784 



SPAIN. 



The Army. Every Spaniard of the age of 

 twenty is liable to serve three years in the active 

 army, unless he pays 1,500 pesetas for exemption. 

 After completing the term of active service he is 

 enrolled in the active reserve for three years, and 

 then for six years in the second reserve. 



The following figures give the peace effective 

 in 1890 : Infantry, 83.808 men ; cavalry, 13,908 

 men, with 11,887 'horses; artillery, 11,340 men, 

 with 392 guns ; engineers, 392 officers and 4,279 

 men ; administrative corps, 1,185 men ; sanitary 

 corps, 433 surgeons, 81 pharmacists, and 1,185 

 soldiers; territorial troops in the Canaries, 731 

 men ; Ceuta volunteers, etc., 305 men ; total, 

 118,753 men. The war strength was reported to 

 be 805,400 men, comprising 734,680 infantry; 

 23,300 cavalry, with 18,500 horses ; 30,350 artil- 

 lery, with 460 guns; 7,500 engineers; 1,900 work- 

 men ; 670 sanitary troops ; and 7,000 territorial 

 troops, exclusive of the forces in the colonies. 



The Navy. The fleet of war in 1890 consisted 

 of 1 new turret ship, the ' Pelago," with 20-inch 

 plates, 1 other first-class vessel of recent construc- 

 tion, 3 armored broadside ships of antiquated 

 type, 2 monitors, 3 deck-armored cruisers, 1 tor- 

 pedo catcher, 14 torpedo boats, 1 aviso, and 12 

 gunboats. There were 5 first-class, and 2 second- 

 class vessels not yet ready for the sea, 3 of the 

 first class on the stocks, and 7 of the first, 1 of 

 the second, and 3 of the third class on which 

 work had been begun. Of the vessels building, 

 or awaiting armaments, 3 are belted cruisers of 

 7,000 tons and 13,000 horse-power, capable of 

 making 19 knots ; 3 are belted cruisers of 6,765 

 tons and 15,000 horse-power, designed for a speed 

 of 20 knots ; and 5 are deck-protected cruisers. 

 The programme of construction includes 16 steel 

 sea-going torpedo boats, 96 first-class, and 42 

 second-class torpedo boats for coast defense, 6 

 torpedo gunboats, and 6 third-class gunboats. 

 The " Infanta Maria Teresa," one of the first- 

 class belted cruisers, was launched on the Ner- 

 vion on Aug. 31, 1890. Her speed at natural 

 draught will be 18 knots. The armament will 

 consist of 2 12-inch and 10 3-inch guns, 8 

 quick-firing 6- pounders, 8 revolving 3-pounders, 

 and 8 torpedo tubes. 



Commerce. The total value of imports in 

 1888 was 716,085,000 pesetas, and of exports 

 763,104,000 pesetas. They were divided among 

 the countries of origin and destination in the 

 following proportions, values being given in pe- 

 setas : 



The values, in pesetas, of the chief imports 

 were as follow : Cotton, 57,242,000 ; grain and 



flour, 43,789,000; coal, 31,257,000; timber, 29,- 

 686,000; sugar, 29,353,000; codfish, 25.046,000; 

 woolens, 24,711,000; machinery, 21,585,000 ; to- 

 bacco, 21,420,000; iron, 19,232,000; animals, 18,- 

 208,000 ; petroleum, 16,655.000 ; hides and skins, 

 15,845,000 j linen fiber and thread, 15,091,000; 

 chemicals, 14,365,000; railroad and ship-build- 

 ing materials, 13,494.000; cacao, 12,805,000; 

 silk manufactures, 12,519,000; cotton goods, 11,- 

 193,000. The following were the values of the 

 principal exports of Spanish products: Wine, 

 293,559,000 ; copper, 59,939,000 ; iron, 44,644,000 ; 

 lead. 44,203,000 ; cork, 20,893,000 ; oranges, 18,- 

 898,000; dried raisins, 17,077,000; animals, 16,- 

 816,000 ; wool, 15,580,000 ; shoes, 12,975,000 ; 

 olive oil, 10,223,000; esparto grass, 9,065,000; 

 grapes, 8,595,000. Of the imports, 38 per cent, 

 were products of agriculture, 7'9 per cent, of 

 pastoral industries, 5*8 per cent, of fisheries, 6*8 

 per cent, of forest industries, 15-5 per cent, of 

 mines, and 26 per cent, of manufacture. Of the 

 domestic exports, 62*4 per cent, were agricultural, 

 5'7 per cent, pastoral, 3*6 per cent, forestry, 26 

 per cent, mineral, and 2'3 per cent, industrial 

 products. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at the ports in 1889 was 53,549, of 22,346,195 

 tons, and of these 38,852, of 9,995,333 tons, were 

 of Spanish registry ; 14,222, of 12.346.195 tons, 

 were foreign merchant vessels ; and 475, of 563,- 

 935 tons, were ships of war. 



The mercantile navy in 1886 numbered 1,450 

 sailing vessels of above 50 tons, having an ag- 

 gregate displacement of 269,578 tons, and 356 

 steamers of 260,308 tons, not including those 

 below 100 tons. In 1888 there were 380 steamers 

 of 388,074 tons. 



Communications. The railroad system in 

 1888 had a total length of 9,669 kilometres or 

 6,044 miles, and 2,000 kilometres more were pro- 

 jected or begun. The railroads are the property 

 of private companies, which havo received sub- 

 ventions from the Government amounting in 

 1884 to 641,917,235 pesetas. In July a long pro- 

 jected line to connect the seaport of Almeria 

 with the railroad system by.a junction at Linares 

 was begun. 



The number of letters that went through the 

 post-office in 1888 was 99,750,000 domestic and 

 12,356,000 foreign ; of post-cards, 91 8,000 domes- 

 tic and 218,000 foreign ; of printed inclosurcs 

 and samples, 4,121,000 domestic and 15,813,000 

 foreign; the value of money letters. 118,527,000 

 pesetas for Spain, and 25,122,000 pesetas from or 

 for foreign parts. The receipts of the post-office 

 amounted to 19,743,360, and the expenses to 12,- 

 380.186 pesetas. 



The telegraph lines in 1887 had a length of 

 18,419 kilometres or 11,512 miles, with 46,187 

 kilometres or 28,870 miles of wire. The number 

 of dispatches in 1886 was 3,549,860, one quarter 

 of which were international. 



Cabinet Crisis. In forming his Cabinet 

 after the death of Alfonso XII (see "Annual 

 Cyclopedia" for 1885, page 656), Senor Sagasta 

 endeavored to unite the incongruous divisions of 

 the Liberal party, and by promising reforms to 

 the Advanced section and delaying the perform- 

 ance of his promises to please the Conservative 

 section he kept the party together and for more 

 than four years averted an open conflict, though 



