SPAIN’S FINANCIAL STRAITS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 260, 1 August 1939, Page 9

SPAIN’S FINANCIAL STRAITS

Speech By Generalissimo

Speaking to the National Council of the Falange Espanola Tradicionalista—the supreme assembly of the party, whose task is to pronounce on major questions of policy —General Franco warned his hearers of the serious economic problems facing Spain, states the correspondent, of “The Times,” Dondon, in a report from Hendayt* last month.

His sombre language provided the nation with a douche of cold water which must prove salutary after the prolonged victory celebrations, and it is small wonder that Seuor Fernandez Cuesta, the national secretary of the party, In his inaugural speech compared the Caudillo with the prophet Jeremiah.

Few of the council’s members eould have -ligeji left in any doubt that in future 4 t.6e words "austerity and discipline” will represent a bitter reality and not merely a party slogan. The Generalissimo reminded his audience that, with the exception of the years of the World War, Spain had suffered from arn adverse trade balance throughout the present century. This problem has grown much more serious since the outbreak of the civil war, owing partly to the huse imports of war materials, much of which had still to be paid for, partly to the destruction of 'bomb and dynamite of much economic equipment designed to produce for export, and partly to the periodic raids on the Bank of Spain carried out by the Republican Government. dfe, 11l view of v their straitened circumstances, the Spanish ’people, said General Franco, would have to forgo many non-essential articles. The watchword of the national economy must be “Produce, produce, produce,” to restore the lost balance. TO BE REPATRIATED TO SPAIN 50,000 Militiamen In France

ST. JEAN-DE-LUZ, July 30

France and Spain have agreed to the immediate repatriation of 50,000 Spanish militiamen from French internment camps, at the rate of 2000 a day.