"No! No

Once more last week Catalonians went to the polls and voted their desire for independence from Madrid. In the four Catalonian provinces (Barcelona, Lerida, Tarragona, Gerona) 173,000 voted for autonomy, 2,517 voted against it. It was a 70 to 1 victory for Col. Francisco Macia, wild-eyed "President" of Catalonia, a victory that he celebrated with much gusto.

"Catalans," he shouted from the white balcony of Barcelona's Generalidad Palace, "You are free! The moment the Catalan autonomy statute gains full force, I shall resign!"

"No! No!" shouted 10,000 Catalans milling about the cobblestones.

Col. Macia bowed his white head in resignation.

"If Catalonia wishes, I shall continue to serve her."

"Yes! Yes!" roared the crowd.

Beaming with delight the Colonel continued:

"For six years I have waited for this day, and now that it has come I throw out my arms to the rest of Iberia and say to its people: 'You must have the same liberties that we have!' "

When the crowds had cleared, foreign correspondents studied the statute of autonomy to see just what degree of independence Catalonia demanded:

The Federal Government is to have control of international affairs, relations with the Church, the army & navy, monetary circulation, tariffs, customs, posts, telegraphs, radio, control of the colonies and immigration.

The Catalonian autonomous state will make Catalan the official language, fly its own five-barred red-&-yellow flag, control civil, criminal, labor law, railroads, hydroelectric works, grant artistic and literary copyrights, regulate stock exchanges, all police in the province, issue hunting and fishing licenses, and collect monies from the tobacco and match monopolies.

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