SPANISH LIBERALISM

New Zealand Tablet, 8 June 1911, Page 1046

SPANISH LIBERALISM

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ILLITERACY ? The religious question is again growing acute in Spain (writes the Rev. Charles J. Mullaly," S.J., in America). At the same time the versatile anti-Catholic press agents continue to inform the foreign newspaper world that the Radical Liberal programme, and especially ' the borrowed French Association Law, is a move to weaken Catholic Church influence, which in Spain, they say, is opposed both to primary education and to solid secondary educational work. These writers give to the foreign press the high figure of 63.78 per cent, of the 1900 census of illiteracy in Spain, and, without explanaiton of figures or facts, cast the blame upon the Church. The second volume of the official census of Spain informs us that _ this 63./8 per cent, includes as illiterates even babies in their mothers’ arms. In other words, Spanish official illiteracy begins at birth. Hence, the injustice of offering this 63. per cent, as a -basis for 'Comparison with countries where official illiteracy begins only at ten or eleven years of age. That the figures: of the 1900 census of illiteracy, were high, no Catholic Spaniard denies. However, they may reasonably object that the facts in regard to this illiteracy are deliberately misrepresented; that a school census of approximately 2,000 000 children in municipal schools and 350,000 in the private schools of the country during the late Conservative administration should be entirely ignored or falsely attributed to Liberal, anti-Catholic zeal for education. All Catholic Spaniards admit that in some provinces the figures for illiteracy were appallingly high ; jn others, I such as : the fervently Catholic Basque country, with its difficult native language, they may well point to the low per cent, of illiteracy, especially since these low figures represent in general a mastery of two widely distinct languages, Basque and Castilian. That Catholic Church influence :is [responsible for the low figures in these latter provinces is undeniable; that it is not responsible for the high figures in other provinces is a truth easily confirmed by anyone who will read the ecclesiastical history of Spain during the past century. It is a story of battles with unjust Liberal and Radical legislators, of confiscation of the Church’s property, expulsions of her teaching orders and congregations,; and of open violence and oppression," To save what was- left' from the wreck of years of unjust persecution, Pius TX." drew up, with the ministers of Queen Isabel, the Concordat of 1851. "For the spiritual welfare and peace of the nation the Church relinquished her claims to confiscated ecclesias-

tical property sold by the Government. The personal ,wealth or many of the Liberal party, which is again attempting to persecute the Church, has its beginning in this confiscated property. Though the Concordat promised peace, the years following were again years of sad trial for the Church, and 1855 brought hew and strenuous anti-Catholic legislation. From then on to 1868 ' we find the Church passing through the first stages of the period which was to have its climax in the terrible days ■i of the atheistical , Republican uprising, with r its murders ?of priests and destruction or confiscation .of churches and Catholic schools. From 1868 to 1875 Spain was in ; turn ruled by every conceivable form .of government, iall. hostile to the Church. It .was during this period of civil wars that educational work in Spain was practically destroyed. The Spanish historian, La Puente, tells ’us that ‘ liberty of education was Converted into the anarchy of ignorance.’ It was fully 1880 before affairs were back in; their normal state. What the Church’s influence did during the twenty years following the days of trial the above quoted census of 1900 tells us; what the , Liberal group, which is now planning persecution for the Church, failed to do is also vividly told in the same census. % A The figures which we -give may be verified in the volumes 1 of the official Spanish census of 1900. The detailed census 'of 1910- has not yet been published. . In 'Our test we limit ourselves to those provinces which afford an . incontrovertible basis for comparison. That the hundreds of convent and private ecclesiastical schools in the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona, and the labors of parish priests and zealous sodalities in these provinces were greatly responsible for the reduction of illiteracy to , 22.25 per cent, and 39.68 per cent., respectively, for all over six. years, is undeniable. The three provinces Alava Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya compose the Basque country, which with Navarra forms the most fervently Catholic part of Spain. It is of interest to note that" Canalejas was the representative of Alicante in the Cortes; 61.22 per cent, is found in this electorate. Percentages of Illiterates Over Six Years of Age. Provinces in which Catholic Church influence is strongest:

Average ... ... 28.93 per cent. Provinces in which Liberal influence is strongest:

-• , . Average .... ... 60.68 per cent. Who is responsible for illiteracy in Spain? Certainly, not the Church. • ' ’ t > W will now take another interesting view of the case. In the . capitals # of these same provinces where educational opportunities should abound, we may examine w-ith profit -what the Church and the Liberals may each claim for their respective influence. We present data from the same 1900 census of the percentage of illiterates between ten and twenty years of ago or, in other words, of those born since. 1880, when the Church was again able to use her religious teachers and thus exercise to a greater extent-her influence in the capitals of. these fervent - provinces. The percentage of illiterates ever , twenty . years of age which ,we Wace.m the second column, will‘show more clearly what effort was made to educate the young: ■ Capitals of Above Catholic Provinces.

Average ... 53.64 per cent. 52.77 per cent. * There are numerous convent schools in these two cities. V m It is unnecessary ..to ask which influence, Catholic -or Liberal, sent more children to school, and this Tong before tne clerical Conservatives had drawn up their compulsory school law. The full significance of our second deadly parallel is realised when we learn that in the Liberal stionghold, Ja,en, this 71.10 per cent, represents 4.039 illiterate boys and girls between ten and twenty years -of age, and this 'in ’ a city of 26,434! In Pamplona.; ihi staunchly Catholic Navarra, there were but 738 illiterates t MMc ten m, twenty years of age among a population £ fn , • photographs sent to : the American press or,. J. ro-Canalejas -.Meetings,-! with thousands crying: . ‘We want - modern education,’ if not borrowed • snap-shots :r of former great Catholic i meetings against Moret and lay schools, offer an amusing argument against . the Radical Liberals of Spain. As meetings in defence of the Canalejas programme have assumed importance only in those provinces where Liberal ideas have. been predominant - for more than fifty years, and where the figures for illiteracy are appallingly high, it would seem that these followers of the Radical Liberals had just cause to cry for modern education, especially when they see what has been done ui those provinces where the Church has not been hindered. That Madrid . ministries are not responsible for the vigorous educational work done in these Catholic provinces is best shown' by the fact that in the Catholic manifestation' of October 2 we find in Navarra alone some 275 town councils assembled in Pamplona to protest against the Canalejas anti-Catholic programme, and its planned interference with the educational work of their province . (see America October 29). • • ... ..... ’ To those familiar with secondary educational work in Spain the attempt of anti-Catholic correspondents f to present the Radical Liberal group as the only defenders of solid educational methods comes as an amusing surprise. For ten years Spanish educators have been protesting against the Romanones plan of studies. By this plan of the actual Liberal President of the House of Deputies, and Canalejas’ rival in anti-clericalism, solid secondary educational work has < become an impossibility. The law of April 12, 1901, deprived the rising generation of all hope of a broad, liberal training in Spanish .secondary schools. ... " The teaching of Greek became an impossibility; Latin had been declared by the shallow editorial writers of El era] and Fl t Impartial , of Madrid, as ‘ a study . for priests,’ and was consequently relegated to an obscure place. Latin is now studied for two years. The solid philosophical courses for which the Spanish colleges were always famous are now impossible for schools following the Government’s plan of studies. Government examinations in Government institutes now give a boy of fifteen or sixteen years a bachelor’s degree for a six. vears’ "course as follows: Ist year (usual age of pupil, ten years): Spanish Grammar, General Geography, with special attention ~to Europe; General Study of Arithmetic and Geometry, Penmanship. 2nd year; Complete Arithmetic, Latin, Geography of Spain, Gymnastics. 3rd year: Geometry, Latin, History of Spain, French, Gymnastics. 4th year: Algebra and Trigonometry, : Precepts of Literature, Universal History, French, Drawing. Stir year: Physics, History of Literature, Logic, and Psychology, Physiology and Hygiene. 6th year; Chemistry, Ethics,' Rudiments of Law; ; Nature* History, Agriculture. It is against this enslavement' of their schools that Catholic educators and writers are protesting. They demand higher standards for a bachelor’s degree. • They claim, and not without reason,. that the Romanones educational law has destroyed all- initiative in the colleges and institutes of, the country; that it has .- saddled upon the schools ,a. defective andbadly-arranged compulsory plan of studies 'entirely , out of harmony ;' with the experience of the past and of requirement of a broad liberal culture, so necessary for those who are to continue their studies in the Spanish or European Universities. Such is the secondary educational situation in Spain. 'With these facts before them the readers of America may judge for themselves who: are the defenders of solid secondary educational work ,in . the country. Certainly, it is not the men who drew up the .law of April 12, 1901. ur .ihoo: .. - The Spanish educational review, La Educacion HisvanoAmericana, for February, in reviewing the Report' of the Commission, of Education, Vol. 1., 1909, and Vol. -II 1910 expresses surprise at the meagre information supplied,' bv Mr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown’s official United States Government statistics in • regard to education "in Spain ' After stating that f in at least this case Spaniards'Wh'''riot to blame tor the scanty information offered, the Review says-

'To speak frankly, as the School Census of Spain was pub- - lished in 1904, by the Geographical and Statistical Institute (El Institute y Estadistico, Madrid) North Americans might in 1909 be more, exactly informed in regard to our affairs.'. We recommend this excellent review to those wishing to keep in touch with educational work in Spain. It is published by Gili, Barcelona. .

Alava ... ... 19.79 per cent Guipuzcoa ... ... 31.75 „ Viscaya ... 32.25 Navarra ... ... 30.10 Burgos ... 26.30 Santander ... ... 26.04 „ etqètrqwr Segovia ' ... 28.18 Soria ... 32.42 Salamanca ... 36.43 „ ' Valencia ... ... 25.95 „

Jaen ... 65.79 per cent. per cent. Murcia ... ... 62.91 Malaga. ... ... 63.56 Granada ... ... 65.62 Alicante ... 61.22 Almeria ... ... 64.27 ■Badajoz ... 60.77 Cordoba ... 60.29 Sevilla .... ... 50.43 Cadiz . ... 51.90 „

v Illiterates. Vitoria ' ... San i Sebastian Bilbao . ... Pamplona ... Burgos Santander ... Segovia.; ... Soria.;,: ... Salamanca ... Palenica ... 10 to 20 Years. ... 8 73 per cent. . 7.36 • - ... 12.57 - „ ... 11.29 „ ... 14.16 ... 15.02 „ — 17.49 • ... 15.86 „ ... 16.16 „ ... 21.15 ,, , Over 20 Years. 16.58 per cent. 27.43 „ 23.22 „ 23.87 - „ 22.18 26.54 „ 24.59 „ : 25.83 „ •• 32.94 „ - 29.32 .Average ... 13.98 p.ejr cent. 25.25 per cent. per cent.

Capitals of Above Liberal Provinces. f Above Liberal Provinces Illiterates. 10 to 20 Years. Over 20 Years. 20 Years. Jaen. ... Murcia ... ... 71.10 per cent. ... 70.63 ' ' 57.69 65.53 per cent. Malaga . ... ... 56.82 . ., : : 56.53 Granada ... 54.67 ‘ ' • 53.85 Alicante ... ... :: 52.12 ■„ -w 53.41 Almeria ... r ... 64.14 . 61.79 Uadajoz ... ... 60.49 ,, 53.51 Cordoba ... 52.49 49.07 Sevilla* .... ... 36.03 40.57 Cadiz* ! ; ... 28.05 35.76 44