Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-02-01
SPAIN GAINS RICHES
AS RESULT OF WAR
Nation Plans Vast Improvements
|. With Profits, Which Are
Startling.
AMERICA IS ASSISTING HER
Bitterness of '98 Wiped Out.
Workmen Feel Unrest From
Unusual Prosperity.
tBy Universal Service. ]

BARCELONA. Jan. 3i.-A foreigner
visiting Spain now. after an absence
ut the changed conditions The change
has been less sudden than nc may sup
pose. FOR while outsiders have been
studying Spain somewhat carelcssly
and Internationally. she has been pro-
crossing with steady dclibcration
1t is. in fact because she out SO
brave front upon tho disaster of 1SgS
and set to work without delay 20 re-
cover from her fail that others do not
grndge her her present prosperity.
The wealth which the war has
brought to Spain is startling espe-
cially IL one considers the larger cities
only. Bilbao. barcelona and. indeed.
the whole of Catalonia, Valencia, even
such unindustrial towns as Seville.
Zaragoza, and, of course. above all.
Madrid. are thriving materially as
never before.
PrinccIy wnr Fortunes.
Princely fortunes have beon made.
and il there is much unrest it Is large
ly duo TO the fact that the wealthy
has not hcen distributed evenly, and
that the now money has been employed
rather in speculation than in produce
tive enterprise.
The country is evidently in transit
ton; The ho, huge r,se in fslarif hs
syndicate and the strike. viii eventual
ly attract large number of persons
to manual labor. but at the same time
the larger Industries and the great aS-
riculiural estates will have to rely in
creasingly on machinery if they are
not 10 become insolvent.
Labor Conditions bad.
The apparent determination of the
workmcn, especially AT barcelona and
Valencia, TO make the lite of employer
and capitalist impossible. and TO do
the minimum of work-at barcelona
me workmen have been known TO sit
Tor their eight hours with folded hands
and the women. IL they did not like 70
be idle, brought their own work iron,
nome to do in the fac,ory hours-is' one
may nope, only 4 passing phase.
Tho Barcelona workman, IKE those
Of other parts, Will come TO his
senses and realize that be Is being
; tina, of his country, and that cooper
alton will be the better way.
| In Spain. as in otner countries. mucf
| OF the social unrest can be solved along
| the lines of corporation Of wider eX'
| tension of manual labor, OF peasant
! proprietorship and Of the autonomy an.
| economic strengthening OF the snaile'
/ townships.
| Threat From ~Grontns Palms,
! Tho present unrest in Spain consist:
! largely of growing pains and is MARI
/ not of dccadence, but of new vigor ant
! ,,rvsreriLy. the good sense. toieratloI
j greater Throughout the country thai
I one is apt TO Imagine, and those Wht
x witn ali pt the facts are Of opinion tina!
! II is a country in which one may nov
safely invest ones money and one;
I: is one OF the ambitions OF the new
! Spain TO become increasingly self-suf
! fcing and TO manufacture her raw pro
| ducts instead of exporting them.
The Spanish position is. in tact
! briefly this: Spain is extraordinarily
| rich in undcve!opcd or partially de
| velopcd resources of many kinds, while
! she is deficient in machinery and in Goa
| and weak in technical work generally
| Tho great field Of mutual proht in in
| crcasing commercial relations between
| Spain and Great Britain is thus Suhi
! GENTLY obvious.
! Old Industries Revive.
| AT the same time the small Older
! Spanish industries, such as pottery
| silk and household furniture, are be
| ginning to revive. When il is addet
/ that there are now vast road and rail
| way projects, projects not merely IL
the air, nut actively studied: that irri
as we'll as the building OF bridges ant
| harbors. the increase of her rolling
| stock on her existing railways. the eX
! ploration of her mines and the trans
| formation OF her agricultural processes
| Il becomes clear how immense are he
requirements In machinery and nipple
ents OF every kind in the inmediat,
| future.
| Never has Spain had so much TO offe
| to the enterprise OF foreign nations. ant
| the nation which realized this and act
! without delay Will have established
| lasting bond with Spain and hav,
helped powerfully to strenthen ant
multiply the resources and assure the
! future of Europe:
AT present the United States Ia work
! ing n Spain with an almost feverisi
! activity.