"Deplorable Custom"

Three weeks ago Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin abolished Saturday and Sunday, instituted a new calendar, placed Russian industries on continuous working basis (TIME, Oct. 7). Kindred ideas of high pressure efficiency came last week to Spanish Dictator Don Miguel Primo de Rivera. He issued a manifesto:

"Although general economic conditions have improved greatly under the Dictatorship, we still eat too much, work too little, and stay up too late at night. The custom of taking most of the afternoon for the mid-day meal, eating dinner at 10 p. m. and going to the theatre at 11 p. m. is deplorable. We must change these habits."

"The dictatorship, undaunted by the opposition of rebellious spirits, will work out a formula for accomplishing this colossal task. Success means the salvation of Spanish economic life and development. . . . Tremendous quantities of electricity can be conserved by retiring earlier. . . . By eating less and working more we shall grow less fat and more efficient than is now the case."