SPAIN DEFERS DECISION

Southland Times, Issue 23932, 26 September 1939, Page 11

SPAIN DEFERS DECISION

FATE OF MONARCHY 1 NOT SETTLED ECONOMIC ISSUES MORE IMPORTANT Any one strolling on the board-walk of this charming seaside resort, with hotels packed, as they always are during the peaceful August, would see few signs that Spain is just emerging from one of the hardest-fought civil wars of our day, writes T. J. Hamilton to The New York Times from San Sebastian. Children are playing on the beach, as they have been doing for generations. Scanty loathing costumes are still not merely frowned on but subject the offender to a stern order to return to his bath-house for seemlier garb. Sidewalk cafes are packed. All this is as it was before the war turned half of Spain against the other. But closer inspection shows that even San Sebastian, which was in the hands of the Nationalists for most of the war, has not recovered all of its old gaiety. Many of the young women’s escorts have an arm or a leg missing. Foreign products, such as coffee and clothing, are scarce and expensive. Prices generally have risen, as is inevitable after

a war. Finally, many youngsters, wear miniature Sam Browne belts in imitation of their fathers or their brothers. The aftermath of the war is naturally increasingly apparent the further one goes into the battle zone.. This writer has just returned from Madrid. It was not necessary to visit University City, where hand-to-hand often raged on scale perhaps unknown in warfare since the Union and Confederate armies met in the wilderness, to realize the extent of the devastation that was wrought. Only yesterday workmen dug out huge unexploded shells that fell in a courtyard of the United States Embassy. The marks of aerial bombs and artillery fire are to be seen . in almost every section of the old capital. MADRID MOVE DEFERRED Madrid has not yet become the capital of Nationalist Spain, for thus far only three Ministries are situated there, and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is directing the government from his headquarters at Burgos. All departments, however, are to be transferred to Madrid within the next few months, it is

said. - This week General Franco virtually completed the peacetime reorganization of his government. The effect of his changes was a nice balance between enthusiastic leaders of the Falange Espanola and the conservative generals, like Juan Beigbeder and Jose Varella, who are long-standing friends and admirers of the Spanish generalissimo. There is apparently to be no final settlement for the present of the destinies of Spain, including the crucial question of restoration of the monarchy. General Franco is committing his aides to more pressing immediate problertis. These include punishment of Republicans found guilty of assassinations and other violations of the law and, as far as is consistent with this, pacification of the country, restoration of normal economic life and particularly supplying raw materials, food and machinery, and finally, orientation of the new Spain’s foreign policy. The problem of suppressing leftist elements is made easier by the fact that several thousand leaders were left behind in Madrid when the Republican government that arranged the capitulation to General Franco left the capital. Nationalist police have made many arrests. They believe, however, the Communists are not yet entirely suppressed, pointing to the attack on Major Gabaldon, one of the qfficers of the Civil Guard. The death of Major Gabaldon and his chauffeur was followed by the execution of more than 50 persons. Only this week the government announced the arrest of more than 50 leaders of the old Communist committee in Madrid.

WAR HATREDS STILL RANKLE The task of tempering justice with mercy is most difficult because of the hatreds resulting from three years of bitter civil war, but it is clear that General Franco hopes to establish the Government on a broad popular base, avoiding the mistakes that were the undoing of the one-time dictator, the late Miguel Primo de Rivera. It is realized that the restoration of normal economic conditions, particu-

larly providing food prices within the reach of the office and industrial workers in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao, is most important for carrying out a political settlement It is now thought that the wheat harvest in Spain will be considerably better than earlier predictions fixing it at 25 per cent, less than Spain’s normal requirements, and there will be an excellent crop of rice, one of the country’s staple foods. Every effort is being made to keep down purchases of foreign products so as to save available foreign exchange for vital imports. In addition, the credit enabling Spain to buy 250,000 bales of American cotton will be a big help, but of course this is only a beginning toward what is needed.