SHORT COMMONS IN MADRID

Evening Star, Issue 22619, 10 April 1937, Page 13

SHORT COMMONS IN MADRID

CIVILIANS URGED TO LEAVE The Madrid correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ writes, under date February 19: — The waters of the Jarama still,run blood. Both sides attack and counterattack, so that there are alternations in the struggle, but little change in the military situation. Both sides have lost tanks and aeroplanes, hut, all in all, the advance of the insurgents has been checked and in some places forced back. The Tribunal of the Fronts Popular to-day acquitted 83 prisoners captured during the raid on the Cerro de Los Angeles some weeks ago. Accused of bearing arms against their country, they were acquitted on the plea that they were mostly Socialist or Syndicalist workmen who had been obliged to fight against their will. The verdict proved a popular one with the public thronging the court room, who loudly cheered “Republican, justice and the justice of the people.” From a microphone in the court room one of the prisoners made a short speech, relayed to loud speakers at the front line, informing his comrades of the result of the trial and telling them that they would be treated with equal clemency if they came over. The 83 then left to join the army of the people. THE EIGHTH MONTH. The eighth month of the Civil War has begun with no prospect of peace in sight. Indeed the bitterness with which. the struggle has been waged places greater obstacles than ever in the path of a settlement by agreement, such as put an end to the last Carlist War, when in the Basque township of Vergara the rival commanders embraced. There seems no probability of Senor Largo Caballero embracing General Franco yet, or vice versa, with Press and broadcasts on' either side spouting vituperations. The participation of foreigners in the struggle has further estranged the parties, so that at present there is _ slight • hope of Spaniards of all Opinions, stopping ;to reflect that ; living in the same country and belonging to the same race, they must eventually compose their differences, so that the sooner'they do so the better for themselves and for the human community at large to whicti they belong. Tuesday- night’s air raid has provoked a renewal, of the evacuation campaign, which has slowed down again recently. “It is intolerable,” says one newspaper, “ that women and children in their thousands should remain in Madrid in imminent danger.” Obligatory evacuation is necessary, it is declared. Viewing the bevies of children playing along the boulevards and broader streets, the rows' of elderly people enjoying the sun on chairs or benches, and fhe flocks of girls “de paseo,” arm-in-arm, it is hard to believe at times that Madrid is in such dire straits as is really the case. One could hardly imagine that these people have lain abed quaking or rushed down to cellars shaken by the thud of bombs. It is always the women and children who are the most numerous victims of a raid, for the simple reason that they are the more numerous in the town. In residential quarters, where shops are fewer, the sad evidence of the queues l is not so noticeable. ■ '.« 'j J : LORRIES STUCK ON ROAD, In spite of the resisting powers of the people of Madrid, the strain of the war is now telling. The problem of food has been steadily going from bad to worse, aggravated by the shortage of petrol, which appears to be acute. The aged are dying in large numbers; a doubly sad ending in which anguish for the fate of Spain mingles with individual privation. Last week over 100 lorries laden with foodstuffs for Madrid were stuck on the road, having run out of fuel. Milk is reserved for, the young.. Every baby has a theoretical “right” to one tin a day—which they are not all getting. Pilfering is a serious cause of scarcity; lack of co-ordination between the evacuation and supply services yet another. Empty lorries are met on the road to Valencia both going and coming from Madrid. The labours of the Junta de Defensa to supply the civilian population have been arduous, but have not been successful. Possibly there is some intention to encourage evacuation by the threat of starvation, because a signal contrast exists between the rate and quality of the supplies for the militia, police. Civil servants, and the union workers, in general and the rest of the inhabitants.

Those who are suffering terribly and have been on short commons for months are the big class of small shopkeepers, the “ petit ” bourgeois, pensioners, tradesmen whose trade has vanished, and the once-upon-a-time moneyed class and their dependents. Some still live in good flats, though extra bedding, blankets, and food or coal reserves have long sinco been raided by militia. Ready money and bank balances of those who had them are reaching vanishing point. Food, however, is no longer obtainable for mere money. The select restaurant has disappeared. Grill rooms serve rice and lentils as elsewhere, A few pastrycooks keep open, but supply cakes without sugar or cream. Cafes'sell almost exclusively beer or “ bocadillos ” —the latter being a roll with (sometimes) a wafer of ham or an indefinable bit of sausage. The price of food rises Continuously. Fish and meat remain all but unobtainable. Those who can show medical certificates are served 1 first. Milk is now classed as a medicament. Eggs afe extremely rare, and a large proportion of them disgustingly stale. In vain the Madrileno tries to cultivate a Chinese taste, but Peking is too far off, and the eggs appear to come from still more remote regions. “ PAIN DE SIEGE.” There is a dire lack of oil, grease, or fat, and sugar. To secure a little oil queues line up overnight. Coffee, sugar, and milk being so scarce, breakfast on garlic soup is substituted; but for this a spoonful of oil is necessary to fry the garlic to go with the hot water, pepper, and salt that afford a pretext to sop bread. Happily bread has not yet gone short, though its quality has deteriorated. It is becoming a real “ pain do siege ” —brownish and mawkish. Some staple foods being short, all sorts of substitutes are tried. The “ cacahuet ” (peanut) is eagerly bought. Hemp seed is toasted and devoured, as also honey-mesquit, beloved by goats. Pea pods are laborously skinned, boiled, and mashed. They leaven the endless tasteless boiled rice and lentils. There is talk of organising soup kitchens. Union restaurants already exist where a meal is obtainable on delivery of a coupon issued by syndicates to their members. The food-card system has proved so inadequate that the cards have been withdrawn and a new plan devised but not yet announced. Hitherto one distribution a week was made. Each family had one card indiscriminately That was not strictly true; there was

whether there were two or a. dozen members of a family. The first distribution six weeks ago comprised Jib each of butter and sugar, 111 b each of rice and lentils, one tin of tomatoes; the second, 11b eacli of rice and chick peas, one pint of olive oil, dried vegetables for soup; the third, lib each of rice and lentils, four sticks of chocolate; the last, 11b each of rice and haricot beans, one tin of _ tomatoes. The packets vary according to districts. They can hardly _ be called anything but starvation rations, even for families of two. EMACIATED WOMEN. Small wonder if the queues that line Up wherever anything is purchasable are numerous and indomitable. Women faint or fall rather than retire. Sometimes, empty-handed, they depart weeping. Emaciation is becoming noticeable among women. The plump senorita has disappeared. Shop windows do not always confess to the emptiness of shelves and counters. One_ window bravely arrayed with multi-coloured boxes, wrappers, and tins carried in one corner a neat label reading: " Ihcre is nothing in all these but sawdust.”

both baking powder and toothpicks, on which there is no run at present. Kitchen soap, as well as salt, is becoming a rarity. Plates washed with the highly perfumed toilet variety available need careful rinsing. The Press, unconditionally at the service of the Revolution, at first said cruel things about the queues; old women gathered in them to back chat, “ Fascists ” to conspire. It is true that the colistas (people in the quotes) looked sourly on the well-rationed, rosy-cheeked, redstarred, multi-emblemed, pantalooned union workers of both sexes striding gaily by, content at being engaged on the absorbing task of working out a social revolution irj luxurious palacios. .Latterly, however, the Press has shown a sharper spirit, sailing as near the wind as the censor will allow in criticism of the supplies branch of the omnipotent Junta. TBe queues, too, while still in general most patient, show more readiness to protest. In some cases queues have broken into shops -when told the stock was Exhausted to see for themselves if it were so. There has been one brief demonstration, when a crowd of women mitrched along shouting “ Bread or peace ”.I A

"DIPLOMATIC SHOP." The foreign colony fares somewhat better. Some of the Embassies or Legations hold stores, and there is the " Diplomatic Shop.” This establishment receives facilities to obtain groceries for sale exclusively to Diplomatic and Consular missions and persons holding foreign passports. It enabled the thousands of refugees in the Embassies to be kept alive. Wrecks of gentility steal along the “ foreign queue ” murmuring : “ Get everything you can. I will buy anything you do not want.” Several of the Diplomatic annexes have been raided and the Spanish inmates arrested. Men of military age remain in custody. Some of the women and older people were set free. Refugees who had sums of mony on them saw this " confiscated ”on the spot After the failure at Geneva of the Chilean Government, whose representative in Madrid is the doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, to negotiate a general safe-con-duct for 'refugees under the auspices of the League of Nations, some of the Embassies are gradually managing to get rid of their gnesis by direct negotiation with the Government.