Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1924-06-27

prepared by tho National Geog aphia So-
ciety, Washington. D. CO
Those who may look upon Spain as
a land Of the siesta where life flows in
d leisurely sort of way, have over
looked the Basque provinces at the ex-
IRENE north of the peninsula. This re-
gion centering around the important
part of Bilbao has been aptly dubbed
"Spain's New England for there is
an unmistakable Yankee-like spirit In
the air.
The traveller notes the change as
loon as he crosses the Basque border
by rail. Even the train picks up
spirit and arrives at each succeeding
little station punctually-a thing un-
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 Guipuzcoa. 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 1t does Spanish.
The history of these Yankees of
Spain. who proudly claim to be the
oldest unmixed race In Europe, is a
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.
6ilboa, Second Spanish Port.
Picture n small, round valley nes-
fling among wondrous green hills, some
of which are almost worthy of the
name of mountains, with a river care
fully making a letter s or two In
order to enter this beautiful strong
hold. That is the site of Bilboa, with
its hundred thousand souls, the larg-
est Basque city and the second sea
port Of Spain.
The river Is the Nervion, which has
been canalized from the city 10 the
Bay of Biscay, eight miles distant, so
that sea-going merchant vessels come
to town, passing the Ayuntamiento,
the beautiful municipal building, on
their way, and dropping anchor within
a stones throw of the Teatro Arriga,
one of the finest theaters in Spain.
The hills enclrcle the city so closely
that the ribbons of railways seeking
entry from north, east, south and west
attain their end only by plunging into
smoky tunnels.
After likening the Basque provinces
to New England, one must mix his
SMILES a bit and admit that Bilboa is
the pittsburgh" Of Spain. Along the
Nervion, between the city and the
sea, are some Of the worlds most
famous iron deposits. They were
known in the Middle ages-so much
SO, in fact, that E~lizabethan writers
used the term 'bilbo'' for rapier. It
Is largely during the last three de-
| cades, however, that vast exploitation
has taken place and now the river
Is lined with ~freighters loading ore
for Newcastle or for Rotterdam,
where 1t Is transshipped into Rhine
barges and carried to Krupps and
other German iron and steel makers.
But not all of this Vizeayan wealth
Is exported in Its natural state. Basque
e has caused the erection of
smelling plants along the river, where
steel rails and ship plates are pro-
duced. The rails explain why these
provinces lead in the matter Of Span
ish railways, and She steel plates why
Bilbao a become SRain's shipDuiio7
Ing center
The peasant farmer bs1que landN
Axsn.-s Mfd[I Nt xnzEfE