SPAIN OF TO-DAY 3 



various corporate churches, and certain commercial bodies. To 

 be either a vitalicio, or elected Senator, the candidate must 

 have already been a President of Congress (Speaker), or a 

 deputy who has sat for three consecutive Parliaments or eight 

 independent ones. Former ministers of the Crown, bishops, 

 grandees of Spain, lieutenant-generals of the army or vice-ad- 

 mirals of the navy who have served more than two years, am- 

 bassadors or ministers who have served five years, directors of 

 the various Spanish National Academies, and certain others 

 who have served in various capacities are also eligible. The 

 lower house or Congress of Deputies is elected by universal 

 suffrage upon the basis of one deputy for every 50,000 of 

 population throughout the kingdom. The qualification is that 

 they must be Spanish and twenty-five years of age, and they 

 are elected for a term of five years. The Cortes may be dis- 

 solved by the King at any time upon resignation of the minis- 

 try, as in the English Parliament. According to the law of 

 1890 every male Spaniard, twenty-five years of age, who has 

 been a citizen of a municipality for two years, has the right to 

 vote. Neither deputies nor senators are paid for their services, 

 and cannot hold other office, except in the cabinet ministry. 

 There are at present 406 deputies in Congress. 



Besides this central government Spain has also local self- 

 government. Trouble is often caused by a clash between 

 the central and local governments. Spain has forty-nine 

 provinces, or, as we would call them, states ; and each prov- 

 ince has its individual parliament and local government. 

 The provincial parliament or legislature is called the "Dipu- 

 tacion Provincial,'' the members of which are elected by con- 

 stituencies. These "Diputaciones Provinciales" meet in annual 

 session, and the local government is carried on by the "Comi- 

 sion Provincial," a committee elected by the legislature. Thus 

 we see the government by commission is quite usual in Spain, 

 although it is being heralded as a novelty in the government of 

 cities in the United States. Neither the national executive nor 

 the Cortes has the right to interfere in the established provin- 

 cial or municipal administration, except to annul such acts as 

 lie outside the sphere of such administration, a system analo- 

 gous to our State and Federal jurisdictions. The municipal gov- 

 ernment is provided for by a duly elected Ayuntatniento, corre- 

 sponding to our aldermen or board of supervisors, which con- 



