
but contributory to it, when one learns
they are descended from the birds for
merly used for augury.
Many of Barcelona's political dis
turbances may be attributed to. a diff
ference of temperament between the
Catalan and the southern Spaniard; q
difference akin to that between the
Yankee and the Dixie plantation own
err before the civil war welded our
common interests so indissolubly.
The Catalan more nearly resembles
his thrifty. enterprising. practical
French neighor than the courtly,
dreamy Castilian. Moreover. the Cat
alan emphasizes this difference by
speaking and writing in his own dia-
lect. called the harshest OF romance
tongues"