Evening star., 1927-09-06

| Gen. Primo de Rivera. dictator OF
| Spain, submitted yesterday 10 tne
| King. a new constitution and decree
for convoking a National Assembly TO
| meet in the first or second week OIL
| October. Nominally, the new Assem-
bly, will compile and adopt the new
| constitution, but in fact there Will De
no great deliberation over that 10TH
to be submitted by the dictator:
The entire personnel or the Assem-
bly will be selected by the government
For the election is a mere formality,
there being no possibility OF electing
| anv but the hand picked "candldate.
There will be 100 delegates from the
| learned and liberal professions. Ihere
will be no opposition partles' Ior
prime Minister Primo de Rivera CON
fasses with the modesty characteristic
~ a dictator. that 1.-The Dement'S de'
rived from the present administrator
ara go clear and self-evident that the
covarnment feels, in duty bound 70
Sefend them energetically, without
compunction or consideration "a
| legality" ,,,,,,oh the
Thus all rights of man wnicn .ne
| AngIo.Saxoris are so alert to preserve
ara thrown openly into the discard
and onIv the rights Of the throne ana
~ the dictator behind the throne re-
main. .to+ the AS.
semhlv. which will soon be IN opera
tion- will permit the developinen'
of sound politics." being the comolna'
| zion of "all voices excepting those
which have been forever stilleo -
executed. Those stilled voices were
those of "contumacious politicians
who, on account of lack of efficiency
| negligence of their duties ana cor
runtion in Office, had been a disgrace
to Spain for many years. 80 assert
1.-THE dictator and his followers.
y X y X
| The adoption of any sort OF cohstl-
| tuition in Spain Is assumed 10 Dc an
| Improvement over the military olc-
tatorship,. which has been arpltrary
| and above law. Until last May the
whole of Spain has been under ue'
clared state Of siege since the coup
detat September 15, 1879 py WIicl, ~
| De Rivera assumed power. IL Is
merely the recognition "in principle
of a constitutional form of govern
| ment. but the power to make or
| change the constitution at will re-
mains in the hands Of the dictator.
The military members Of the cabinet
have been replaced by civilians,
which, however, leaves the control of
the cabinet as we'll as the army
wholly in the hands Of Gen. Primo de
Rivera. His hands are strengthened
by the change, even while the pre-
tense is maintained of restoring the
guarantees to the people.
Yet while, under the military di'
rectorate, all ministers reached the
King only through military chan
| y-bp ~@,,t,., tYNfc aQnh
civilian minister may submit DEGREES
for the royal signature directly to
his majesty.
When De Rivera assumed power. he
announced that all the former cabinet
was to be tried-perhaps executed
and particular vengeance was threat
ened against the foreign minister.
Senior Alba, because of his treaties
with the United States. France and
Great Britain. The outgoing prime
minister. Marquis de Alhucemas,
throwing discretion to the winds, dared
De Rivera to bring him to trial I'M.
mediately. Not one of the threatened
trials has taken place. De Rivera
promised early general elections, Wnen
the voters, unfettered by partisan con-
nections, might express their unham-
| pHfeQ Will. NO SuCu CACSNAoAAS AAN' y > -
taken place.
The basis of criticism of the Alhuce-
mas treaties was that they exceeded
the 20 per cent rebate of duties stipu-
lated by the basic law, yet DE Rivera
not only suspended the basic law, but
also made treaties with Italy which
contained greater rebates than those
in the Alhucemas treaties.
X X n
|" De Rivera ruled through military
directory, consisting of nine generals
and one admiral, but none or them
dared take any steps without the sane
ton of the dictator.
The first act of the directory was to
abolish the 9,254 municipal corpora
tions and order the taxpayers to elect
new municipal authorities. Therc-
upon, a discharged clerk, accused OF
inattention to his duties in the minis
try of public works, was elected mayor
of Madrid, and in Barcelona a pro-
fessor of Greek was made mayor:
These were promptly removed, ana
since then all mayors (alcaldes) have
been appointed by the directorate,
without consulting the will OF the
people. At the same time, military
officer is assigned as spy or inspector
in every town, to keep watch and see
that all orders from the central gov
ernment were carried out.