The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1925. SPAIN

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 45, 25 November 1925, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1925. SPAIN

English newspapers controlled by Jewish and Masonic capital have carried on a persistent campaign of disparagement against Mussolini, and it is not amazing therefore that misrepresentations of General de Rivera are also common in the same sections' of the British press. Indeed the hostility to Spain is of older origin, as, for a long time, travellers were discouraged from travelling in that Catholic land by dreadful accounts of the difficulties of tourists and of the poor accommodation in hotels, whereas, in truth, the latter are far superior, at least in the chief cities', to anything we have in Australia or New Zealand. Only recently London papers published accounts of a disastrous failure of the Spaniards to land at Alhucemas Bay, and this was followed up by another story that the Spanish lines had been broken by the Moors at Tetuan and that the whole situation of Spain in Morocco was perilous. In matter of fact there had been no failure, for the landing had not yet been attempted, and the entire account was a fabrication which had not even the merit of being hen trovoto. Spaniards have spoken to us of the enmity of the French Government towards their country, and it is known that false tales have frequently been issued from Paris, purporting to come from Madrid, And as we have noted, there are sections of the British press only too eager to publish such misrepresentations. > * * * -V The situation in Spain is by no means perilous, and the country has made wonderful progress under the new regime. Indeed, the improved conditions and the new

* vigor of the two southern Catholic countries are in themselves sufficient to explain why there are such constant calumnies from the enemies of the Church. Notwithstanding that “pedlar of words,” as a- Spanish gentleman described Ibanez to us, the King is extremely popular with his people, and the fact that he had accepted de Rivera’s proposals and sanctioned his projects was enough to move all Spain to support the Dictator. The best proof of the latter’s patriotism and of the confidence of the people in him is the manner in which he has fulfilled his pledges. On this subject we quote a writer on Spanish affairs in the Catholic Times, September 19: “The Directory promised retrenchment and reform of the finances. Within three months, hundreds of useless offices had been abolished, the administration at Madrid simplified, the Civil Service and the Army votes reduced (part of the money thus saved being turned over to the Education Budget); and a systematic effort begun to reduce the floating debt. The debt has already been reduced by one half,” in spite of the Moorish war. “Unemployment is practically non-existent. A large number of public works, long in the region of projects, wore set going the first year. An ambitious scheme of railway development was drawn up and the work, is now in progress in many parts of the country. . . . The Education Budget has been increased, the salaries of teachers raised by one-third, and some fifteen hundred new schools opened during the past two years. Though Parliamentary' Government is temporarily suspended, the Directory has given Spain a new system of democratic local government. In every province there is now a council, elected by universal suffrage, the only exception being that in some of the smaller municipalities there is, instead of a council, a general meeting of all the electors foi public business. . . . The whole system is a reaction from the system introduced into Spain in the nineteenth century in imitation of French administrative methods.” Spain has settled down. There have been no strikes and no riots of any moment since the Directory took charge, and according to all the omens this grand old Latin country is well 0,1 the high road to prosperity and peace. Almost every English newspaper predicted the speedy downfall of dc Rivera, but his Directory conferred solid advantages on the whole country. * * * One wonders' whether Mussolini would have been calumniated as he has if he had been friendly to the Freemasons and hostile to the Catholic Church. And when one sees the same systematic misrepresentation, emanating from the same sources, carried out against Spain, there can be little doubt that it proceeds from hatred to our religion and from rage at seeing the two great Catholic countries making such rapid progress, while, around them, so many Protestant and Atheist Governments are on the edge of the precipice. Once upon a time shallow speakers and writers used to point to the prosperity of England and the poverty of Spain and Italy as a proof of the superiority of

the Protestant religion, as if Christ ever gave! His followers an assurance of riches in this world. Now that the tables are turned we are not likely to hear similar arguments for some time to come. And, as matters stand, , it is likely to be a very long time. The anti-Catholic French Government goes a-' begging for mercy from its creditors, and patriotic Englishmen are openly deploring the fact that their country has lost her proud place among the nations and that; ruin is staring her in the face. With our own eyes we have seen marvellous signs of the revival of religion both in Spain and Italy, and we have every reason to hop© that the two glorious nations' which blazed the trail of civilisation in Europe and America shall in the future play a great , part in teaching to the whole world that on Christian principles alone can civilisation be built up. For the present, however, let us warn our readers not to be deceived by the falsehoods spread about Spain. She is by no means the “dead nation” which an English statesman proclaimed her a few years ago. On th contrary, she is manifesting such signs of vitality that only those who are wilfully blind can fail to see them. Her very vitality is the chief cause of the calumnies circulated by her enemies, who are also the enemies of the Catholic Church.