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of " corn, wine, and oil "; a land of broad rivers and almost unlimited irri- 

 gation supplies ; a land of citrus trees and fruit trees of all kinds ; of the 

 chestnut and the cork oak ; of rich lowland pastures and mountain summer 

 feeding grounds. Indeed, there are few forms of agricultural activity possible 

 under either temperate or subtropical zones that we do not find practised in 

 some corner or other of this favored land. 



On the other hand the mineral resources of Spain are also very considerable, 

 and probably very scantily developed as yet. Iron, lead, copper, silver, 

 pyrites, quicksilver, and salt are all important articles of export, representing 

 in the aggregate from 10 to 12 million sterling annually. 



Factories and manufactures appear to have become firmly seated in many 

 centres ; and although, according to the traditional standpoint, the balance 

 of trade, as between imports and exports, is generally against Spain, the bulk 

 of interchange involved is there to afford ample proof of great developmental 

 activities. It is thus that in 1909 the total exports were valued at 34,299,185 

 and the total imports at 35,223,000. 



That, in the way of development, much yet remains to be done in Spain 

 cannot very well be denied ; but so it must ever be with all countries that 

 have any prospects ahead of them. Nor do I believe that long occupation 

 of the soil by the same race, accompanied by inadequately exploited natural 

 resources, is necessarily clear evidence of national retrogression, or even of 

 stagnation. I take it that wherever a people has succeeded in maintaining 

 its independence for centuries, its present can be read fairly only in the light 

 of its past. It seems to me that we have here a nation that in the past has 

 felt no special stimulus towards the development of its own natural resources. 

 Circumstances and the national character made of it in past ages the con- 

 queror of weaker nationalities ; and, as usually happens in such cases, Spain 

 left to others the uncongenial task of delving for her special requirements. 

 And if we scan this past with impartial eyes we shall not be able to withhold 

 admiration for the Spaniard and his acts. Scarce recovered from the thral- 

 dom of the Moors, we find purely fortuitous circumstances flooding sober, 

 hard-working Spain with the easily won gold and silver of the newly discovered 

 Americas. Now, wealth, however acquired, usually begets power, and great 

 accordingly became the power of the Spaniard ; but wealth acquired with 

 unexpected ease from outside sources must have the effect of checking the 

 development of the home natural resources, the exploitation of which will 

 always involve less congenial foims of toil. In the end this dependence 

 on others for the ordinary requirements of life may undermine the national 

 character, and then disaster is close at hand. The easily acquired wealth 

 of the New World had the effect of checking the home development of Spain ; 

 but the stern national character appears to have been proof against its more 

 insidious inroads. The Spaniaid has often been accused of ruthless intoler- 

 ance in the days of his power ; but intolerance, however much we may 



