must export goods, or we must export men to countries which know how to encourage business.

Our organized backwardness, fostered by our tariff, by our lack of industrial training, by the absence of credit at home and protection abroad, by the incapacity of our rulers and an inefficient government, dooms Spain to become a power of the third or fourth rank, at the very moment when it might, otherwise, place itself definitely in the vanguard of European nations.

The only indication of prosperity in Spain is a superficial one our redundant currency; and that is going very fast. It is rapidly sinking to a parity with the paper money of our war-impoverished neighbors, and is already below that of some of them.

While our manufacturers are making goods only upon order, and not for the world market; while no Spanish factory owner is seizing the opportunity to reduce his costs of production; while laborers are emigrating by thousands; while we still lack industrial credit; while every form of business suffers from monopolies, Spain is becoming the China of the Occident.

How can we remedy this? I honestly believe that we have, at present, no means of mending our ways. There is no Spanish public to resist these tendencies. The forces hostile to betterment are vastly stronger than those which favor reform. Our salvation, if it is to come at all, must come from without. As things look to-day, I do not see in Spain any power capable of checking the ruin and decadence of our nation.

II

ALTHOUGH Spain, nominally, has a constitutional government, in reality, it possesses nothing of the kind. With a few rare exceptions, it has never had

a constitutional cabinet. Its ministries have owed their existence to the king's will, to court cabals, or to army support. That is the condition to-day, in this twentieth century Europe, where crowns have been recently at a discount, and even Socialist republics have become familiar.

Of course, it is a fiction that parliaments in any country accurately express the will of the people; but in Spain, it is a more far-fetched fiction than elsewhere. Our parliament always has the political complexion which the cabinet in power, when the election takes place, wishes it to have. The ministry not only assures itself a majority of the representatives, but it provides that the remaining representation shall be allotted in proportions suiting its own convenience to the various groups in opposition.

Quite naturally, a Spanish parliament elected in this manner usually enjoys but a short life. Since the present constitution was adopted in 1876, we have had but one Cortes which lived out its full term of five years. Five parliamentary elections have occurred during the last ten years.

Our habitual disregard of the Constitution is shown also by the fact that Spanish cabinets, whether they be conservative or liberal, regularly violate the personal rights of individuals. Constitutional guaranties are frequently suspended. A Spanish government does not need to have serious reasons in order to deprive its citizens of their protection. A few strikes, or the slightest popular agitation is sufficient excuse. Although Spain was not a direct participant in the war, that conflict was regarded as justifying the suspension of our constitutional liberties. These were restored after the armistice for a very short period. Some two years later, they were again suspended, and remain so up to this day. The ex

cuse for this is the popular agitation caused by the rising cost of living, an agitation which manifests itself spontaneously in every part of the country and exhibits really dangerous symptoms in the larger cities.

Even when the Spanish constitution is nominally in force, public authorities and their agents frequently violate its provisions. One can readily imagine, therefore, how arbitrarily officials conduct themselves when constitutional guaranties are formally suspended. Acts of official violence and oppression then become a daily and almost hourly occurrence. Victims are seldom citizens of the well-to-do class, but almost invariably working-men.

After what I have said, no one will be surprised to learn that we have no true political parties in Spain. Their place is taken by oligarchical groups, whose sole purpose is to get possession of the public offices. Except the Republican Party, which is now rent asunder by personal rivalries, and the Socialist Party, which is not very numerous though constantly making new converts, the other political groups are mere fictions of parties.

The Conservatives are divided into three factions, led respectively by Dato, Maura, and Cierva. The latter two persecuted the working people savagely eleven years ago, when they protested against Spain's invading Morocco. That agitation had its climax in the execution of several party comrades, especially Professor Ferrer, who was falsely accused of being the leader of agitation against our Morocco adventure.

The Liberal Party is divided into four groups, led respectively by Count Romanones, Prieto, Alba, and Alvarez. The last group calls itself reformist, and has split off from the Republicans, under the pretext that it wishes to 'democratize' the monarchy.

At the bottom, however, there is no essential difference whatever between Conservatives and the Liberals. Neither Conservatives nor Liberals have the slightest respect for parliament or for civic rights. It is hardly necessary to say that when either party comes into power, it at once becomes the spokesman and defender of the great business monopolies which paralyze private enterprise in Spain.

While both Conservatives and Liberals profess to be monarchists, their loyalty to the monarchy is not a matter of principle. One should hear the way either the Liberals or the Conservatives talk, whenever the king puts them out of office. The most violent anti-monarchists could not be more abusive. Even when they are in power, they refer disparagingly to the king. For instance, one of our prime ministers, chancing to be in the royal waiting room, asked the ambassador of Portugal, who had just come out from an audience with the king, his impression of the monarch. The ambassador said: 'Excellent! Excellent, indeed!' 'Oh, pshaw!' replied the premier, 'but I could show him up to you!'

Let me add, that Alphonso returns the sentiments of these party leaders with interest. He is not much of an admirer of the constitution which he has sworn to defend, since he has had to bow so often to the unlawful demand of the officers and leaders of the army.

As an illustration of real conditions in Spain during the complications and difficulties of the war,- which demanded of us tactful and skilful leadership, I need only cite that Alphonso solved the last political crisis by bestowing the government upon Dato, a man completely tied up with the official plutocracy. And the king did not do this in the usual way, by holding a Crown Council, but off-hand, while attending a festival in his honor

This unusual action by the king caused some surprise, but he was quite sure of his ground. His own sympathies are reactionary. He selects his cabinets with a view to his personal interests, rather than to those of the country. He feels that he has much in common with our very wealthy men, and he is bound to them not only by ties of friendship, but also by business connections.

So Spain is being governed just at present by men of ultra-reactionary sympathies, who are working hand in hand with the great capitalist interests. Their reactionary sentiment causes them to persecute organized labor and the Socialist Party. At Madrid, the labor daily, El Socialista, is strictly censored. The prisons are filled with the champions of the proletariat, and working-men, guilty of no crime whatever, have been deported under the most cruel circumstances. The premier has just directed the Bank of Spain to go to the assistance of the Bank of Catalonia, which was facing bankruptcy on account of unjustifiable speculations; and he has raised the duties on cotton and woolen fabrics, to enable manufacturers to sell their goods at as high prices as they did during the war. He is preparing to raise railway rates thirty-five per cent, which will add still further to the cost of living.

If any further evidence were necessary to show that Spain was being ruled in the interest of a narrow clique, the following facts would sufficiently tell the tale: more than half the people of Spain cannot read and write; two thirds of its area lies untilled; only nine thousand miles of railway are in operation, and not a mile has been built for several years; hundreds of villages have no public highway; although ship owners, mine owners,

made fortunes aggregating between six and eight billion pesetas during the war, the government has not imposed a centavo of taxation on their profits, nor attempted to regulate the excessive prices which they charge. Gambling has spread like wildfire in the big cities, and, especially, is ruining our youth. We face fearful unemployment, due largely to avarice and chicanery in the business world. Our money, which was at a premium when the armistice was signed, is to-day at a heavy discount compared with American, English, and Swiss money. Emigration, which continued even during the war, has grown to unprecedented proportions from every section of the kingdom. The production of our farms and factories is not increasing, in spite of the use of improved machinery. Our Morocco campaign, which began eleven years ago, has cost us many millions every year, as well as an annual toll of human lives. Since 1910, army expenditures have risen from two hundred and sixteen million to four hundred and sixteen million pesetas, exclusive of the cost of the Morocco expedition; and our present budget shows a prospective deficit of a billion pesetas.

[Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Berlin SemiOfficial Conservative Daily), January 27] MEMORIES OF WAGNER

BY MRS. ALEXANDER SEROFF

[The writer is the widow of a well-known Russian composer.]

WE are at Lucerne. Our skiff glides over the lake's green waters, which are smooth as a mirror. A young Swiss rows us, standing erect and favoring us en route with fanciful legends regarding the tenant of Villa Tribschen. He is quite unaware that the mysterious personage he is describing is a

personal friend of his fares; and that the latter are impatiently waiting for him to reach the little landing in front of the 'Bavarian refugee's' retreat.

Our imaginative informant ran on: 'He keeps savage dogs to guard the place from approach by land, and the precipices on the water's edge make it impossible to reach him from the lake.'

'I insist on landing!' said Seroff. 'Impossible! Strangers, and, particularly, foreigners, are not admitted,' objected the Swiss.

"Take us to his landing!' commanded Seroff.

'You will see that I am right. They will not let you in the Villa.'

We could see a little bay in the distance. Seroff landed, but came back a moment later saying that Wagner worked in the forenoon and received no one. He had sent a servant to ask us to dine with him en famille next day. So, the following morning we again approached the inhospitable cliffs, this time with more assurance. We landed. Wagner's old, gray valet introduced Seroff to the Master. I went to chat with Frau Cosima; and a serving maid took our son to the children. Shortly after that, dinner was announced. The table, evidently prepared for special guests, was in a dining room adjoining a long, narrow apartment, hung with large paintings representing the heroes of Wagner's operas. Wagner, himself, was in excellent humor. He ordered old Johann to bring on Rhine wine of a specially ancient vintage.

'Some of the very oldest, do you hear? He is a frightfully stingy old chap in such matters,' said Wagner, turning to us. 'Nothing in the world will induce him to serve the best wine to my guests.'

Johann replied, somewhat abashed, that not all his guests were worth good wine.

'Now, my old Johann, we understand each other, so hurry up with some that has real sparkle and fire in it.'

After dinner, we took a walk. Our little boy rode one of Wagner's immense dogs, and Isolde and Eva ran after him with their dolls. Little Siegfried, still in the arms of his Swiss nurse, chirped and gurgled with joy.

We wound up at a garden house. Wagner suddenly became confidential, and spoke to us of his private troubles.

A few days later, Frau Cosima returned our visit, and asked us to call on them again, in order to meet some French people who had just arrived from Paris. They were a party of three, two men who were Wagner enthusiasts, and a very beautiful French lady who was his equally devoted admirer. One of the gentlemen, who was in fact a real Wagner enthusiast, as his articles indicated, was almost offensively demonstrative in exhibiting his feelings. Even Wagner, himself, seemed embarrassed. He tried to act naturally, but could not conceal that it required an effort. The voluble enthusiasm of the beautiful French lady and the adoration of the Paris critic clearly got on his nerves.

The French guests begged Wagner to play something. He did so, obviously for the purpose of keeping them quiet. He selected the Lohengrin Wedding March. In the very middle of the piece, he was seized with a sudden aversion for it, and growled: "The devil take what comes next,' struck two or three violent chords on the piano, and left the instrument.

After that little outbreak, Wagner recovered his natural ease: so we did not permit ourselves to be disturbed further by the exaggerated adulation of the Frenchman. As we were leaving, Seroff said he would like to meet