Evening Star Newspaper, March 2, 1930, Page 86

2 | ey o e ————— THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 2, 1930 Hapsburg jaw can mean something, and that the mind behind the dark, lively, watchful eye is very quick and subtle. In short, this tall, tanned, active man, who Joyes movement and action, polo ponies, racing cars, everything swift and dashing; who looks and is iron hard and fit, without an ounce of superfluous flesh on his spare frame, is many-sided and indomitable. If he is still a King today it is not because he was (literally) born one, but because he likes being King and intends to go on being a King if patience, tact, adroitness, quick action and an audacious courage can preserve his balance on the mon- archial tightrope. In estimating his chances in the present crisis—which may last through 1938, with in- termittent demonstrations, declarations, risings and riots—it is worth remembering that, apart from the fact that five assassins have tried to get him and have failed, he has been astutely playing his cards for at leest 20 of his 40 years of life and kingship in order to retain his throne. He has always been obstinate and irresistable. Difficulties have stimulated him. The atmos- phere in which he was brought up may be illustrated by a story the Queen-mother, who was regent during the first 16 years of Alfonso’s ryeign, was fond of telling. One evening when Alfonso was 4 years old, an anarchist threw a bomb near the palace. When the news came up the women in the Yoyal nursery expressed surprise that they had not heard the explosion. Piped a quiet little voice: “I heard it.” It was the boy King, sit- ting up in bed. “But you could not have heard it,” said the Queen-mother, smiling, “if we did not.” “The King heard it,” said Alfonso XIII gravely. “The King hears everything.” At that age he had been impressed by the supreme and sacred fact that he was King and that Kings are not as other men. His early life was fantastically colored by that knowledge, that realization, carefully in- culcated. It is told of him how, as a child, he stood before Velasquez's famous painting of Philip IV of Spain and said: “I will have a chin like that!” And from time to time for years afterward he would be found trying to mold his chin with his lean hands. In his Madrid palace he treasures one of stone on which he once cracked his head in a knife with which the assassin as a boy; the skeleton of the bomb hurled at him as with the peliticos and delivered a celebrated speech at Cordova, which the government of the day thought it wisest to censor. A year later, still defying the politicos, he declared he would “perish on the quarterdeck if neces- sary.” Primo’s coup d’etat, which eliminated the politicos, removed that necessity—at any rate, for the time being. A glance at Primo de Rivera's position, in relation to the dictatorship of Mussolini, casts much light on the whole situation in Spain, and on the King's position in particular, Haters of dictatorship were saying: “This is the begimming of a tidal wave of democratic re- action in Europe. Mark us! After De Rivera, Mussolini!” An error. The two dictatorships were as dif- ferent as the two dictators. The Spanish gen- . eral, a marquis, derived his power from the army alone. Mussolini, the self-made, derives his power from a so''dly organized party of over a million and a ) “ivate militia which ap- proximates the regulai army in strength and still holds the key pc itions—telegraph offices, railway stations, poris, naval bases, arsenals. De Rivera could never ignore Alfonso, but Mussolini can—and does—ignore King Victor Emmanuel. Mussolini keeps a sharp eye on the De Riveras and the Berenguers of Italy. He never allows one the chance which De Rivera had as captain general in Catalonia at a time of popular discontent with the civilian gov- ernment. There was one general, Bagdolio (one didn’t dare mention his name in Italy when I was there two years ago. Cafe waiters would quiver and hurry away, and even resident American journalists apprehensively breathed, “Hush!”), ' who resented the Duce’s high-handed way with royalty and, moreover, did not like the idea of Italy being run by a government composed mainly of editors and journalists. Mussolini first removed this soldier from his executive post of chief of staff and promoted him 'to marshal ‘and military adviser to the government (one of thosé left-hand-d promo- tions) and then elevated him to the high post of governor of the: Italian colenies, Gen. Berenguer, Spain’s new premier. Tl!lvfltho!flrlladwmnunnovlnta- ¢ venes between Mussolini and the one man who might lead an army revolt, or, in the event of the passing of the Duce, take advan- against him or betrayed open enmity for his But De Rivera, ruthless enough where to have been a lot of people he would have liked to exile, Berenguer among them, but they always had a lifeline to the King or some one Photo by Acme. in the army who was too powerful to offend, and the dictator had to scold them and let them go. when the artillery officers involved themselves in a conspiracy with Sanches Guerra, the old-gang politico, and revolted at Cludad Real last year, De Rivera could not ‘The army made De Rivera; the army broke him. And the army in due course will decide A recent photograph of King Alfonso of Spain (center front) with Gen. Prima de Rivera, (at left, front) and the directorate of eight generals of which Gen. Rivera. is president.. Underwood & Underwood. pillar of the throne; the King has always as- siduously cultivated it. Berenguer is an enigma. His military com- petence is doubtful. He got his military cdu- cation in Cuba—which is not exactly anything to boast about—and his first taste of active service in Morocco, whither he was sent by the politicos after a spell as minister of war. He arrived, an imposing martial figure, with fine mustaches and a magnificent bull neck. Things went from bad to worse, and in 1921, two years after his advent, the 10-year record of Spanish military ineptitude in Morocco reached its peak with the terrible disaster of Anual. The second in command shot himself, but Berenguer was mpysteriously maintained in power and was publicly congratulated in Pare liament by ministers for his work as high com= missioner and commander-in-chief. However, his enemies pursued him relent= lessly, demanding his court-martial and death if found guilty. He had to resign, and in 1923 things had got to the stage of a decision to put him on trial for negligence in his duties and responsibility for the rout of 1921. By the Summer of 1924 he had been tried and piaced on the reserve list. But in less than a month powerful friends asserted themselves, and he was amnestied. THE story was that he was the King's fa- vorite; he had been sent to Morocco through the King’s influence, and he had tried to carry out the King's ideas; and the King had to stand by his friend or see a nasty breach opened in his elaborate defenses. However this may be, Berenguer got the captain generalship of Coruna in 1925 and the next year was chosen by the King as chief of his military household, despite the fact that a year before he-had been clapped into a fortress for three months for attending a banquet at which speeches were made attacking Primo’s dictatorship. Primo and the new premier-dictator never liked each other. Their military ideas clashed. Berenguer was for a forward policy in Morocco, and the King was with him there. But as early as 1916 Primo had expressed his cone ception of the situation in the trenchant words: “Ceuta for Gibraltar and to hell with the rest of Morocco!”"—a speech which cost him his office of military governor of Cadiz. If King Alfonso and Gen. Berenguer, left by a tired and petulant Primo to finish the game alone, play their cards with skill, the Spanish throne will once again be carried safely across the tightrope to the resting plat- form beyond—for a breathing space, be it un- derstood, for a breathing space only. They seem agreed that the army and the country are tired of a military dictatorship and that the best thing to do is to get back as rapidly as is consistent with safety to the con- stitution of 1876, De Rivera having failed over two years to get support for his proposed new compromise constitution. The politicos have to be consulted. Also the leaders of the new pro- gressive parties. Gas Mystery Is Solved, AIIYSTERYthathsdallthet-hrflho!l modern detective novel for a time threate ened seriously to interfere with the construc- tion of a power plant of the Duquesne Light Co. at Pittsburgh. Apparently healthy workmen, after finishing their work, would step into the change house, a temporary structure, and change their work- ing clothes for street wear. Many were taken sick and many collapsed for no apparent rea- son during this short space of time. The mystery became deeper and a source of real worry as time went on and more than 60 men were overcome and collapsed. After all other theories had failed, it was decided that the trouble must be from gas, and the aid of the Pittsburgh Experimental Station of the United States Bureau of Mines was sought. Experts in gas from the laboratories visited the construction work and found that the air in the change house tested almost 2 per cent carbon monoxide, a percentage sufficient to cause collapse in a few minutes of a man at all physically exhausted from his work. Having found the trouble, the source of the gas was the next step. The power plant is being constructed on Brunot Island, which is at the confluence of the Monongahela and the Allegheny Rivers. This island, or rather the end of the island. on which the power plant is being erected, has been made from cinder dumping. In some cases the cinders are 40 feet thick. ‘Through improper and incomplete combus- tion much unburned carbon still remained in the cinders, and this has been smouldering for some time, being in active combustion up to a few months ago. One part of the construction work entailed the building of a tunnel under this mass of cinders and under the river over to the city. proper. In order to carry on the work it was necessary to employ fairly heavy air pressures, and this air escaped to some extent up through the interstices and cracks in the cinder bed," much as air is forced through a blacksmith’s fire. The pressure of the air brought - the monoxide lying the air pockets up to ‘the surface and into the closed building, where the air soon became dangerously poisoned. Once the trouble was found it was a short matter to remedy the defect in the construc- tion of the change house which permitted the collection of the gas and to take preventive measures to assure that no more workmen become ill.