The Washington times., 1936-09-15

TODJIg correspondent W 4itt0i HU-
ttondl NetDS SerUtce.)
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
SEVILLE, Sept. IS GN.SJ.
"a bird has to bring his din
ner with him when he visits
Spain"
This old peasant proverb was
made to fit the landscape beneath
us as we flew across old Castillo
and Leon southeast Of Lisbon,
and looked down on treeleSs land
so dry and bare it could not sup
port a goat. The land was like a
dead leaf. Even at 5000 feet alti-
tude we were hot.
We skirted the antiaircraft bat
teries Of Valladolid and Sala-
manca and I thought Of old
Prof. Miguel de Unamuno down
there in his rector's study at the
venerable University of Sala-
manca, and of how he had told
me a short while ago that life
was essentially tragic. Spain Is
certainly getting her share Of
tragedy.
Now Spain Is Killing
She stayed out of the great war
and many said 1t was sign that
Spain was wise, had learned the
lesson that killing is futile. Now
SpaniardS are killing, not foreign
enemy, but themselves at the rate
of 1000 a day, which is higher
rate per head Of population than
any country suffered in the great
war. It is a greater speed Of kill
ing than we had in our own civil
war, and if it were to go on for
the length Of ours, four years,
Spain would lose around 1,500,000
dead.
Happily, there is no prospect
that it could last so long, although
Spaniards are beginning gloomily
to predict that this is the begin
ming of the end for Europe and
means the start of this century'S
80 years war. They say the great
war to come will not be Ito end
war" but to end civilization, and
that is not a new thought. But
they declare confidently that the
lineup will not be on nationalist
lines, but win be simply between
red and white, as it is today in
Spain.
We left Spain over the frontier
town Of Ciudad Rodrigo and looked
back as long as we. could admire
its perfectly preserved and semi
inedernized city walls, which make
1t a combination Of medieval town
and up-to-date fortress. Over the
Portuguese border we flew into q
green land clustered with vines
and fruit trees. Sailing on down
until we hit the Tagus River, we
followed that stream to Lisbon and
landed there in a scorching sun
on a field choking with dust.
1000 Die in Fight
A Portuguese plane was about
to take off for Tangier, and among
It's passengers met a friend who
had Just come out of Adajoz, the
Spanish fortress town on the Por-
tuguese border, which the whites
took with the Foreign Legion after
the bitterest fighting Of the war.
My friend said that an estimate of
2,0O0 dead in the fighting and
subsequent executions would be
the minimum.
Bad news for me was the fact
I had come to Portugal to discover
that it is impossible now to tele-
phone from Lisbon to abroad be-
cause the line runs over Madrid.
Furthermore any kilograms filed
In Portugal are subject to the Por-
tuguese censorship which is if any
thing more rigid than the Spanish
one. The Portuguese dictatorship
Is reported to be benevolent, but
not so towards the press which is
kept under the strictest control.
AS a dictatorship the Lisbon gov
ernment is naturally sympathetic
towards the Spanish whites and
the Lisbon radio is as strong in
tone as the white stations in Bur
COS or Seville.
Gil Robles, one of the chief
white leaders and head of the
Catholic Clerical Party, has his
headquarters in Lisbon, where he
supervises the gathering of funds
from abroad for the white cause.
Lisbon makes no pretense Of neu-
trality in her sentiment and the
bookstores have their windows full
of white pamphlets and are dec
Grated with the white colors,
orange and gold.
Delayed In Lisbon
There was no sense in staying
In Lisbon at all after learning the
hopelessneSs of the communica-
tions, but the Portuguese airdrome
authorities refused to let us depart
until the next day. Of 16 hours
spent in Lisbon, five were spent
negotiating with the police, air
drome and customs authorities, al
though our total baggage consisted
of comb, brush, razor and tooth
brush.
Lisbon's airport is the worst
situated in the. world, a full
hours drive from town through
the most offensive suburbs of
pig styes and garbage dumps.
But the city itself, lying in a
curve and built up the side of
q hill, was glorious in the golden
sunshine of just before dusk.
we ate our only meal of the
day, an early dinner in a semi.
roof garden on top Of o modern