The Washington herald., 1922-10-12
BY THOMAS STEWART RYAN

BY THOMAS STEWART KY
MADRID. Oct. ll.-Does Spain re-
member 1898? Does the pride Of
CASTLE ever think of revenge and
does Madrid cast a regretful eys on
those Western lands which once
formed part of an almost world
empire?
These are the questions which an
American naturally tries to answer
in Spain.
In the first place, it should be
understood that the lower class
Spaniard cares nothing for enter
prises outside his own country.
The peasant mother in. Spain, whe
she thinks on the matter at all, is
glad that We took Spain's colonies
in the now world. She does not
want to send her boys as conscripts
to the Philippines. She would even
be glad to see Spanish rule ousted
from Northern Morocco. lock. stock
and barrel This is the feeling OF
most of the country. A series of
singing defeats through many cen
turies has cooled that martial ardor
among the peasants which made the
Spanish infantry of the sixteenth
century the best fighting machine
in the world.
Military Spirit Dead.
That infantry shook the world
for a time. Then its rulers eN-
plotted the world for its treasures
until. with their wealth pouring in
from the Spanish main, the Span
iards forgot how 10 work or even
to govern. They got out OF the
pink and they began to take the
way of Rome and Carthage. Yet
they could not let so the lands that
paid them well. They continued 10
send out armies and merchants,
draining away the best blood OF the
mother country. These armies
were brave. like the troops OF
Charles V. but the politicians al
home. who had tasted too much of
the worlds wealth. betrayed them
into defeat by corrupt administra-
ton
The peasant does not reason this
out consciously. hut large part of
the upper class understands Il. Not
all however. While spanish
pride" is for the most of the nation
purely personal. for a goodly part
Of the upper ard political class II
is racial and rIi.onal. 1t ls less
than four ceuiIr es since Spain was
the leading power. If some E.
Iishmen 10 * halt Eskance at North
American proEICss, how must ihe
Spaniard reGTrd Argentina and
Chile. outstridinC the mother coun-
try that gave them birth?
RcsentfuI Of L. s.
And so there is in Madrid a de-
sire to play the Grand role once
AGAIN. to bring back the days when
Philips ralleons sailed every sea
to erase thu South American strug-
ges for independence. to elude a
too strict Interpretation of the
Monroe doctrine. and to become
poIitically. perhaps; commercially
if possible: spiritually. of course -
tho leader of Spanish-spe ing
America.
There is a feeling that we are the
ha rbarian overlords of the ne"
world and that the South American
re publics ask nothing more than &c
he freed from our heRemony, which
to the Spanish observer appears Il
bc only prelude to actual SOW
ereignty. Thus the avenues In one
Of Madrid's fine parks bear name:
such as Paseo de la Argentina
Avenida de Mejico, Gale del Peru
That the hustling Argentinians de
not fall in readily with easy goinG
old Spanish methods occurs to som'
but not all OF these enthusiasts
They do realize. however, that they
must revive Spanish trade before
they can aspire to leadership. The
tail cannot wag the dog.
Hence Spain has quite wisel,
launched herself on campaign oi
national rejuvenation. 1t Will b'
remembered that this is the natiuI
that sent out Ponce de Lean. eli
mate and her too gaudy ambitions
in the past have wrought in SPAR
bureaucratic corruption and n sort
of ma ton wide inertia-dulce hacei
nada--so that one accepts reluc'
family the belief of the pan-Span.
iards that much can come of theil
dreams but talk. Still the Latir
race has always proved a good
phoenix Italy has twice risen from
her ashes since Rome fell. and tht
Spanish blood. with its infusions oi
Gothic and Moorish. is very much
like the Italian. But there must Iii
an impetus. Italy had 1t first in tn,
revival of learning. and then in tho