Personalities of Modern Spain 57
throne, and 1923. I consider the years from 1902 to 1923
a most effective period in many ways. I think it is just to
compare it with what we call the Victorian age of progress
in England. As it was an age of commercial development,
so was it an age of development in economics. In 1918 the
Bank of Spain showed the biggest gold reserve in Europe.
The nineteenth century had left a heavy burden; the army
theretofore had been the main support of the crown, and it
continually interfered with the government, through its
“officers’ committees,” and even among the most conserva-
tive there were cries of “let those govern who can be
governed.” Thus you find the military party interfering
always with the government, and this had its logical outcome
when a military dictatorship came to ask the King for powers
to administer the country. And thus came into being the
military directorate and civilian cabinet, presided over by
Primo de Rivera under whose benevolent energies many new
reforms have been carried out.
Now turning from politics to what is more interesting, let
us consider the economic change, which is far more striking
than the political revolution. The Great War was important
because of its effect economically on Spain. During that
time wealth poured in, and there was a decided development
in agriculture. There was also a great increase in hydraulic
engineering, and this increase has been maintained under
the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Hence there has been
a great increase in the productivity and manufacturing power
of the country. Spain is now a manufacturing nation; it is
no longer a market, or a country where industrial concessions
may be easily secured by foreigners. Spanish railroads which
had been foreign-built and foreign-owned, during the war
were bought over by Spain—at least a great many of them—
and Bilbao, Barcelona, and other such centres, famous for