10 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



erty tax, there were 624,920 properties which paid a tax of 

 from I to 10 reales (5 to 50 cents), 511,666 from 10 to 20 

 reales, 624,377 from 20 to 40 reales, 788,184 from 40 to 100 

 reales, 416,546 from 100 to 200 reales, 165,202 from 200 to 500 

 reales ($10 to $25) ; while the rest, to the number of 279,188, 

 are larger estates which pay from 500 to 10,000 reales, and a 

 few upwards. About 80 per cent of the soil is classed as pro- 

 ductive. In minerals Spain is very rich, being the largest pro- 

 ducer of copper in the world after the United States, while 

 mercury, iron and zinc are largely produced, but the mines 

 are said to be inadequately worked. The railway communi- 

 cation comprises 9.025 miles of rail, nearly all single track, 

 except near Madrid and Barcelona. 



II. — The Present Situation 



At the present moment there is a report of a threatened 

 break between Spain and the Holy See, and all sorts of rumors 

 are being printed about it. It derives from an attempt at a 

 revision of the Concordat at present existing between Spain 

 and the Holy See. which is complicated by the repeal of an 

 existing law and the introduction of two new ones into the 

 Cortes whilst negotiations are pending. The present Con- 

 gress, or lower house of the Cortes, is composed of 229 Lib- 

 erals, 106 Conservatives, 40 Republicans, 9 Carlists and 20 

 other members of the Integrist, Regionalist, Independent, and 

 Socialist groups. The Liberals have a clear majority of 54 

 votes over all the other parties combined. The Senate, how- 

 ever, leans more towards the Conservative party. After all 

 the seats had been filled in the late election and by appoint- 

 ment, the Senate stood 178 Ministerialists, 117 Conservatists, 6 

 Carlists, 5 Republicans, 29 Indefinites, and 17 Prelates, with 

 nine others, Regionalists and Palatines. The present Prime 

 Minister of Spain, or Presidente del Consejo, is Don Jose 

 Canalejas y Mendez, probably the strongest Liberal in Spain. 

 He certainly is the strongest and most effective public speaker 

 and knows how to turn his sentences in a way that even his 

 enemies must admire. In Spain they use the bull-rings on 

 off-days in which to hold their political meetings, and they 

 serve the purpose excellently. At one of his latest addresses 



