Norwich bulletin., 1921-04-18
IN THE DAYS NEWS
 MADRID

Madrid, capital Of Spain, which was almost alone among European coun- tries to emerge from the war period with a balance of trade In it's favor and with surplus cash in its coffers, is desicribed in the following bulletin issued from the Washington, D. c. headquarters of the National Geo.
 graphical Society. It was in Madrid that the Spanish Premier, Senor Dato,
 was recently assassinated as he was
 leaving the Hall of Congress.
 While Madrid was not made from
 the whole cloth, as Canberra, the new
 capital of Australia is being fashioned" | says the bulletin, fin a way it is as
 truly an artificial capital. Physically, the rather bleak table-land on which Madrid is situated had little to com
 mend 1t as site for a capital or a.
 great city save the fact that 1t is aI-
 most the exact geographical center of ] Spain. But 1t was political pressure
 that really pushed the Spanish court \ to the former Moorish village of Mad
 jrit; because the Jealousy of each other felt by the Castilians, the Aragonese, the people of Toledo and Seville, and all the other groups would not permit
 Ne selection of an existing city of
 importance when Spain became united. Picture a bare plateau in the semi
 arid American West, an insignificant stream several hundred feet below its ,, crest. and it's top and sides deeply
 carved by erosion, forming 'arroyos'-
 the beds of torrents formed quickly
 in the rainy season, but usually dry
 Madrid, must have been much like thii
 when the Spanish, in their fight tC redeem the Spain irredenta' of those days captured the place from tn,
 Moors in 1083 Castilian monarch, ] lfuod fv1 AfhA ,rnfr
 and on for several hundred years, bu
 it was first made the seat of the gov. ernment of united Spain in 1860. l } is thus one of the youngest of the grea , cities and capitals of Europe.
 i The smallness of Madrid whei l Philip II made it the Spanish capita i brought about the institution of ! It was decreed that all persons possess l Ing houses above certain size mus 2 take in as guests courtiers and noble
 who attended the court. The cam, Spaniards who carried on any build ing operations took care to build house ] just short of the mark. They wer 2 termed spite houses by the courtiers q and the Madrid of few hundred year |. ago became full of them.
 ? The small houses naturally did no /, bring beauty to old, Madrid. In ad !, dition the town was poorly cleane 7 and even in the middle of the eigh teenth century had the reputation O
 being one of the dirtiest capitds i
 Europe. The Bourbons early in th
 eighteenth century began to bull palaces and pubic buildings, however
 and the French, during the brief hol
 which they had in Madrid at tn
 height of Napoleon's power, started
 number of Improvements, The net
 work of railroads which covered Spai
 during the nineteenth century, wit = Madrid as their focus. gave the capl Is tai its greatest impetus.
 a- population have come in the wake { ,f the railroads. The population hs It passed well beyond the' 65o,0oo mar ;- and is increasing rapidly. Fine street l. fine buildings, and wonderful parks an Lo promenades have transformed tf n. city's appearance in the last ha sr century. In the parks and around tf ,h city many trees have been plante re They have done away with the aspei ie of barrenness and have even mitigate l. to some extent the severity of the h. xt summer weather. q, Q ''ro the east. less than half a mi le from the city's heart.-the Puerta q as Sol, where tep streets meet--iS q ce famous Prado and the 'Paseos,' 1t promenades, that extend 1t to q to north#ard and the southward. The
 great wide spaces and boulevard a- with rows of from i've to eight tre of in their center, form one of the mo D. handsome promepades and 'shc he streets in the world.
 he Heroes the space of the Prado K the renowned Museo de Prado-oft re Itself called rnArAiv m DyaAs;-4 ni