DIRECTORY IN SPAIN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 19, 23 January 1924, Page 6

DIRECTORY IN SPAIN

Some of the devices adopted by Spanish Ministers and officials to fill their purses, recall the schemes of that comic-opera Spanish grandee—the Duke of Plazatoro (Limited). Yet these abuses were real, and were perpetrated in a country with a democratic Government. Mr. Ward Price's xeport in the " Daily Mail " does not exaggerate ; other investigators have made similar revelations. It is no wonder that the Spanish people grew tired, of democracy, and readily accepted the Directory established by General de Eivera and approved by King Alfonso. The misgovernment took many forms, but the worst failure of the democratic Ministers was in financial control. Their method of finance appears to have been simple. Budget deficits (exceeding 100 million pesetas, or £^000,000 at par exchange in the past two years) were covered by Treasury notes, to be converted ultimately into permanent debt. This naturally led to a decline in the value of the peseta, though Spain held a large gold reserve in the bank. The immediate task of the Directory was to reduce expenditure, stop the accumulation of deficits, and endeavour to balance the-Budget.' The investigations made with this end m view revealed the wholesale abuses practised by former administrations. Nor was the abuse confined to the Central Government. Municipal Councils followed a similar policy, and some of them did. not even keep accounts. So the Directory abolished the Municipal Councils. The policy of the Directory has been sternly enforced, but not more sternly than the situation warranted. Latest reports are that order is gradually coming out of chaos, and the only question now is whether the Directory will be able- to maintain power long enough to lay the foundations for clean, constitutional Government, or whether the disappointment of the Catalan Separatists will force another revolution before this one has been fully proved.