Show I CONCERNING SPAIN t The Country ond Hi I History Briefly Sketched I I I 1 The general desire In this country for jt 0Je g gatJ 7J 111 some exact knowledge about Spain Just 1 I slow Is I clearly evidenced at the ullbrurbIA I bf nU the large cities The Ubmrl 11 I have bn so pestered by the Imnnd I 11 I of the public that they have placed all the books relating to our friends the l w enemy on shelves where the people 1 can f5ick them out for themielVem N The kingdom of Spain constitute I lcl What might bis called the southwestern I t arm of Europe where it reaches down I find almost touches nothern Africa It If f Is II true peninsula washed on three I Bides by the waters of the Mcdltorrane F an the Hay of Biscay and the Atlantic 1j j yn of ocean and Joined I by n wide neck P 1 land to France The great fort of alb A I altar cut from the mild I rock of Its j I li n tenth rn extremity comPletelli cOm mand a the entrance to the Medllind an It Is however owned and gar 11 ff rlsoncd I by Great Britain Spain I li I n enmity founded by the I Ii tl YA nYc i I union of the homes of Aragon and Cos 12 tile during the fifteenth century She ifir i it been ruled Intermittently t the houses of Aragon Bourdon Savoy and d 1 llnpsburg for 400 yenrs except onto it i J when Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed proclaim-ed king I by his brother the Emperor Napoleon and once when the COUll try was a republic during 1873 and 1874 Th house of Bourdon Win power at preimt although Its supremacy In I op O sed by the Carlisle who claim a bar sinister Interferes with the purity of the descent The present king Is I Alfonso XIII who however Is I but 12 years old and whose mother Mrl Christina Is I the regent ot the country The present constitution of Spain was proclaimed In 187G It proclaims the government to lie I a ontltutlonol monarch the excelitive resting In the Icing the Power to make lawn In the Cortez ot the king The Cortes are Composed of a PInte find a congress equal In allihollty There tire tlltra claseq 1 or nntorsnrt senators hI their own right secondly senators nominated bY the crown and thirdly > senators elected by the corporations of state that IS I the communal and f provincial states the church the universities uni-versities academies and by the largest larg-est payer of contributions Senatois by their own right are the ginndeei ot the kingdom whose titles and pos melons entitle them to the prlvlUg large Proportions of the Inhabitants ot Spain are IIIltorot Nearly 12000000 in I the kingdom an neither read nor write In the whole of Spain It wan found that but B 001 410 persons could read and write COS 005 persons could read only and yet Spain support 21 > 29 public and OG76 private schools A law making > education compulsory wan pad In 1857 but It was never enforced en-forced partly for political reasons nnrt partly because of the wretched pay of the teachers ISO tu 1100 a year being a usual fee In higher education Spain Is I not behindhand She has ten large unlorltt carrying un enrollment or 16000 students Spain Is well defended from Invasion by a concord of form and fortified town drawn completely around the frontier Not nil of them could with land the projectiles or nodern gent 1 guns but quite the bent methods prevail pre-vail and on Army of Invasion would have some difficulty III breaking through the baffler Spain molnlllin a Permanent army She also lies what Is I known as an active Ive reserves and a sedentary reserve each of which could be relied upon rM Support In time of war Any Spaniard Above the age of 19 Is I liable to bo called Upon to serve In the permanent I army for three years From this port of the army the soldier passes to the active reserves for three Years mr vice and from thence to the faden I I tary rn far six yr service IIY paYing 100 pesetas anyone may escape ape serving The colonial army requires every nbebodled subject to serve eight yean In the various reserves Thus mott of the kings subjects are militiamen and It Is I estimated that In time of need Spain could easily mobilize an efficient army of 1 08J E9S men The standing army numbers about 70000 men > although al-though recent levies I make title number num-ber nearer 100000 Spains navy Is I like wise I capable Host of these vessels have a normal I speed of 20 knots and se erol notably > the Vlzcaa and the Maria Temsaex ceed this rate Spain also has a numerous num-erous fleet of torpedo boatn and for pedoboat destroyers Her fighting 4 navy In manned by 1 092 olllccrs POOO marines and 14000 oallorsbesldcs bout J I 1000 mechanicians ot various kind 11 This Is I In fact the army and this l the navy hlch will Irott the bu I lItul Spanish cities which hv known I I I as change since the days or the Moore I I than Almost any other In Inlol 7 I pain Is I not after nil a modernized 11 nation In the marine that other nations i I are modernized Her people are governed I gov-erned by the spirit of Quixotism thAt Y caused Isabella to pledge her JewiN i I t i CO that Columbus might start westward I west-ward that caused Perdinail and his I consort to move their throne clialm up J tothe very wall I of the MOOISI I j Strongholds that the znnpl might V Incite the chivalrous bravery of itself followers that caused the houses ot 111 1 Urena and DC Leon to pledge thell fj Is estates that the Moors might be driven I from the Alhambra Tile preent century lies been the I most disastrous In tipant all history I t when the los of the most precious jewels In her crown her territorial Ill possessions arc considered The chances are that the Year IPOO will see 4 her stripped of all her land outside of F4 I hr ancient homestead lying between I the Pyrenees and the seas and which she recovered from the Moors after I E such a hard struggle before folumbus discovered America In 1192 That discovery dis-covery gave to her almost the whole of South America and much ot North and Central America Every Island or the West Indies group of any Importance t Hosted hr lIg Ior centuries She I drained thne countries of every bit of I revenue jut 08 or late yr she h 8 iJ11 drained Cuba In the ilassof b4cr might and glory she ruled over some i J 1 of the widest and richest poIOI19 I In history Then gradually these possessions I pos-sessions begin to fall away from her Just es Cuba and the Philippine Islands 11 are breaking away today Mostly 1 theme Picisesslons were lost by success I tot revolution t The present nineteenth century line f I been the must disastrous In tr Spalni t i eventful career and in all the long I trlng or one hundred unlllcky Years h J fj f I the decade between ISO and 1830 viaa I JI 1 the most unlucky to her The Year 11 1800 downed for her with I the loss of I Practically the whole of the Mississippi valley This great A ice In North I i America cut from the crown its ful lowed by the loss of smaller sirlpsgf f u i territory In South America Between I 180 and 1830 revolutions sputtered and OIplodd all along the Pacific slope ot the Andes and wlth every explosion J states like Bolivia Venezuela Para I uY Colombia Uruguay Argentina I Chile Peru Guatemala and Iexlco I drol ed Aff Into Independent I existence I I Some of them Went Ioy purchase but I I Most of them hy force or arms In either care Spain found herself too 1 4 Weak to hold nil I 1 The slxteeilh century Paw i Spain the t richest the mot POwerul onl mot magnificent notion on the roe or the I earth The twentieth century fit I likely 10 am hr among > the lowliest San i I Francisco Call 1 |