6,000,000 Ballots

Dictator Premier Primo de "Rivera, pride-puffed, announced last week that over 6,000,000 votes had been cast in indorsement of his regime during the recent Spanish plebiscite (TIME, Sept. 20). The

Dictator's henchmen pointed out that this total is ten times the hitherto largest number of votes ever cast in a Spanish election. Does this mean that the De Rivera dictature has actually received a favorable mandate ten times more potent than any ever before expressed?

Discerning observers did not jump at a conclusion without considering the following facts anent the plebiscite:

1) No negative votes were permitted. Every ballot cast was a ballot for Primp de Rivera and there existed every opportunity for his henchmen to dragoon the illiterate peasantry to the polls and force them to vote.

2) Women were allowed to vote during the plebiscite, whereas they have never been allowed to vote in the elections for the Cortes (Parliament: now suppressed).

3) The age limit for male voters was lowered from 25 to 18.

That the Dictator Premier considers his power appreciably bolstered by the plebiscite was seen last week when he telephoned King Alfonso XIII and asked if the monarch would pardon several artillery officers implicated in the recently suppressed mutiny against the Government (TIME, July 5 et ceq.). Replied King Alfonso over the telephone, "Si! I will pardon them." Forthwith the mutineers' sentences (one, the death penalty) were commuted.