Cljc Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1939. THE TRAGEDY OF SPAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 8

Cljc Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1939. THE TRAGEDY OF SPAIN

TMI' j tragedy’ of Spain seems io be that its people always make the wrong decisions when the right ones could have been so easy' and so fruitful. This appears to have been so throughout its history. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Spain was not only' a great Power in Europe, but she was truly a great people. The. country had, in fact, recruited sonic of the best strains of Europe in the effort to evict the Moor from Europe, and the proud bearing of the Andalusian peasant to-day is attributed to his descent from the free citizen soldiers who entered the country' to be the bulwark of Christiandom. ith such an infiltration of adventurous and brave blood it was not surprising that Ferdinand and Isabella, having united Aragon and Castile, the Moor Was driven from Granada. .Here, then, was a chance to develop the homeland, but. the rulers failed, to look inwards. They' saw an empty treasury, and again good fortune seemed to stumble in their way, Hie discovery of the vast stores of precious metals in South America. It is not surprising that the rulers of Spain should not. have realised that gold and silver, while valuable as media of exchange, were not real wealth in the sense that welfare was promoted, seeing that even to-day the same mistake is bjing made by those who believe that the ills of this world can be cured by' an enlargement of the money supply. Spanish policy’ in respect 1o South America was therefore conditioned by this error, and instead of building and farming an empire she raped a. continent. Gold and silver went to Spain with every fleet, but as there was no corresponding increase in the quantity of goods to be purchased, prices rose for the goods that were available. Had the Spain of that day' developed her natural resources and increased her trade with England and France, she would have had an increasing supply of money to facilitate such expansion of transactions. Unfortunately for Spain, her chief characters were required to fulfil the mission of the bailiff’s men and slave-driver and, consequently, the galaxy of talent with which the country w»s endowed became perverted. Professing her mission to be the Christianising of South America, it sent out. remarkable soldiers who could have been first-rate administrators, she sent out an ardent priesthood which would have been a credit to any church, she sent out brilliant merchants who would have been capable of developing the eotnmerce. The soldiers became exploiters of the natives; the priests who endeavoured to defend their charges were removed from their posts, the subservient alone remaining; the merchants became byillion dealers. A foundation which could have been so well laid was fouled at the start, and South America, which could have turned to Spain as to a mother, remembers only that, she was the worst of tyrants. The dealings of Spain with the Netherlands were such that she threw away her chance of continuing in the western circle as a dominant influence, and cast her for the role of listless spectator on the circumference. When on the down grade she expelled the Jews from her own country and. consequently, lost the quickening leaven in her population which that remarkable race could have provided. This step naturally accelerated the downward movement and the operations of the Inquisition almost wiped out the individualists from a once-brilliant population. To-day Franco is perpetuating the old way of Spain by pursuing the republicans with a Sadism which would discredit, a. Red Indian, when what Spain will need more than ever if, in the future, it is Io move forward, is as many citizens as possible who are willing and able to take up the burdens of governmental administration. The Spanish Government has shown itself particularly able, in bringing forward such men, and it is this human wealth which Franco is so blind that he cannot refrain from destroying it. The tragedy of Spain goes on!