Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1921-09-08
LAND OF THE DoNs.
Fort Mil Man Tells of Things
He Saw in Spain.

uOWu III the fyreneeS mountains
of Spain, where l spent Is months
a few years ago in the employ of
New York engineering concern
that had the contract for build
ing a large electric plant near
the French border, and he will
imagine that time has been tlrn-
ed back 500 years or more said
night or two ago John L. Jones'
of Fort Mill in. telling a party of
his friends of some of the condi-
tions and customs he observed in
that country.
am not surprised, he con
tinued, ito learn that the Mours
are getting the. best Of the Span
iards in their fight and that the
Spanish government is seeking
army recruits in the United
States. My observations led me to
believe that the average Span
iard-I mean the class from
which the private soldiers must
be recruited-is wholly lacking
in courage and that the govern
ment is doing the natural thing
in calling upon other coun-
tries, for soldiers. Indeed, there
appeared to be little patriotism
among the working classes in
Spain, and that not without rea-
son. The government does next
to nothing to improve the hard
conditions in which these people
live, but is continually adding to
their burdens by imposing fresh
taxes upon them.
There were hundreds of day
laborers employed in building the
dams, canal and power houses
where | was and | can testify 20
their general worthlessness. Here
III the South we sometimes com
plain that the nero does not do
has work as well as he should,
but the average Southern negro
Will do more work in one day
than is to be expected of the av-
erage Spaniard in four days. To
get any work at all out of the
Spanish laborer one must treat
him like spoiled child, for they
will strike Oh the slightest PROV
ocation, and when there is no
provocation they frequently man
age to trump up. an excuse to
quit work. Strikes and holidays
are the rule among the laboring
classes in Spain.
There is large floating pop
ulatiOn of day laborers in Spain,
many of them men past middle
life. These men have no homes
and move about from place to
place wherever they can get
work, carrying with them only
the blankets in which they sleep.
more frequently OH the ground
than in building. The weather is
much more severe in the Pyre-
nees mountains of Spain in win
ter than it is in this section. but
Notwithstanding the cold, | have
many times seen Spaniards after
finishing their days work wrap
themselves in their blankets and
lie down OH the ground and ap-
parently sleep i'll comfort until
almost time to go to work again.
They are paid from 20 to 60 cents
a day for their labor and of
course have little with which to
buy the comforts of life.
"Spain is one of the most be-
nighted of all the European coun-
tries. One would not suspect
that the country stood out Il
few hundred years ago as lead
er among the nations Of the
earth. The glory that was
Greece and the grandeur that
was Rome do not abide in Spain.
A very large per cent of the peo-
pie can neither read nor write
and there is a great deal of pow
erty and suffering among the
lower classes. But whether of the
better or lower classes the Span
iards are strong for sports and
what they consider a good time.
Sunday is the principal day of
the week for pleasure over there.
There is no Christian Sabbath in
Spain as we observe the day in
this cOuptry. On the other hand,