1st Birthday

Just at dusk last week, long snakelike strings of firecrackers pip-popped from the trees in the Retiro, Madrid's sprawling city park. Gaping crowds spread over the lawns to watch pinwheels swoosh round, rockets sizzle high into the sky. It was the eve of the first birthday of Spain's Republic, the anniversary of the day Alfonso XIII fled from his country. Airplanes dropped 50,000 little red, yellow and purple parachutes; there were gala football matches and bullfights. Pink with pleasure, tousle-haired President Niceto Alcala Zamora reviewed 10,000 troops in the Castellana avenue, presided over a lunch to the diplomatic corps. He was too excited to remember to go to a broadcasting studio in time to speak to the Americas. Madrid crowds, never anxious to go to bed, danced in the Puerta del Sol all night. The keynote speech was made by Premier Manuel Azana:

"Now that the Republic has resolved the important problems it found pending, it is going to occupy itself principally with invigorating the nation's economic life, using every resource to favor the circulation of capital and procure a renaissance of public riches." Next day many a Madrid editor accused President Alcala Zamora of "living like a king" and "wasting public moneys." Mrs. Alcala Zamora created a diversion by announcing she had picked up a "homeless waif," restored the waif publicly to its parents.

Subsidiary fiestas were held by the Spanish colonies in Mexico and Cuba. In Fontainebleau, Alfonso XIII & family spent the day playing golf, made no public remarks on the proceedings in Madrid.

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