In the evening the Workmen’s Club was inaugurated. Nobody in Castro
talked of anything else. The Clerical element had advised all religious
persons to stay away from the meeting.
The large hall of the Club was profusely lighted; and by half-past six
was already completely full.
At seven the ceremony began. The president of the Club, a printer,
spoke, and told of Cæsar’s benefactions; then the Republican
bookseller, San Román, give a discourse; and after him Cæsar took up
the tale.
He explained his position in the Chamber in detail. The people listened
with some astonishment, doubtless wishing to find an opportune occasion
for applause, and not finding it.
Some of the old men put their hands to their ears, like a shell, so as
to hear better.
Next, Cæsar spoke about life in Castro, and pointed out the town’s
needs.
“You have here,” he said, “three fundamental problems, as is the case
with almost all towns in the interior of Spain. First: water. You have
neither good drinking water, nor enough water for irrigation. For
want of drinkable water, the mortality of Castro is high; for want of
irrigation, you cannot cultivate more than a very small zone, under
good conditions. For that reason water must be brought here, and an
irrigation canal begun. Second problem: subsistence. Here, as in the
whole of Castile, there are people who corner the grain market and raise
the price of wheat, and people who corner the necessities of life and
put up their prices as high as they feel like. To prevent this, it is
necessary for the Municipality to establish a public granary which shall
regulate prices. For, want of that, the people are condemned to hunger,
and people that do not eat can neither work nor be free. Third problem:
means of transport. You have the railway here, but you have neither good
highways nor good byways, and transportation is most difficult. I,
for my part, will do all I can to keep the federal government
from neglecting this region, but we must also stir up the little
municipalities to take care of their roads.
“These three are questions that must be settled as soon as possible.
“Water, subsistence, transportation; those are not matters of luxury,
but of necessity, matters of life. They belong to what may be called the
politics of bread.
“I cannot make the reforms alone; first, because I have not the means;
next, because even supposing I had, if I must leave these improvements
in a township that would not look after them, not take care of them,
they would soon disappear; they would be like the canals dug by the
Moors and afterwards allowed to fill up through the neglect of
the Christians. That is what politics are needed for, to convince
reactionaries.
“At the same time, looking toward the future, let us start the school,
which I should like to see not merely a primary school, but also a
school for working-men.
“Let us endeavour, too, to turn the field of San Roque into a park.”
After explaining his program, Cæsar called on all progressive men who
had liberal ideas and loved their city, to collaborate in his work.
When he ended his speech, all the audience applauded violently.
Alzugaray was able to verify the fact that the majority of them had not
understood what Cæsar was saying. “They didn’t understand anything. A
few sparkling phrases would have pleased them much better.”
“Ah, of course. But that makes no difference,” replied Cæsar. “They
will get used to it.”
The inauguration over, the bookseller, San Román, Dr. Ortigosa, Señor
Camacho, who was the pharmacist that called himself an inventor of
explosives, and some others, met in the office of the Club, and talked
with great enthusiasm of the transformation that was obviously taking
place at Castro.