The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-07-02

prepared by tn. National Geographic s,
ciety. Washington. D. CO.
Those who may look upon Spain a
\ land Of the siesta where life flows /
a leisurely sort of way, have over
looked the Basque provinces at the ex
IRENE north OF the peninsula. This re
gion centering around the importan
part of Bilbao has been aptly dubbed
SPANS New England" for there i
an unmistakable Yankee-like spirit IL
the air.
The traveller notes the change a.
soon as he crosses the Basque border
by rail. Even the train picks III
spirit and arrives at each succeeding
little station punctually-a thing I'm.
known in the country to the south
The "Vascongados," as the Spaniards
call them, or the "Euskaldunac," as
they call themselves, are decidedly
different. Even the Basque tongue
| (Euskara) Is totally unintelligible to
the Spaniard, and it is spoken almost
exclusively by the peasants of the
little provinces Of Gulpuzcoa, Vizcaya
and Alava, though Spanish is used in
the larger towns and cities. A BASQUE
newspaper, and there are several Of
them, resembles Polish quite as much
as it does Spanish.
The history Of these yankees" of
Spain, who proudly claim to be the
oldest unmixed race in Europe, is q
repetition of determined efforts to de-
fend and retain the natural rights and
liberties which they have enjoyed
since time immemorial They had
certain fueros, or special privileges, to
which they held through thick and
thin, and way back in 1902 they stub
bornly refused to become Incorporated
with the provinces of Leon, Navarro
and CASTLE until the privileges had
been duly recognized.
These privileges gave the Basques,
among other things, a republican con-
stitution in their three little prov
inces, immunity from taxation and
freedom from military service, though
they maintained certain forces of their
own.
After Basques helped in the unsuc-
cessful Carlist uprising in 1876, how
ever, these fueros were taken from |
them. Thus the much-hated salt mo-
nopoly Of the Spanish government was
introduced into the three provinces
along with the more-hated tobacco mo-
nopoly and with the most-hated
''quinta," or military CONSUMPTION.
Bilboa, Second Spanish Port.
Picture a small, round valley mes
fling among wOndrous green hills, some
If which are almost worthy of the
lame Of mountains, with 4 river care
'ully making a letter S or two In
rider to enter this beautiful strong
iold. That is the site of Bilboa, with
Is hundred thousand souls, the larg-
'ort of Spain.
The river Is the Nervion, which has
een canalized from the city to the
Jay Of Biscay, eight miles distant, so
hat sea-going merchant vessels come {
o town, passing the Ayuntamiento,
he beautiful municipal building, on
heir way, and dropping anchor within S
stones throw of the Teatro Arriga,
ne Of the finest theaters in Spain t
The hills encircle the city so closely l
hat the ribbons Of railways seeking /
ntry from north, east, south and west t
tain their end only by plunging into ]
noky tunnels. Il
After likening the Basque provinces
, New England, one must mix his 6
miles a bit and admit that Bilboa is Il
lie Pittsburgh" of Spain. Along the n
'ervion, between the city and the t
"a, are some of the worlds most a
lmous iron deposits. They were p
nown In the Middle ages-so much Il
}, in fact, that Elizabethan writer's s
,ed the term "bilbo" for rapier 1t d
largely during the last three de- e
ldes, however, that vast exploitation a
IS taken place; and now the river
lined with freighters loading ore fl
r Newcastle or for Rotterdam, N
here 1t Is transshipped into Rhine s.
argos and carried to Krupps and
her German iron and steel makers. OF
But not all Of this Vizcayan wealth s.
exported in its natural state. Basque B
lergy has caused the erection of In
ielting plants along the river. where tc
eel rails and ship plates are pro- m
ICED. The rails explain why these 81
ovinces lead in the matter of Span al
, railways, and the steel plates why sc
lbao has become SPANS shipbuild- ri
: center. IN
The peasant farmers in Basque land, ri