COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE
Commerce and industry had progressed by leaps and bounds even during the
disastrous and troublous years between the expulsion of Isabel II. and
the restoration of her son. The progress is now much more steady and
more diffused over the whole country, but it is by no means less
remarkable, especially taking into consideration the disaster of the war
with America and the loss to Spain of her old colonies.
Among her politicians in past times there were never wanting those who
considered that the loss of Cuba would be a distinct gain to the mother
country, and perhaps it may be safely said that since the colony had not
only been for so many years the forcing-house of bureaucratic
corruption, but had also drained the resources of Spain both of money
and lives to the extreme limit of her possibility, she is more likely
now to regain her old position among European nations, when left at
peace to develop her enormous resources and set her house in order
without the distraction of war, either at home or abroad. When one
remembers that this happy condition has never obtained in the country
since the death of Ferdinand VII. until the close of the
Spanish-American War, and that the country is only now recovering from
the disorganisation caused by the return of her troops and refugees from
Cuba and Manila, it is not surprising to find that the activity
manifested in her trade, her manufactures, and her industries is such as
to give the greatest hopes for her future to her own people and to those
who watch her from afar with friendly eyes.
Whichever we may regard as cause or effect, the progress of the country
has been very largely identified with the extension of her railway
system. It must have been a great step towards liberal education when
the country which, priding herself on her geographical position and her
rich internal resources, had hitherto wrapped herself in her national
_capa_, and considered that she was amply sufficient to herself,
condescended to throw open her mountain barriers to immigrants. It was
not until 1848 that the first Spanish railway was opened, and it was but
seventeen miles in length; but in the next ten years five hundred miles
had been constructed, and between 1858 and 1868 no fewer than two
thousand eight hundred and five miles, the Pyrenees had been pierced,
and direct communication with the rest of Europe accomplished.
During the troublous years following the Revolution and the melancholy
struggles of the second Carlist war, very little progress was made.
Foreign capital, which had hitherto been invested in Spanish railways,
was naturally frightened away, and the Northern Railway itself, the
great artery to France, was constantly being torn up and damaged, and
the lives of the passengers endangered, by the armed mobs which infested
the country, and were supposed by some people to represent the cause of
legitimacy, and which had, in fact, the sanction of the Church and of
the Pope. It was not, in the majority of cases, that the people
sympathised with Don Carlos, but it was easier and more amusing for the
lazy and the ne'er-do-weels to receive pay and rations for carrying a
gun, and taking pot-shots at any object that presented itself, human or
other, than to work in the fields, the mines, or on the railways. Hence
public enterprise was paralysed; again and again the workmen, with no
desire of their own, were driven off by superior bands of these
wandering shooters, who scarcely deserved even the name of guerillas,
and public works were left deserted and decaying, while the commerce and
industry of the province were wrecked, and apparently destroyed
irrevocably.
In the earlier stages of railway construction and management, French
capital and French labour were employed. England held aloof, partly on
account of the closing of the London Stock Exchange to Spanish
enterprises, in consequence of the vexed question of the celebrated
coupons, but also because the aid afforded by the State did not fall in
with the ideas of English capitalists. They desired a guaranteed rate of
interest, while the Spanish Government would have nothing but a
subvention paid down in one lump sum, arguing that it would be
impossible to tell when a line was making more than the guaranteed
interest, "as the companies would so arrange their accounts as to show
invariably an interest smaller than that guaranteed!" With this view of
the honesty of their own officials, no one else could be expected to
have a better opinion of them; and England allowed France and Belgium
thenceforward to find all the capital and all the materials for Spanish
railways.
The total amount of subventions actually paid by Government up to
December 31, 1882, was £24,529,148. "If," says the author of _Commercial
and Industrial Spain_, "the money that we so candidly lent to the swarm
of defaulting South American Republics had been properly invested in
Spanish railways, a great deal of trouble might probably have been
spared to the unfortunate investors."
All that, however, is altered now: the State schools and universities
are turning out daily well-equipped native engineers, both for railway
and mining works, and Spaniards are finding their own capital for public
works. The phrase "Spain for the Spaniards" is acquiring a new
significance--perhaps the most hopeful of all the signs of progress the
country is making. In 1899, there were working 12,916 kilómetros of
railways, or 7.9 kilómetros for each 10,000 of the population. A
kilómetro equals 1.609 English mile. There is no part of the country now
isolated, either from the centre of government in Madrid, or from the
coast, and communication with Portugal, and, through France, with the
rest of Europe, is easy and constant. With this advance in means of
transit, the trade of the country has received an immense impulse, and
its raw and manufactured goods are now reaching all markets.
The rich mineral wealth of the country and its wonderful climate only
need enlightened enterprise to make Spain one of the richest and most
important commercial factors in the world's trade. The list of minerals
alone, raised from mines in working, amounts to twenty-two, ranging from
gold and silver, copper, tin, zinc, quick-silver, salt, coal, etc., to
cobalt and antimony; and 8,313,218 tons of minerals of all these
twenty-two classes were raised in 1882 against 1,201,054 in 1862. The
value of mines in 1880 was represented by one hundred and eleven
millions of pesetas (francs), but in 1898 by three hundred and nineteen
millions (pesetas). The value of imports in 1882 was 816,666,901
pesetas, and of exports 765,376,087 pesetas. In 1899, imports were
1,045,391,983, and exports 864,367,885. But this is taking exactly the
period covered by the war with America; a fairer estimate of exports is
that of 1897, which stood at 1,074,883,372. No statement has been
published since 1899, but intermediate statistics show the trade of the
country to be advancing rapidly.
To return, however, to Spanish industries. In late years large
smelting-works have been opened in Spain, with Spanish capital and
management, while at Bilbao are large iron-works for the manufacture of
steel rails. There are splendid deposits of iron in the country, and as
the duty on foreign rails entering Spain is _£3 4s._ per ton, it is
probable that the near future will see the country free from the
necessity of importing manufactured iron, or, in fact, metal of any
kind. A Catalan company has established important works for reducing the
sulphur of the rich mines near Lorca, and confidently expects to produce
some thirty thousand tons of sulphur per annum. The rich silver mines of
the Sierra Almagrera are almost wholly in native hands, and have already
yielded large fortunes to the owners. With the present improved
transport and shipping facilities in every part of the country, it is
probable that the valuable mines scattered all over the Peninsula will
be thoroughly worked, to the advance of commercial and industrial
interests over the entire country.
While the seaboard provinces are rich in fisheries, as well as in mines,
in the south the country is able to grow rice, sugar-cane, maize,
raisins, as well as wheat, olives, oranges, grapes, dates, bananas,
pine-apples, and almost all kinds of tropical fruits. The cultivation of
all varieties of fruit and vegetables, and their careful gathering and
packing have become the object of many large companies and private
individuals. Dates, bananas, grapes, plums, tomatoes, melons, as well as
asparagus and other early vegetables, are now being shipped to foreign
markets as regular articles of trade, in a condition which insures a
rapid and increasing sale. The exportation of fruit has doubled within
the last few years. The production of cane sugar in 1899 was thirty-one
thousand tons, or exactly three times the amount of that produced in
1889. The exportation of wine, which in 1894 was two millions of
milelitros, was in 1898 nearly five millions, and it is daily increasing
(one gallon English measure equals about four and one half litros).
Spain has always had excellent wines unknown to other countries, besides
that which is manufactured into what we know as "sherry"; but many of
them were so carelessly made as to be unfit for transit abroad. The
attention of wine-growers has, however, been steadily turned to this
subject during the last twenty years; greater care has been taken in the
production; the best methods have been ascertained and followed, and it
is possible now to obtain undoctored Spanish wines which perfectly bear
the carriage in cask without injury; and, to meet a direct sale to the
customer, small barrels containing about twelve gallons are shipped
from Tarragona and other ports to England.
One of the most hopeful signs of the economic awakening of the country
is the establishment of the _Boletin de la Cámara de Comercio de España
en la Gran Bretáña_, published each month in London.
In this little commercial circular a review is given of the commerce and
industry of all nations during the month; all fluctuations are noted,
extracts from foreign statistics or money articles given, suggestions
made for the opening up of Spanish commerce, and the introduction of her
manufactures into this and other countries. Speaking on the question of
the introduction of pure Spanish wines into England, a recent writer in
the _Boletin_ remarks that English workmen are thirsty animals, that
they like a big drink, but they are not really desirous of becoming
intoxicated by it. In fact, they would most of them prefer to be able to
drink more without bad effects. The writer goes on to say that if the
English workman could obtain pure wine that would cost no more than his
customary beer, and would not make him intoxicated, and if Spanish light
wines--which he says could be sold in England for less than good
beer--were offered in tempting-looking taverns and under pleasant
conditions, he believes that a really enormous trade would be the
result, to the benefit of both nations. The suggestion is, at least, an
interesting one, and though the scheme would certainly not benefit the
habitual drunkard, who becomes enamoured of his own debauchery, it
might be very welcome to many of the working people, who, as "our
neighbour" quaintly remarks, like a big drink, but do not necessarily
wish to become intoxicated.
In this connection, it may be interesting to know that the small
twelve-gallon casks of red wine, resembling Burgundy rather than claret,
but less heavy than the Australian wines, and forming a delicious drink
with water, are delivered at one's own door carriage free for a price
which works out, including duty, at _8-1/2d._ the ordinary bottle, or
_1s. 2d._ the flagon, such as the Australian wine is sold in. This is,
in fact, cheaper than good stout or ale.
Spain has always been celebrated for two special manufactures--her silk
and woollen goods; but for very many years these have been almost
unknown beyond her own boundaries. In the time of the Moors her silken
goods had a world-wide fame; and the silk-worm has been cultivated there
probably from the earliest days, when it was surreptitiously introduced
into Europe. Groves of mulberry trees were grown especially for
sericulture in the irrigated provinces of the South, the care of the
insect being undertaken by the women, while the men were employed on
tasks more suitable to their strength. Native-grown spun and woven silk
forms such an important part in the national costumes of the people that
it has attained to great perfection without attracting much foreign
notice. The silk petticoats of the women, the velvet jackets and trunk
hose of the men, the beautiful silk and woollen _mantas_, with their
deep fringes of silken or woollen balls; the _madroños_, or silk tufts
and balls, used as decorations for the Andalusian or the gypsy hats, not
to mention the beautifully soft and pure silks of Barcelona, or the silk
laces made in such perfection in many parts of the country,--all these
are objects of merchandise only needing to be known, to occasion a large
demand, especially in these days when the French invention of weighted
dyes floods the English market with something that has the outward
appearance of silk, but which does not even wait for wear to disclose
its real nature, but rots into holes on the drapers' shelves, and
would-be smart young women of slender purses walk about in what has been
well called "tin attire," in the manufacture of which the silk-worm has
had only the slenderest interest.
The blankets and rugs of Palencia have been known to some few English
people for many years, owing to their extreme lightness, great warmth,
and literally unending wear; but it is only within the last very few
years that they can be said to have had any market at all in England,
and now they are called "Pyrenean" rather than Spanish goods. One of the
suggestions of the little commercial circular already referred to is
that Spaniards should open depots or special agencies all over England
for the sale of their woollen goods, after the manner of the Jaeger
Company.
The flocks of merino sheep to be seen on the wooded slopes of the
Pyrenees, and all over Estremadura, following their shepherd after the
manner with which Old Testament history makes us familiar, are said to
be direct descendants of the old Arabian flocks, and certainly the
appearance of one of these impassive-looking shepherds leading his flock
to "green pastures, and beside the still waters," takes one back in the
world's history in a way that few other things do. The flock know the
voice of their shepherd, and follow him unquestioningly wheresoever he
goes; there is no driving, no hurrying; and the same may be said of the
pigs, which form such an important item in the social economy of a
Spanish peasant's home.
Staying once at Castellon de la Plana, in Valencia, my delight was to
watch the pig-herd and his troop. Early in the morning, at a fixed hour,
he issued from his house in one of the small alleys, staff in hand, and
with a curious kind of horn or whistle. This he blew as he walked along,
from time to time, without turning his head, in that strange trance of
passivity which distinguishes the Valencian peasant. Out from dark
corners, narrow passages, mud hovels on all sides, came tearing along
little pigs, big pigs, dark, light, fat, thin pigs,--pigs of every
description,--and joined the procession headed by this sombre-looking
herdsman, with his long stick and his blue-and-white striped _manta_
thrown over his shoulder. By the time he had reached the end of the
village he had a large herd following him. Then the whole party slowly
disappeared in the distance, under the groves of cork-trees or up the
mountain paths. The evening performance was more amusing still. Just
about sundown the stately herdsman again appeared with his motley
following. He took no manner of notice of them. He stalked majestically
towards his own particular hovel, and at each corner of a lane or group
of cottages the pigs said "Good night" to each other by a kick-up of
their heels and a whisk of their curly little tails, and scampered off
home by themselves, until, at the end of the village, only one solitary
pig was following his leader--probably they shared one home between
them. It seemed a peaceful, if not an absolutely happy, life!
One would expect a country with such a climate, or rather with so many
climates, as Spain, to make a great feature of agriculture. It can at
once produce wheat of the very finest quality, wine, oil, rice, sugar,
and every kind of fruit and vegetable that is known; and it ought to be
able to support a large agricultural population in comfort, and export
largely. Taking into account, also, the rich mineral wealth, which
should make her independent of imports of this nature, it is sad to see
that in past years, even so late as 1882, wheat and flour, coal and
coke, iron and tools figure amongst her imports--the first two in very
large proportions. Although the vast plains of Estremadura and Castile
produce the finest wheat known to commerce, the quantity, owing to the
want of water, is so small in relation to the acreage under cultivation,
that it does not suffice for home consumption, except in very favourable
years; while the utilisation of the magnificent rivers, which now roll
their waters uselessly to the sea, would make the land what it once was
when the thrifty Moor held it--a thickly populated and flourishing
grain-producing district. In place of the wandering flocks of sheep and
pigs gaining a precarious existence on the herbage left alive by the
blistering sun on an arid soil, there should be smiling homesteads and
blooming gardens everywhere, trees and grateful shade where now the
ground, between the rainy seasons, becomes all of one dusty, half-burnt
colour, reminding one more of the "back of a mangy camel," as it has
been described, than of a country that has once been fruitful and
productive.
The late General Concha, Marqués del Duero, was the originator of
sugar-cane cultivation. He spent a large portion of his private fortune
in establishing what bids fair to be one of the most productive
industries of his country. But, like most pioneers of progress, he
reaped no benefit himself. His fine estates near Malaga, with their
productive cane-farms, passed into other hands before he had reaped the
reward of his patriotic endeavours. For a long time the cheap,
bounty-fed beet sugars of Germany, which never approach beyond being an
imitation of real sugar--as every housewife can testify who has tried to
make jam with them--were able to undersell the produce of the cane; but
the latest statistics show that this industry is now making steady
progress, the production of 1899 being thirty-one thousand tons, or
exactly three times that of 1899. _À propos_ of the difference between
cane and beet sugars for all domestic purposes, and the superior
cheapness of the more costly article, it is satisfactory to note that in
England the working classes, through their own co-operative societies,
insist on being supplied with the former, knowing by experimental proof
its immense superiority; and one may hope that their wisdom may spread
into households where the servants pull the wires, and care nothing
about economy.
Looking at the ordinary map of Spain, it appears to be ridiculous to say
that the greater part of the country is in want of water. Although it is
intersected by three large ranges of mountains beyond the Pyrenees, and
innumerable others of smaller dimensions, thus making a great proportion
of the country impossible for agriculture, it is rich in magnificent
rivers and in smaller ones, all of which are allowed to run to waste in
many parts of the country, while even a small portion of their waters,
artificially dammed and utilised for irrigation, if only of the lands
lying on each side of them, would mean wealth and prosperity and an
abounding population where now the "everlasting sun" pours its rays over
barren wastes. Moreover, by the growth of the wood, which once covered
the plains and has been cut down, little by little, until the whole
surface of the land was changed, in process of time the climate would
become less dry, and vegetation more rapid and easy.
Ever since the expulsion of the Moors from Castile and Estremadura, the
land has been allowed gradually to go almost out of cultivation for want
of water, the wholesale devastation of forests, in combination with the
lapse of all irrigation, acting as a constantly accelerating cause for
the arid and unproductive condition of the once genial soil. Irrigation
has been the crying want of Spain for generations past; but even now the
Government scarcely seems to have awakened to its necessity. Perhaps,
however, the Spaniard who goes on his way, never troubling to listen to
the opinion or advice of his neighbour, has not, after all, been so
wanting in common sense as some of the more energetic of his critics
have thought. In spite of all the changes and disasters of successive
Governments, a steady and rapid advance has been made in providing means
of transport and shipping, by the construction of railways to every part
of the country, the making and keeping in condition of admirable
highways, and the building of breakwaters and quays in many of the
seaports, so that now the output of the mines and produce of all kinds
can find market within the country, or be shipped abroad freely.
[Illustration: A WEDDING PARTY IN ESTREMADURA]
If the money no longer being expended in railways and docks were now
devoted to irrigation wherever it is needed, a rapid change would become
apparent over the whole face of the country, and the population would
increase in proportion as the land would bear it. Irrigation works have
been more than once undertaken by the aid of foreign money, and under
the charge of foreign engineers; but the people themselves--the
landowners and peasant proprietors--were not ripe for it, and, alas!
some of the canals which would have turned whole valleys into gardens
have been allowed to go to ruin, or to become actually obliterated,
while the scanty crops are raised once in two or three years from the
same soil, which will yield three crops in one year by the help of
water. Difficulties arose about the sale of the water--a prolific cause
of dispute even in the old irrigated districts--and the people said:
"What do we want with water, except what comes from heaven? If the
Virgin thinks we want water, she sends it." Fitting result of the
teaching of the Church for so many years, with the example ever held up
for admiration of the patron saint, Isidro, who knelt all day at his
prayers, and left the tilling of his fields to the angels! It would seem
that these ministers of grace are not good husbandmen, since the land
became the arid waste it now is, while successive Isidros have been
engaged in religious duties, which they were taught were all that was
necessary.
As an example of what irrigation means in the sunlit fields of Spain, an
acre of irrigable land in Valencia or Murcia sells for prices varying
from £150 to £400, according to its quality or its situation, while land
not irrigable only fetches sums varying from £7 to £20. In Castile, land
would not in any case fetch so high a price as that which has been under
irrigated cultivation for centuries past; but in any district the value
of dry land is never more than a twelfth of what it is when irrigable.
In truth, however, there is more than irrigation needed to bring the
lands of Castile and Estremadura into profitable cultivation, and it
cannot be done without the expenditure of large sums of money at the
outset in manures, and good implements in place of the obsolete old
implements with which the ground is now scratched rather than ploughed.
Given good capital and intelligent farming, as in the irrigated
districts, and two, and even three, crops a year can be raised in
unceasing succession; lucern gives from ten to twelve cuttings in one
year, fifteen days being sufficient for the growth of a new crop.
I have pointed out what one day's sun can do in raising grass seed in
Madrid, which stands on the highest point of the elevated table-land
occupying the centre of Spain. Seeing that the principal item of the
revenue is derived from the land tax, and that it is calculated on the
value of the land, it would appear to be the first interest of an
enlightened government to foster irrigation in every possible way, and
encourage agriculture and the planting of trees.
Although the people of Spain have hated their more immediate neighbours
with an exceeding bitter hatred,--as, indeed, they had good cause to do
in the past,--her public men have had a strange fancy for importing or
imitating French customs. One that militates more than anything else
against agricultural prosperity is the law of inheritance, copied from
the French. By this the State divides an estate amongst the heirs
without any reference to the wishes of the proprietor at his death. Not
only are all large estates broken up and practically dissipated, so that
it is to no one's interest to improve his property or spend money on it,
but the small farms of the peasant proprietor are broken into smaller
fragments in the same way; and it is no uncommon thing to see a field of
a few acres divided into six or eight furrows, none of them enough to
support one man. While he has to go off seeking work where he can get
it, his strip of land clings to him like a curse, for he must lose his
work if he would try to cultivate it, and at his death it will again be
subdivided, until at last there is nothing left to share. Meanwhile, the
land, which is not enough to be of any value to anyone, has been allowed
to go almost out of cultivation; or if it bear anything at all, it is
weeds.
Until some remedy be found for this enervating system, it would seem as
if Spanish agriculture is doomed to remain in its present unsatisfactory
condition over a great part of the kingdom. The improvement of
agriculture is practically a question of private enterprise, and under
the existing law of inheritance neither enterprise nor interest can be
expected of the small proprietor; nor indeed of the large landowner, who
knows that, whatever he may do to improve his estate, it is doomed to be
cut to pieces and divided amongst his next of kin until it is eventually
extinguished. Whether, in some future time, an enlightened scheme of
co-operation could work the arid lands into cultivation again, if the
Government would give the necessary aid in the form of irrigation,
remains among the unanswered riddles of the future. Prophecy in Spain is
never possible; it is always the unexpected which happens in that
country of sharp contradictions. All one can do is to note past progress
and the drift of the present current, which, whatever government is at
the nominal head of affairs, seems to be towards widespread--in fact,
quite general--advance both in knowledge and industrial activity.
The greatest hope for the future lies in the fact that it is no longer
foreign money or foreign labour that is working for the good of the
country; the impulse is from within, and every penny of capital that is
sunk in public works, manufactures, or industrial enterprise, is so much
invested in a settled state of affairs. When the individual has
everything to lose by revolutionary changes, when the commerce of the
country is becoming too important to be allowed to be upset easily, and
it is everybody's interest to support and increase it, the main body of
the people are ranged on the side of peace and progress. They have had
enough of civil war, enough of tyranny; they have achieved freedom, and
want nothing so much as to taste of it in quietness.
To revert for a moment to the special manufactures of the country, it
appears to be the wise policy of the powers that be in Spain to-day to
encourage, by every possible means, native industries and the
development of the rich resources of the country. If it be only in the
superior education required of the workmen, and the drawing out of their
natural talents, the movement is an immense gain to the people, so long
purposely kept in a condition of slothful ignorance.
Besides the woollen manufactures of Palencia, Lorca, Jerez, Barcelona,
Valencia, and other places, are many cloth factories in Cataluña, as
well as others for the production of silk fabrics, lace, and very
high-class embroideries, for which last Spain has long been famous, but
which have hitherto been little known beyond her own frontiers. In
artistic crafts may be named the pottery works of Pickman, Mesaque,
Gomez, and others in Seville, where magnificent reproductions of Moorish
and Hespaño-Moresque tiles and pottery are being turned out; there are
also factories for this class of goods in Valencia, Barcelona, Segovia,
Talevera, and many other places. Ornamental iron and damascene work
holds the high reputation which Spain has never lost, but the output is
very largely increased. Gold and silver inlaid on iron, iron inlaid on
copper and silver, are some of the forms of this beautiful work. That
executed in Madrid differs from that of Toledo, Eibar, and other centres
of the craft. The iron gate-work executed in Madrid and Barcelona is
very hard to beat, and the casting of bronzes is carried out with every
modern improvement. The wood-carvers of Spain have always been famous,
and the craft appears to be in no danger of falling behind its old
reputation, much beautiful decorative work of this description being
produced for modern needs. The _Circulo de Artes_ holds an exhibition in
Madrid every other year, and in the intervening years the Government has
one, in the large permanent buildings erected for the purpose at the end
of the Fuente Castellana. The manufacture of artistic furniture and
other connected industries are encouraged also by a bi-yearly exhibition
in Madrid, where prizes and commendations are given. The chief centres
of artistic furniture-making are Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, and
Zaragoza. Exhibitions of arts and crafts and of all kinds of industries
and manufactures are also held, at intervals, in the principal towns all
over the country. An interesting exhibition of Spanish and South
American productions was held in 1901 in Bilbao with great success.
Nor ought we to forget the industry for which Seville is famed. The
manufacture of tobacco is almost wholly in the hands of women, and is a
very important industry, thousands being employed in the large factories
making up cigars, cigarettes, and preparing and packing the finer kinds
of tobacco. The cigar-girl of Seville is a well-known type, almost as
much dreaded by the authorities as admired by her own class. The women
are mostly young, and often attractive, extremely pronounced both in
dress and manners, and are quite a power to be reckoned with when they
choose to assert themselves. On more than one occasion they have taken
up some cause _en masse_, and have gathered in thousands, determined to
have their way.
When this happens, the powers that be are reduced to great straits.
Neither the _Guardia Civile_ nor the military can be relied on to use
force, and unless the army of irate women can be persuaded to retire
from the contest it is probable that, relying with perfect confidence on
the privileges of their sex, they will gain what they consider their
rights--at all events their will.
No country in the world is more suited for manufactures and exports than
Spain. She has an unexampled seaboard, and many magnificent natural
harbours, and now an easy approach through Portugal to the sea, even if
her own ports should be insufficient. Common commercial interests are
likely to bring that Iberian kingdom or commonwealth to pass which has
been the dream of some of her politicians, and is still cherished in
parts of both countries. The northern ports in the Atlantic are,
perhaps, the most important; that of Bilbao, a most unpromising one by
nature, has grown out of all recognition since the close of the Carlist
war. The railway to the iron mines was already in course of construction
when the war broke out; everything was stopped, the workmen carried off
willy-nilly to join the marauding bands of the Pretender, the
town--which boasts that it has never been taken, although twice almost
demolished during the two insane civil wars--was wrecked and well-nigh
ruined, its industries destroyed, its commerce at an end. With peace and
quietness came one of the most extraordinary revivals of modern times:
the population increased at a marvellous rate, the new town sprang into
existence on the left bank of the Nerrion, the river was deepened, the
bar, which used to block almost all entrance, practically removed,
extensive dock-works carried out; so that in ten years the shipment of
ore from the port sprang up from four hundred and twenty-five thousand
tons to 3,737,176, and is increasing daily. Bilbao, with its five
railway stations, its electric tramways, and its population of
sixty-six thousand, has become the first and most important shipping
outlet of Spain. Nor have the southern ports of Huelva and Seville been
much behind it in their rapid progress; while on the Mediterranean coast
are Malaga, Almería, Aguilas, Cartagena, Valencia, and Tarragona--all
vying with the older, and once singular, centre of commercial and
industrial activity, Barcelona. The northwest seaboard has been hitherto
somewhat behind the movement, owing to a less complete railway
communication with the rest of the country; now that this is no more a
reproach, the fine natural harbours of Rivadeo, Vivero, Carril,
Pontevedra, Vigo, and Coruña, are gradually following suit, some with
more vigour than others. The little land-locked harbour of Pasages has
for some years been rapidly rising to the rank of a first-class shipping
port.
It is satisfactory to note, from the latest statistics, that in 1899
Spain possessed a total of one thousand and thirty-five merchant ships,
that in the same year she bought from England alone sixty-seven, and
that 17,419 ships, carrying 11,857,674 tons of exports, left Spanish
ports for foreign markets. Although no official information has been
published since that year, the increase since the close of the war has
been in very much greater ratio. From the same records we find that
during the year 1899 no fewer than sixty-nine large companies were
formed, of which twenty-three were for shipping, eight were new sugar
factories, seven banks, seven mining, six electric, and ten others
related either to manufacture or commerce, the total capital of these
new enterprises representing one hundred and twenty-eight millions of
pesetas.
In contrast to Portugal, the _caminos reales_, or high-roads, of Spain
have long been very good. It is true that where these State roads do not
exist, the unadulterated _arroyo_ serves as a country road, or a mere
track across the fields made by carts and foot-passengers, and when an
obstruction occurs in the form of too deep a hole to be got through, the
track takes a turn outside it, and returns to the direct line as soon as
circumstances permit. An _arroyo_ is given in the dictionary as "a
rivulet"; it is, in fact, generally a rushing torrent during the rains,
eating its way through the land, and laying down a smooth, deep layer of
sand, or even soil, between high banks. Immediately after the rainy
season this affords a firm, good road for a time, but eventually it
becomes ploughed into impassable ruts by the wheels of the carts, unless
trampled hard by the feet of passing flocks.
Government undertakes the cost and the super-intendence of the _caminos
reales_, and does it well. The corps of engineers is modelled on French
lines, and is a department of the Ministry of Public Works. The course
of study is extremely severe, and the examinations are strict and
searching. When a candidate passes, he is appointed assistant-engineer
by the Ministry, and he rises in his profession solely by seniority.
Every province has its engineer-in-chief, with his staff of assistants;
the superintendents of harbours, railways, and other public works are
specially appointed from qualified engineers. In addition to the care of
the construction and repair of all highways and Government works in his
district, the engineer-in-chief has the overlooking of all works which,
although they may be the result of private enterprise and private
capital, are authorised or carried out under Government concession.
These concessions are only granted after the project has been submitted
to, and approved by, the Ministry of Public Works, and it passes under
the supervision of the engineer of the provinces. In old days, if not
now, there was a good deal of "the itching palm" about the officials,
not excluding the Minister himself, through whose hands the granting of
concessions passed, even the wives coming in for handsome presents and
"considerations," without which events had a knack of not moving; and
when the army of _Empleados_ became _Cesantes_, this work, of course,
began all over again. The railway engineers form a separate body, the
country being mapped out into arbitrary divisions, each under the charge
of one engineer-in-chief, with a large body of assistants.
The telegraph system of Spain has now for many years been in a good
condition. The construction of the lines dates from about 1862, when
only five miles were in operation. There is now probably not a village
in the whole country that does not possess its telegraph office, and in
all the important towns this is kept open all night. A peseta for twenty
words, including the address, is the uniform charge, every additional
word being ten centimos. The telegraphs were established by the
Government, and are under its control. All railway lines of public
service, and those which receive a subvention, must provide two wires
for Government use. Telephones are now in use in all large centres, and
electric lighting and traction are far more widely used than in England.