SPAIN IN WAR TIME

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2715, 9 March 1916, Page 6

SPAIN IN WAR TIME

A NEUTRAL WARNING

PUBLIC OPINION MADE IN GERMANY (By Luis Araquistain, Redactor de "El Liberal," de Madrid.) As a fervent believer that no country in Europe will be free till Germany is reduced to impotence, I feel bound tc describe the tactics that the GermanE ire employing in Spain, and which, it extended to all neutral countries, would be dangerous for the moment of peace for the Entente's policy after the war. I want to deal with a fact and with ■ a problem. The fact is this: Spain is getting Germanised through the German agents here. First, 1 want to prove the fact. It is well known that public opinion in Spain is greatly divided since the beginning ol tiie war. _ Ignorance, distrust, and hatred in regard to free-thinking France, admiration for the long-prepar-ed and theatrically magnified strength [>[ Germaiiy, are some of the threads ivitli which the pro-German opinion has. so to speak, been woven in Spain. All this couid have been discounted from the _ beginning. Those elements in Spain, which instinctively place themselves on the side of Germany, are the same eternal enemies of the freedom and the progress of th Spanish people. They are the active factors of reaction. But between them' and the active and :onscious factors of liberty there is a large zone of real neutral opinion, which lias no settled ideas, 'no firm convictions, fluctuating always from one side to the other, and leaning, in the last instance, in favour of the most active ind persistent elements, ft is that sort af opinion which takes the volume and quantity of a campaign, for the quality ind essential value of the aims at issue. The Prussian System. Now, the organ of this opinion is the Press. - I do not pretend that the Spanish Press is worse, morally speaking, than the Press of any other country in the world. But, generally, it is poorer, and this economic fact might account for many anomalies. The war, with the rise in the cost of the paper, and the reductions of advertising—specially from foreign parts—has tended, to increase the gravity of the position of the Press. The German agents have taken advantage of this position 'to carry out their corrupting tactics. At present, I think, the fingers of one hand would suffice to count the daily papers which have not been bought up in this city of Madrid, where some twenty large dailies are published. I But do not think that the system of getting liold of the Spanish Press is one and the same for all the papers. The system is • applied in three different forms. The first form, the real Prussian one, is to buy a paper outright, without any restriction whatsoever. and to impose upon it the defence of the Central Empires, and the untiring abuse of the Allies, with a fierceness that the German ' papers themselves would be ashamed of. As not every paper is willing to accept these conditions, a second form is proposed, which consists in the publishing of pro-German articles and extracts from other newspapers, favourable to Germany, interpolated in the general text of the paper, which may perhaps in parts read in favour of the Allies, andin.this way the neutrality and impartiality of the paper are apparently unassailable. ' A "Pious Silence." ; Other papers will not admit oven this form, and in that case there is a third method to gather them within the fold, The paper m this case is not bound tc publish anything favourable to Germany, but it is required to maintain a pious silence and perhaps, if the respective paper should happen to belong tc the Extreme Left, it should attack reactionary llussia, by which means the paper-saves its face and maintains the appearance of its love for the Alliei without endangering its love of liberty. ... It is doubtful if there exists in Madrid any paper of importance which hat not been approached with one or an other of the above-mentioned proposal! to place itself at the service of Ger many either openly and l agrresively or in some milder but no less effectiv< form. I know of ono' paper, perlmpi the only one, that has carried out tin fiercest fight for the Allies since the beginning of the war, to whose representatives a German agent offered 10,00( pesetas monthly, demanding that- ii should not change the trend and naturi of its campaign, but that it shoulc "moderate" its tone. This is a very serious matter, for bj this means we are having in Spain— with very few and honourable .exceptions—a Press, a section of which, is daijy shouting itself hoarse against the Allies, whilst the other section maintains an ominous silence. Up to the present the neutral opinion to which 1 refer above constitutes a counterbalance to pro-Germanism, but, with the new course of affairs, as described it is to be feared that it will only hear the voice oi Germany, and become accordingly dislodged and modified. ' The Problem. And now as to the problem: Is it indifferent to the nations of the Entente that a country like Spain should become Germanised? Some will be inclined to answer that Spain does not count. But the neutral countries may exercise a certain influence in determining the moment of peace. If all,neutral countries _ were strongly in favour of an immediate peace, and were accordingly to cut off the supplies to belligerent countries, the war would bo greatly shortened. Suppose that the neutral countries were to become mostly Germanised, and that public opinion in each of them were to be strong enough to compel the respectivo Governments not to allow any export!? which might contribute to strengthen the position of the Allies, as is happening at present. In this case there is an economic danger and moral danger as woll. It is_ ovident that Germany already is anxious for peace. The German policy in neutral countries is to try to creato a conviction that if peace is not signed at an early date the .Allies will be solely responsible for the prolongation of, the war. That is Germany's guilt in provoking the war is to be changed into innocence at the end of the war. Think of this moral pressure of the neutral world against the continuation of the war. The neutral countries besides will have an important role to play after the war as well, and horein lies the second reason to be taken in consideration. If thoy become Germanised, they may, and certainly will, come to be an economic and military instrument in tlio future, in the service of Germany. How is. tlio problem to be solved? Tho question is complex and delicat-o. In my opinion it would bo possible to solvo it without provoking conflicts of conscience. For instance, why do not.English firms advertising in' Spain confine" themselves to papers which have disinterestedly espoused tho causo of tlio Allies from tho start? This is a moot point. The purpose of this article, however, is solely to awaken English opinion to tho consciousness of a danger, none tho less grave because it is remote.