Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-28
BY ANGEL FLORES,

PAIN has unbound her literary
who's Who" Names familiar
only to dusty specialists or ubiqui-
~ touS readers flash now with newly
acquired glamour. Grudgingly the
better citizens admit that writer's have
been given break" for change. I
say grudgingly because, in these busy
years of practical schemes, poets, novel;
lists and belle-lettrists have come to
be synonyms for scarecrows. They seem
to be direfully out of tune with the
trend of the times. And therefore
SPANS idealistic distribution of diplo-
matte portfolios sounds like a glorious
anachronism.
This is not the proper place to dis
cuss whether a gifted writer Is earthly
enough to make a good ambassador.
This is not the proper time to determine
whether Washington Irving, a name In
extricably woven to legendary 8Spain,
was a wretched diplomat and a fine
writer, or a wretched writer and fine
diplomat. Just as the words prince, p"
await Machiavelh, Castiglione and
a Chesterfield for their comprehensive
definition, so the ambiguous epithet
Ambassador" will require an expert
enced elucidator to give it some kind Of
pristine Specification.
IntelIectuaIs Not Devils.
The important element to be pres
emily clarified is this: The so-called
"intellectuals" of republican Spain are
not unpleasantly mummifled devils Of
the bookworm genus. The political
machinery Is so organized in Europe
that even the writer's take part not only
In its working, but also, alas, in its
iv,n NJ milf tae the n.
owS of belle-lettres from the less COM
Portable fields of Parliament. In fact,
an extremely clever French philosopher,
Julien Benda, has recently complained
of the intrusion of writer's in govern
mental policies. He accused them Of
treason, since, in the last analysis, they
were traitors to their art.
So, in this sense, the Spanish intel
lectuals" have been traitors-after many
fast days they made up their minds to
brighten away the political wolves, and
they have at last succeeded. Can one
blame them for not wanting to remain
in their reasty towers of ivory scan
ming verses while their country groaned
under plundering hands? Through
shrewdnesS, sympathetic understanding
and clever manipulations they won the
day. And their artistic treason has thus
become a political triumph. If the rev.
olution was bloodlesS-so much to their
credit-it was because they fully real
lied the value Of red and white COR
puscleS.
Become Ambassadors.
Some of the major "intsllectuals"
have packed bag and baggage, bound
for foreign chimes. They are SPANS
new ambassadors, keenly aware of their
country's history, of their diplomatic
role and of the populace's distaste for
writers. The more malicious citizens
gigglingly expect to see the Spanish
diplomatic corps in Greenwich Village
accoutrement at the thoroughly starched
receptions Of the embassy. But fear
that nothing so picturesque win ever
happen.
Naturally the English-speaking coun-
tries haMA focused their attention on
the new @canish ambassadors to Wash
ington aid the Court of st. james
Salvador de Madariaga and Ramon
Perez de Ayala.
Madariaga's name has been broadcast
so frequently that one is almost tempted
to say that Madariaga is just NADIA
riaga. And yet this man Is so utterly
complicated, so strong an international
compound, that he almost escapes def-