The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1938. THE WAR IN SPAIN.

Evening Star, Issue 22975, 4 June 1938, Page 16

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1938. THE WAR IN SPAIN.

Before Christmas it was announced by General Franco that the war in Spain was already won by him. That may have been premature, but the claim would be more difficult to contest if it were repeated now. At the end of April the Nationalists were holding 36 provinces out of 51. Their drive from Aragon bad given them about 45 miles of the Mediterranean coast with destruction of rail and 1 road communications between Barcelona and Valencia. The occupied area included a useful seaplane base near the Ebro delta, as well as bandy places for landing reinforcements' and supplies. Yet the Republicans have refused, to accept their final quietus. There has been stubborn fighting in the last few weeks, and any further gains of the Nationalists have been dearly bought. The loyalists no doubt wouldl have made a better fight if it had not been for .divided control. A year ago Dr Negrin came into office as Prime Minister, with Communist support to turn out the AnarchoSyndicalists. The Socialists and Communists, however, have been unable to do without those allies, and when the Government was reconstituted in April last a fiery Communist effaced himself to make room for a ■ Syndicalist successor. General Franco, at an earlier stage, bad to put restraints on the extreme Fascists of his party, but he seems to have done this without antagonising anyone too much.

Two other disadvantages which the Republicans have been under are their principles and their inferiority in armaments. It was stated yesterday that their Government 1 has; taken , 'further step towards general mobilisaion—in effect, conscription—by calling up able-bodied men between the ages of 32 and 33. It is surprising that these were not called up before, but voluntaryism has been a fetish for the unions, and the conserving of another principle must have cost even more. Till the recent drive to the sea, no pressure of adversity could induce the Spanish 1 worker to give up his eighthour day. When tho factories of Barcelona, the greatest industrial city of Spain, turned out one aeroplane a day that was hailed as a great achievement, but it fell far short of being enough. The failure to build a really efficient armament industry was the more surprising, as the Republican Government had a considerable supply of funds during the first part of the war, had not to fear any embargo for raw material and engines, and could import both workers and technical personnel from abroad l . Strife in the factories between Communists and Anarchists did not help matters. Of these two parties the former provided the foreign . technicians, while tho latter controlled the bulk, or at least the most active section, of the workers. The eight-hour day did not assist production, and) appeals that were made for women to take tho place of men in the factories were repugnant to Spanish sentiment.

The Nationalists were not under the necessity of manufacturing war material since they received theirs from abroad, without being asked for cash. During the first days of their offensive in Aragon, which coincided with the German annexation of Austria, there were reports of the sending of 20,000 Germans and tens of thousands of Italians to reinforce their side. Those recruits were almost entirely. imaginary, but the insurgents did! receive substantial reinforcements in aircraft, tanks, artillery ammunition, and perhaps of artillery itself, it was a further blow to the Republicans’ cause that what support they received from abroad began to slacken at the decisive moment. According to the correspondent of the ‘ Christian Science Monitor,’ “ the Russian Government, which was never so deeply interested in Spain as has been widely assumed, started to clear out as soon as it saw, after the defeat at Teruel, that the Spanish war was unlikely to end in success for the Left.” Towards the end of April Franco announced his programme of reconstruction after the war, which has been summarised as follows: —lmprovement of the Jot of the middle classes and the workers; land reform; help for industry. The old life—frivolous, comfortable, empty —must go, said . General Franco. The “ tertulia,” the coffee house table around which Spaniards have discussed their problems eternally instead of grappling with them, must go, too, ho indicated. Such habits, in his view, had been the cause of Spain’s decadence; and a century of impotence must have taught the nation that the time had come for a “ Spanish National revolution.” It was interesting to note that General Franco, like the Minister of the Interior in a previous speech. did not allude to the Monarchy.

DRAFT WOOL’ ALLOWANCE. The British Wool Federation’s threat to boycott the Dominion wool sales if the draft allowance is abolished does not appear to have created any undue sensation in either Australia or New Zealand. The fact of the matter is that the agitation for the discontinuance of this “gift” allowance was set in motion some years ago, and it cannot be doubted that tho unanimity of opinion on the subject reached by three important wool-growing countries— Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa —cannot have been achieved without an analysis of tho position from every angle. The draft allowance, as has been explained by a local wool authority, is an allowance of one pound in one hundredweight of wool, or an average of three pounds a bale, to counteract loss of weight through shrinkage and moisture and the entry of any foreign matter into a bale in tho course of its shipment to the United Kingdom. Small as this amount may seein when put thus, it means that on the value of this year’s sales the growers receive £87,000 less than would have been the case if the allowance had been stopped. In the early days of wool growing and shipping the money amounted to a legitimate charge, as the various processes used in handling the clips at this end were of such si primitive nature that tho buyers were really inconvenienced financially hy inaccuracy in weighing and other factors. Nowadays, however, the conditions are entirely different, for, with the use of modern methods and the application of rigid weight checking, there is practically no margin for error. In any ease, if variation does occur, it -will sometimes take the form of an increase in weight (depending on seasonal factors here). It is easy to understand the expressions of dismay among the British buyers. This draft allowance is a timehonoured custom, and, especially when time-honoured customs assume tho proportions of a virtual bonus, they die hard in any land. It is logical that this particular example should be given its 1 quietus in the countries which have to do tho paying and which labour under a sense of grievance. We aro sure that local primary producers fully understand and appreciate the value of tho British market to them, and that they will continue to do anything within reason to meet the wishes of their customers. But in this-instance no evidence can be found justifying a measure that is far from being good business. Declaring that the time is not opportune to fight the federation, some of the Australian brokers argue in favour of a continuation of the allowance. Their reasons are not made clear in the messages received in New Zealand, but it is possible that their views are .based on apprehension over the unsettled international situation and the vagaries of the markets generally. The question-of the high exchange at present operating appears to have been satisfactorily adjusted by, the purchasers, who, in, a manner somewhat similar, will' probably be able to formulate a. plan to meet “ losses” caused ■by abolition of the allowance. It may be that local growers will gain little or nothing from their agitation, but they will at least have the satisfaction of breaking away from a loose, unbusinesslike custom which, from all accounts, has come to be regarded as “ painful extraction.” If the abolition of the draft allowance becomes operative' by proclamation, Yorkshire’s threatened boycott is unlikely to eventuate, but the Wool Federation will perhaps get what it wants with the aid of an effective amesthesia.