Historia de Barcelona

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  • Un barcelonés nuevayorquino sobre ve la Semana Trágica como un conflicto regionalista

    APOLOGY FOR BARCELONA.
    Interested In Industry, the People Object to Fighting.

    To the Editor of The New York Times:

    I notice your dispatches of to-day in regard to the Spanish situation that the disturbances in Barcelona and other Spanish Eastern points are classed as mainly the work of Anarchists and Socialists. Perhaps you have noticed that any time there are disturbances in Catalonia they are attributed to that class of agitators. While there have been occurrences to justify that idea, the facts in the present instance are simply the result of gross injustice prevailing in the conditions in which the army is forced to go about to patch trouble and correct blunders and wrongdoing on the part of high officials, as is the case with the present war in Morocco.

    I was born in Barcelona and lived there long enough to realize some of these things. The men who are sent to the front are ignorant of the reasons why they have to risk their lives, in most cases, and the only information that leaks out is of the kind that shows that they are being made a sacri?ce of on account of bureaucratic wrongdoing. Catalonia has been the land of protest for many years in Spanish history, and the reason of it is that industrial development and commercialism have given that section of Spain the opportunity to feel the benefits of peace instead of war. For years previous to the Cuban rebellion they asked the Government to grant the Cubans autonomy, to keep Cuba for Spain, and retain a valuable market. They protested often when their sons were forced to go to Cuba to shoot down Cubans for wanting what the Catalonians themselves had long advocated.

    Through their prosperity, attained in spite of an antagonistic Government, education has been much more general there than in other portions of Spain, due to an extensive private school system throughout the province. Because of their advancement over the rest of Spain, Catalonians have been mockingly called the «Yankees» of Spain. People who love work and prosper thereby, must necessarily resent the idea of being packed away to fight for unknown reasons, many miles away from their homes. Americans can readily see what that means if methods of raising an army are compared. Here men are called to give their services voluntarily, which they freely offer after they know what the trouble is about. The spirit or unrest in Catalonia and other portions of Spain is the natural result of gross injustice, and it will eventually lead to wholesale insurrection on the part of the army, and probably be the means‘ of eventually putting the war business out of all over Europe. Fighting for the flag is getting to be a delusion where the Government is not the people’s own, and the drift is clear.

    HENRY DALMASES.

    Schenectady, July 29. 1909.

  • La revolución, ¿ganando en Cataluña?

    BARCELONA RUNS WITH BLOOD.
    Fighting Continues and Reinforcements Are Blocked by Strikers.

    PARIS, July 29. — Spanish couriers from Barcelona arriving at Cerbere on the frontier report that artillery is battering the barricades, behind which the insurgents are fighting desperately. Heavy fighting is in progress on the Rambla, in San Anne Square, and the Calle del Espino.

    The gutters are running with blood. The number of dead and wounded cannot be estimated, but it is believed to be heavy.

    Attempts on the Captain General continue as he disposes the position of the troops.

    The Military Governor of Barcelona published a decree to-day ordering the inhabitants of the city to return to their homes. After twenty-four hours any one found in the streets is liable to be shot on sight.

    Many instances of soldiers refusing to fire on the mobs are reported. A Lieutenant of infantry threatened to shoot a policeman who was about to fire his revolver into the crowds.

    The Government forces, failing to make headway, ahve been obliged to act on the defensive, attacking only when absolutely compelled by the menacing position of the revolutionists.

    The situation is further complicated by the spread of the general strike ordered by the labor organizations of Barcelona two days ago. The indications are that the strike will spread to the provinces of Lerida, Gerona, and Tarragona, but no definite news has been received from these points.

    The terror-stricken people are fleeing from the larger towns to the open country and the small villages, where there is less exposure to danger.

    Five convents and several private residences have been burned at Llanza, where the excitement is growing.

    Grave events are expected at Figueras… Comparative calm had been restored when orders were issued to the recruits to report for duty. The entire population is preparing to resist. The Portbou express left Figueras this morning, but stopped at Llanza, where the track had been blown up by dynamite.

    At Junquera … telegraph poles have been chopped down. All places where public funds have been deposited are guarded by the military. Business is at a complete standstill. The merchants are panic stricken and are placing their funds in foreign banks for safekeeping.

    Advices from Granollers … state that two convents have been burned to the ground.

    At Cassadelaselva the civil guard was disarmed by the mob and imprisoned in the barracks. The call to the colors of the reservists of 1906 and 1907, who are on leave, was without result, not a single reservist reporting for duty.

    The situation in Barcelona is rendered desperate by the absence of a sufficient military force capable of putting down the revolutionists. This condition results from the dispatch of all available troops to Melilla. The garrisons throughout Catalonia have thus been reduced to 6,000 men, while the revolutionists at Barcelona and adjacent towns far exceed that number.

    The Government forces are also scattered by the need of quelling outbreaks at many detached points. The isolation of the province, owing to the destruction of railways, gave the revolutionary element and strikers forty-eight hours to make uninterrupted preparations to cut off the arrival of reinforcements. They are thus masters of the situation.

    The line from Madrid to Barcelona is a scene of desolation. Trenches many feet wide have been cut across the railway embankments in the country districts. The small bridges spanning the streets in several towns have been pulled down.

    The arrival of reinforcements, so urgently needed by the Government forces, is retarded by the destruction of railroads and the avenues of communication leading to the city. The revolutionists are heavily armed with muskets, knives, and revolvers. They have an effective organization and hospital equipment which promptly looks after the dead and wounded.

    The Government is now seeking to relieve the city by sea, as the land communications are interrupted. All available ships are being hurried to Barcelona.

    Whethere there is an ulterior political purpose behind the revolutionary uprising throughout Catalonia is not yet clear. Outwardly the movement is thus far a protest against the Government’s war policy in Morocco and its levy of large reserve for war purposes.

  • Desmoralización nacional

    SPAIN DEMORALIZED.

    At first glance the dispatches from Spain seem to show that a widespread and formidable campaign has been begun there against the use of the National army in National defense. In other words, the most striking antimilitarist demonstration that history has so far produced seems to be in the course of sudden and surprising development.

  • Salvajismo anticlerical; Madrid dice que ha pasado lo peor; censura sofocante

    BARCELONA RIOTERS SLEW EVEN NUNS; Killed Priests at Altar, Burned Churches and Convents, While Bystanders Cheered. WORST OVER, SAYS MADRID Rioters, Crushed, Have Surrendered — London Hears General Strike in Spanish Capital Is Planned for Monday.

    LONDON, July 30. — The continued strict censorship of the news in Spain is interpreted in the most unfavorable light here, and the reassuring character of the official dispatches is consequently regarded with the utmost suspicion.

  • Escaramuzas y ejecuciones

    120 REBELS SHOT AT BARCELONA
    Authoritative Personage Says 10 Courts-Martial Sat Two Days to Try Them.
    MANY ARRESTS IN MADRID
    Authorities Guarding Against Strike To-Morrow — Rebels Still Hold Much of Barcelona, Reports Say.

    SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain, by Way of the French Frontier, July 31. — An authoritative personage declared to-night that ten courts-martial sat continuously throughout Thursday and Friday, and that the number of revolutionists condemned and shot is estimated at 120. About three thousand revolutionists were killed and wounded by machine guns or rifle fire.

    Although all the dispatches from Madrid, which pass through the hands of a censor, agree that Gen. Brandos, the military commander at Barcelona, has ruthlessly crushed the revolt there, executing many ringleaders, and that the Government is now master of the situation, private reports from Barcelona say the revolutionists still hold much of the city, and that the artillery has been unable until now to dislodge them.

    A Barcelona dispatch dated to-day says: «Yesterday afternoon new collisions occurred and the soldiers were repulsed. Assaults were directed against the convents of the Conceptionists and the Daughters of Mary. Many were wounded in lower quarters of the city. A fusillade was commenced again, the rioters shooting from the roofs of houses.»

    […]

  • «Muchos extranjeros muertos, Ferrer también»

    FOREIGNERS AMONG VICTIMS.
    Many French and Italians Reported Among Dead, Wounded, or in Prison.

    LONDON, Aug. 3.–In a dispatch from Barcelona yesterday the correspondent of The Daily Telegraph says:
    «Gen. Santiago has started sending out forces to restore order in the neighboring towns and villages. The officers have been ordered to take swift and vigorous measures, but Gen. Santiago thinks that no serious resistance will be offered the troops.

    «Replying to a note sent him by the foreign Consuls stating that in the event of foreigners being endangered the Consuls would ask for warships, Gen. Santiago said that such a step would be needless, as he had sufficient forces to maintain order. He has wired Madrid that he needs no further reinforcements, and accordingly the brigades now under arms intended for Barcelona, will be diverted to Melilla.»
    The Daily Telegraph’s Madrid correspondent, in a dispatch sent by way of Biarritz, asserts that many foreigners, especially Frenchmen and Italians, are among the dead. The correspondent adds that it is reported that among those killed in the fighting was Señor Ferrer, former Director of the Modern School of Barcelona, who was regarded as the instigator of the bomb outrage upon King Alfonso and Queen Victoria in the Calle Mayor on the royal wedding day. Ferrer was arrested for complicity in the outrage, but was acquitted.

    Another Barcelona dispatch says order is almost completely re-established in Barcelona proper, but the trouble continues on the outskirts of the city, and that among the victims of the military courts-martial are two members of the Chamber of Deputies and eight Aldermen of Barcelona.

    At 1 o’clock in the afternoon life in the city and its suburbs was again normal. The newspapers were being published and work generally had been resumed. At the solicitation of the authorities, the employers have agreed to offer a premium of a week’s wages to every person coming back to work.

  • La Semana Trágica no deja huella

    SPANISH GAYETY PERSISTS.
    Even in Barcelona People Have Apparently Forgotten Revolt.

    LONDON, Aug. 4. — The Daily Telegraph’s special correspondent, who has just arrived in Barcelona, sends to his paper a dispatch giving a curious picture of the indifference or ignorance the Spanish people evinced throughout his journey from the frontier, even in Madrid, to the events in Barcelona.

    «The tranquillity and gayety of the populace of Madrid,» the correspondent says, «seems to me incongruous and absurd. Barcelona is not loved much in the rest of Spain, and the old deep hatred between Catalonia and Madrid is aroused on every occasion. The cannonades in Barcelona disturbed Madrid about as much as if they had occurred in a foreign country. Spain favors repression there because Barcelona raised the flag of insurrection.»

    Even in approaching Barcelona the correspondent observed few indications of the recent bloody events there. The railways were running and work and amusements were being resumed.

    Entering Barcelona at night, little out of the ordinary was noticeable except the blackened and burned churches and convents. The streets and cafés were gay, noisy, and brilliant. There was nothing to recall the revolt but an occasional military fanfare.

    «Somewhat surprised and disillusioned,» the correspondent continues, «I make a tour of observation. Everything surprises me. One sees that the interruption of normal life has been slight. The revolution must have been superficial if it has not even upset the good humor of the town.»

  • Más violencia, temor de una nueva huelga general

    FIGHTING IN BARCELONA.
    Collision of Troops and Incendiaries Reported — New Strike Feared.

    LONDON, Aug. 8.–Special dispatches received here from Barcelona by way of the frontier report that fears are prevalent that the general strike will be renewed.

    They report also acts of incendiarism and a collision between the troops and the incendiaries, in which three of the latter were killed and seven wounded.

  • Gran explosión, censura

    BOMB USED IN BARCELONA.
    Only Three Persons Injured — Strict Censorship of the Press.

    PARIS, Aug. 27.–Mail advices from Barcelona say that Thursday night an explosion which was heard for miles startled the city. It was that of a bomb which had been placed inside a public convenience station in the principal street of the city, and three persons were injured.

    The advices add that the censorship continues inexorable and that only a few of the older daily papers are appearing. Not one of these, however, makes mention of the explosion.

  • Ejecutado Ramón Clemente García por bailar con el cadáver de una monja y otros delitos

    [Hoy] se dio cumplimiento á la sentencia del Consejo de guerra que condenó á la pena de muerte al procesado Ramón Clemente, acusado del delito de rebelión y profanación de cadáveres en el convento de las Jerónimos, durante los días de la última semana de julio.

    El reo, que desde el viernes de la semana pasada se hallaba en uno de los calabozos del castillo de Montjuich, fue puesto en capilla el domingo, á los dos de la tarde.

    A las cuatro subieron al castillo los Hermanos de la Congregación de la Paz y Caridad y el capellán de la fortaleza, don Eloy Hernández Vicente, los cuales entraron en la capilla para acompañar al reo en sus últimos momentos.

    De madrugada, á las cinco y media, llegaron al castillo las fuerzas de los regimientos de Numancia y Mallorca encargadas de formar el cuadro.

    A las ocho de la mañana, después de haber oído misa el reo, fue conducido al foso de la batería de Santa Amalia, donde se cumplió la sentencia, que ejecutaron ocho soldados del regimiento infantería de la Constitución.

    D. E. P.

  • Proceso de Ferrer

    BARCELONA TRIAL PROCEEDS.
    Court-Martial Hears Evidence That Ferrer Instigated Recent Uprising.

    BARCELONA, Oct. 9. — The trial by court-martial of Ferrer, the former director of the Modern School of Barcelona, who is accused of having been the principal instigator of the recent revolutionary movement in Barcelona, is proceeding here with open doors. Col. Lacalle has been appointed Presiding Judge of the court in the place of Col. Aguerrol.

    The evidence submitted by the Judge who conducted the preliminary investigation included some documents relating to the proclamation of a Spanish republic. It also comprised letters from Republicans, Free Masons, and Free Thinkers residing in various foreign countries, as well as political and revolutionary documents referring to the organization of a universal proletarian society, which, it is argued, proved Ferrer’s complicity in the revolutionary agitation.

    It was emphasized in the course of the evidence that Ferrer conducted his campaign in connection with Señor Iglesias, whose newspaper, El Progreso, menaced the Government with a revolution if the troops were embarked for Morocco.

    The investigating Judge submitted the deposition of a witness who declared that he heard Ferrer say: «If it is necessary we will do as they did in Russia.»

    Much other hearsay testimony regarding remarks attributed to Ferrer was introduced in the course of the hearing. Gen. Brandeis testified that he had heard it said that Ferrer, the instigator of the revolt, had made large amounts of money in speculation.

    Ferrer, speaking in his own defense, described how, with the police dogging his steps, he tried to keep out of sight during the rioting in Barcelona and vicinity. He denied that he had been involved in politics. He declared that he was solely interested in the improvement of the education of the youth of the country. He considered that the rising in Barcelona was quite spontaneous. He attributed the incendiarism that had occurred to the madness of the moment. He was convinced that his prosecution was the work of enemies who wanted to destroy his printing establishment, as they had his modern school.

    He denied the testimony of other witnesses and protested against the acceptance of hearsay evidence and the introduction of what he wrote as a youth twenty-four years ago, when he agitated for the establishment of a republic with the aid of the army.

  • Sentencia en el juicio Ferrer

    FERRER SENTENCED TO DEATH
    Man Accused of Inciting Barcelona Outbreak to be Shot To-morrow.
    MADRID, Oct. 11.-Ferrer, the former Director of the modern school at Barcelona, who has been on trial in that city by court-martial on the charge of having been the principal instigator of the recent revolutionary movement, has been sentenced to death.
    He will be shot Wednesday night unless his sentence is countermanded.

  • Ferrer, fusilado en una zanja

    FERRER SHOT IN A DITCH.; One Volley Kills Him — He Shows Bravery to the End.

    BARCELONA, Oct. 13. — Prof. Francisco Ferrer, the Spanish educator and convicted revolutionist, was executed to-day by shooting at the fortress of Montjuich, where he had been confined since his condemnation by court-martial. He faced the firing squad without flinching and fell dead at the first volley.

  • Constitución de la Federación Española de Clubs de Football

    El antecedente de la actual Real Federación Española de Fútbol fue la Federación Española de Clubs de Football, entidad que se constituyó en Madrid el 14 de octubre de 1909. Los primeros clubes en adherirse a la nueva entidad fueron el FC Barcelona, Vigo FC, Tarragona FC, Pamplona, Sociedad Gimnástica Española, Irún SC, Real Fortuna de Vigo y el Club Español de Madrid. Otros, sin embargo, dieron la espalda al nuevo organismo, este ellos, algunos clubes de peso como el Athletic Club de Bilbao, el Madrid FC (actual Real Madrid) y el que era vigente campeón de España, el Club Ciclista de San Sebastián (la actual Real Sociedad). Los disidentes llegaron a fundar su propia asociación, la Unión Española de Clubs de Football y encargaron al vigente campeón, el Club Ciclista la organización del Campeonato de España de 1910, de forma paralela a la Copa oficial que organizaba la Federación Española de Clubs de Football.

  • Procesados cuatro franceses por quema de conventos

    TRY FRENCH AT BARCELONA.; Three Men and Woman Charged with Part in Burning Convent.

  • Carreteras malas y gasolina cara perjudican el coche

    AUTOS GAINING IN SPAIN.; Poor Roads and Dear Fuel Retard Progress — Chance for American Makers.

    Poor roads and the high price of gasoline exert a powerful restraining influence upon the development of the automobile business in Spain, according to United States Vice Consul General Willlam Dawson, Jr., Barcelona. But the use of cars is increasing, and with constant additions to the 3,000 which were known to be owned in the country last year, there is thought to be opportunity for the creation of a favorable market for the American product.

    […]

    The President of a leading automobile club estimated the cars in use in September, 2008, to be as follows: Madrid and district, 500; Barcelona and district, 600; Guipuzcoa and Sebastian, 300; Vizcaya, (Bilbao,) 200; Palma de Mallorca, 300; Seville and district, 100; all other parts of Spain, 1,000. Total, 3,000.

    […]

    The average price of a first-class 20 to 24 horse power 4-cylinder gasoline car in Barcelona, with open side entrance carrosserie, is from $3,100 to $3,175; second grade 4-cylinder French cars of well-known make, $300 to $400 cheaper. Cars in use here range from 16 to 40 horse power, the most popular car being the 16 to 20 to 24 horse power. Steam cars have been tried, but given up. Steam cars and electric runabouts ought, however, to have a decided advantage in Spain on account of the high price of gasoline.

  • Atentado del lerrouxista Manuel Possá Roca, alentado por Pablo Iglesias, contra Antonio Maura, ex presidente del Consejo de Ministros

    ATTEMPTED MURDER
    SEÑOR MAURA FIRED AT
    ASSAILANT ARRESTED
    By Telegraph. – Press Association. – Copyright
    MADRID, 23rd July.

    As Señor Maura, ex-Premier of Spain, alighted from a train at Barcelona, a man fired twice at him. He was wounded in the arm and leg. A third bullet struck Señor Maura’s friend and wounded him seriously.

    The assailant was caught.

    OUTRAGE ATTRIBUTED TO REVENGE
    A DESPERATE YOUTH
    MADRID, 24th July.

    His wife and other relations accompanied Señor Maura. The latter’s lady cousin, after a second shot, seized the assailant and a carrier named Roca, aged eighteen.

    The outrage is attributed to revenge for Señor Maura’s severe suppression of the insurgents last year.

    ROCA’S DECLARATION.
    HE ACTED SPONTANEOUSLY.
    CRIME HAD ANARCHIST ORIGIN. (Received July 25, 10 a.m.)
    MADRID, 24th July.

    Roca declares that he acted spontaneously, that he had no accomplices, and that he does not belong to a secret Society.

    A search of his domicile shows that the crime was of Anarchist origin. Señor Iglesias, a Socialist, during a recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies concerning repression measures in Barcelona, raised a storm of indignation by remarking that an attack on Señor Maura’s person would be admissible, it necessary, to prevent his return to power.

    Señor Canalejas sternly protested against, such incitations, adding that the Government would enforce the law with a heavy hand.

    Señor Canalejas, the Premier, yesterday referred to that incident. He scathingly denounced Roca’s cowardly act, and eulogised Señor Maura’s selfsacrifice while in office.

    There were loud cheers, except from the Republican side.

  • Empieza el congreso fundacional de la CNT

    Casi al año de la primera iniciativa fallida, concretamente los días 30 y 31 de octubre y 1 de noviembre de 1910, Solidaridad Obrera convocó un Congreso Obrero Nacional en el Teatro Bellas Artes de Barcelona. En dicho comicio se aprobó trascender el ámbito regional catalán hacia un ámbito estatal español con el nombre de Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

    La organización regional catalana de Solidaridad Obrera no hizo sino catalizar la aspiración generalizada de múltiples núcleos obreros de todo el país que de nuevo aspiraban a estructurar una organización nacional. Se habían dirigido en este sentido al consejo de Solidaridad Obrera de Cataluña, la Federación Extremeña, los obreros agrícolas de la región valenciana, las federaciones de la Coruña, Zaragoza, Gijón y los campesinos de las comarcas de Cádiz, Jaén y Córdoba.

    Cataluña y Andalucía eran, con diferencia, las zonas regionales de mayor incidencia sindical (tanto en sus inicios como en el ciclo que transcurrió hasta el estallido de la guerra). De las 124 sociedades obreras que participaron en este primer Congreso, Cataluña aportó un total de 67 sociedades. Le seguiría, a gran distancia, pero con un peso específico considerable, Andalucía con 25. En un segundo nivel de importancia en cuanto a su presencia en el número de sociedades obreras tenemos que señalar a Asturias, Galicia y el País Valenciano. En lo que se refiere a otras regiones del resto de España su presencia en dicho Congreso era testimonial o inexistente…

    […]

    El sindicalismo fue definido no como un fin en si mismo, sino como un medio de lucha y resistencia en los antagosnismo creados por la existencia de las clases sociales. El fin era la emancipación integral de la clase trabajadora mediante la expropiación de los medios de producción pertenecientes a la patronal y la burocracia política y la consiguiente dirección propia de la producción.

    En el tema relativo a la emancipación de los trabajadores, el viejo lema de la Internacional «la emancipación de los trabajadores ha de se obra de los trabajadores mismos», halló una interpretación estrictamente literal. Se hicieron claras alusiones a la clase política:

    Los vividores de toda especie que procuran servirse de los obreros manuales para esos encumbramientos que les hacen placentera y grata la vida.

    El Congreso defendió la táctica de acción directa y la aplicación del boicot contra los propietarios que exigían depósito previo en los contratos de arrendamiento, llegándose en caso de necesidad a la huelga general de inquilinos que defendería la negativa sistemática al pago de alquileres. Se acordó reivindicar firmemente la jornada de ocho horas, anteponiéndola a la fijación de cualquier salario mínimo, dado el rápido y constante encarecimeinto de la vida.

    Sobre la huelga general, el Congreso se mostró cauteloso: la huelga general sólo podría ser revolucionaria y, en consecuencia, no debía prodigarse. Por tanto, no debería declarase para reivindicar más salario o disminución en la jornada de trabajo, sino para lograr una transformación total en la producción y distribución de los productos. Además, la huelga general postulaba su promulgación en el plano nacional, dado que en el plano local sería sofocada fácilmente.

  • Distanciándose de la ciudad progresista de Cerdá, la revista «Cataluña» propone la creación de un Barrio Gótico como modificación de la Reforma Interior y la construcción de la Vía Layetana

    Intervención en la Reforma

    Ha llegado el momento.

    En la primera sección de la Reforma están ya derribadas las casas viejas; van á comenzar las nuevas construcciones.

    El plano Baixeras sirvió perfectamente para plantear el problema, tramitar su resolución desde el punto de vista administrativo; pero suponer que en él se halla una solución acabada del mismo, fuera para Barcelona, si lo permitiera, una ignominia.

    Pasead por la calle recién abierta, entre las vallas de ladrillo de los solares; vuestro espíritu experimentará desagradables impresiones.

    Veréis que entre lo nuevo y lo viejo no existe relación alguna. Como si la vía se abriese en medio del campo, sus alineaciones nada tienen que ver con las calles vecinas; en lugar de enlazar francamente la una con las otras, se obstruye su comunicación violentamente.

    Artísticas construcciones, antiguos monumentos, venerables testimonios del pasado, inmediatos, próximos á la nueva calle que debieran animarla y embellecerla, son despreciados en absoluto: los unos permanecen sin alterar su actual defectuoso emplazamiento; otros quedarán ocultos tras nuevas construcciones; los hay que van á ser bárbaramente derribados.

    La Reforma tiene larga historia; el origen de tales desafueros se remonta lejos. Ejecutamos, con escrupulosa exactitud, lo que proyectó otra generación.

    Cincuenta, treinta años atrás, la reforma de poblaciones se entendía bien diferentemente que en la actualidad. El sistema lineal rectilíneo, el paralelismo, la perpendicularida, se consideraban lo más perfecto para el trazado de calles y plazas. Y se arrasaba la ciudad vieja para levantar sobre ella otra del todo diversa. Imperaban la uniformidad, los principios apriorísticos.

    Considerar la ciudad como un organismo vivo en que se deben respetar las corrientes de circulación de las multitudes y del tráfico industrial; ver en la ciudad un carácter, una fisonomía propia esencia de ella; saber su historia; he ahí las bases principales que tienen presentes los maestros urbanizadores modernos. Se procura hermanar el aspecto pintoresco, accidentado y monumental que presentan las ciudades antiguas, con cuanto requiere la higiene y las necesidades actuales de la circulación diaria y comunicaciones.

    Un grande arte, con sus obras, sus escuelas, sus profesores, su bibliografía, existe. Los nombres de Stüblen [sic], de Henrici, Sitte, Buls, son de los hombres eminentes que en primer término este arte han determinado en Alemania, Austria, Bélgica al principio, y en Italia, Inglaterra y Estados-Unidos después, se siguen las orientaciones por ellos señaladas.

    No hay derecho á ignorar, á prescindir de conocimientos de universal dominio. Barcelona, su municipio, sus facultativos, no pueden substraerse en cuestion tan importante como es la Reforma de la ciudad, á las corrientes actuales, á la evolución experimentada. Debemos adaptarnos al tiempo, á la hora presente.

    El plano Baixeras tiene que ser el fundamento de la Reforma; hay acuerdos, antecedentes, que á ello obligan; pero en detalle, su ejecución ha de venir influída, por las ideas dominantes que son un progreso, un perfeccionamiento. Sería bien triste que los hombres de hoy, las ideas de nuestro espíritu, las palpitaciones de nuestro ser, no influyesen en lo más mínimo en el trazado de la Reforma.

    La voz, las aspiraciones de la intelectualidad de Barcelona, respecto de esta cuestión, quizás no había llegado al Municipio hasta ahora con fuerza bastante para ser oída. Los arquitectos del Ayuntamiento y del Banco Hispano-Colonial se han limitado á derribar edificios; su talento, sus aptitudes, han de emplearse en más elevados fines.

    Pero llegado el momento crítico, van á comenzar las nuevas construcciones. En la ocasión de que cuantos en estas cosas entiendan, digan su palabra.

    Las corporaciones artísticas se dirigen al Ayuntamiento en razonado documento, clamando para que la Reforma se haga, no de un modo automático, sino conscientemente; para que se emplee bien el dinero, se embellezca la ciudad.

    Es de esperar serán atendidas.

    JERÓNIMO MARTORELL

  • Debut triunfal de Raquel Meller en el Arnau

    … fecha en la que se presenta en el teatro Arnau, como principal estrella de un programa en que se anuncian “25 debuts”.

    Por entonces, este teatro aún sobreviviente era un music-hall con residuos de café-cantante en el que la consumición costaba por la tarde dos reales y por la noche el doble. Raquel comenzó cobrando cien pesetas diarias -la asignación de una cupletista normal no pasaba de dos duros- y fue anunciada en el programa como “estrella indiscutible en el orbe entero. Unica y exclusiva coupletista monologuista que ha obtenido la nota de sobresaliente e inimitable en toda la prensa española”. Detrás de ella en importancia figuraba Tina Meller, “notable y hermosa coupletista que ha hecho temblar a media humanidad”.

    A la sazón, su repertorio consta de canciones de inspiración autóctona y también francesa e italiana. Algunos títulos son: “Los balones”, “El Firulí”, “La más linda de la aldea”, “Cómo es el amor”, “Ecos del mundo” o el “Ven y ven”,el primero de sus grandes éxitos que, por cierto, y esto es una constante en muchas de las canciones con que triunfó Raquel, había sido ya estrenada por otra artista, en este caso, La Goya.

    Por primera vez en la historia del local, dos hileras de bombillas anunciaban en la fachada el nombre de la estrella, R. MELLER. El teatro, de la mano de su propietario, un próspero comerciante de corsetería, se había remozado el verano anterior y buscaba un aporte de originalidad que su empresario, el señor Arnau, cifró en la actuación de una Raquel Meller cada vez con mayor número de seguidores. Efectivamente, ya no necesitaba del escándalo en el atuendo o en las letras sino que, precisamente, la intención era acercar el cuplé a públicos más remilgados.