SPAIN MORE NEWS, MORE MONEY SPANIARDS WHO TUNED IN ON NEWS BROADCASTS 
LAST WEEK GOT THE SURPRISE OF A QUARTER-CENTURY . SINCE FRANCISCO 
FRANCO INSTALLED HIMSELF AS SPAIN'S DICTATOR IN 1938, EVERY NEWSCAST HAD 
UNFAILINGLY ENDED WITH A PONDEROUS SALUTE TO HIS FALANGIST PARTY AND 
A MARTIAL RENDITION OF THE FALANGIST ANTHEM . LAST WEEK, FOR 
THE FIRST TIME, NEWS BULLETINS ENDED INSTEAD WITH A PLEASANT FEMININE 
VOICE BIDDING SENORES Y SENORAS GOOD DAY, FOLLOWED BY A FEW 
BARS OF A CATCH PASO DOBLE . IN SLOW-MOVING SPAIN, CHANGE 
OF ANY KIND IS RARE AND RELUCTANT . YET, ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY 
THE REGIME IS BEGINNING TO RELAX ITS IRON GRIP ON SOCIETY 
. SINCE HIS APPOINTMENT AS FRANCO'S INFORMATION MINISTER LAST JULY, MANUEL 
FRAGA IRIBARNE, 40, HAS BOOSTED THE DAILY RATION OF RADIO NEWS 
FROM FOUR TO 18 BROADCASTS A DAY AND FOR THE FIRST 
TIME ALLOWED SPANISH LISTENERS A COMPARATIVELY BROAD SAMPLING OF WORLD EVENTS 
. TALE OF PASIONARIA . PRESS CENSORSHIP ALSO HAS MELLOWED MARKEDLY 
. NEWSPAPERS ARE NO LONGER GIVEN THE OLD-STYLE DAILY INSTRUCCIONES THAT 
LAID DOWN WHAT STORIES THEY COULD RUN AND EVEN DICTATED HOW 
THEY SHOULD BE LAID OUT . THOUGH THE COUNTRY'S BIGGEST DAILIES 
IN MADRID AND BARCELONA ARE STILL SUBJECT TO CENSORSHIP, ONLY 15 
STORIES HAVE BEEN DOCTORED BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SINCE FRAGA TOOK OVER, 
AND NO FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS HAVE BEEN SEIZED FOR POLITICAL REASONS. IN 
OTHER CITIES, PAPERS NO LONGER ARE REQUIRED TO SHOW GALLEY PROOFS 
TO THE CENSORS BEFORE GOING TO PRESS . ONE WEEKLY IS 
ACTUALLY SERIALIZING THE MEMOIRS OF DOLORES IBARRURI, THE FABLED LA PASIONARIA 
OF CIVIL WAR DAYS, WHO IS QUEEN BEE OF SPAIN'S EXILED 
COMMUNIST PARTY ; HER VERY NAME UNTIL RECENTLY WAS TABOO IN 
THE SPANISH PRESS . OF THE EIGHT PROMINENT INTELLECTUALS ARRESTED LAST 
YEAR AFTER DENOUNCING FRANCO AT A MUNICH CONFERENCE, FIVE HAVE BEEN 
PARDONED AND THE REST ALLOWED TO GO INTO VOLUNTARY EXILE . 
FRANCO'S UNIFORMED STATE POLICE, ONCE EVERYWHERE, IS NOW LESS OBVIOUS, LESS 
ARROGANT . GIFT FOR ONE-FIFTH . FRANCO'S DECISION TO END SPAIN'S 
LONG CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ISOLATION IS BASED ON HIS TWOFOLD CONVICTION 
THAT 1) THE POPULACE AS A WHOLE NOW ACCEPTS HIS REGIME, 
AND 2) SPAIN CANNOT SURVIVE ECONOMICALLY IF IT IS EXCLUDED FROM 
THE EUROPEAN COMMON MARKET, WHOSE MEMBERS BITTERLY DISLIKE HIS AUTOCRATIC WAYS 
. THE STUBBORN ILLEGAL STRIKES THAT CRIPPLED SPAIN'S ECONOMY FOR TWO 
MONTHS LAST YEAR ALSO FORCED EL CAUDILLO TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE 
COUNTRY'S HARDPRESSED WORKERS ARE DESPERATELY EAGER TO ENJOY LIVING STANDARDS COMPARABLE 
TO THOSE OF OTHER EUROPEANS . AS A GIFT TO THE 
HOPELESSLY POOR UNSKILLED LABORERS WHO MAKE UP ONE-FIFTH OF THE WORK 
FORCE, FRANCO LAST WEEK ANNOUNCED AN INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE 
THAT WILL ALMOST DOUBLE THEIR TAKEHOME PAY AND FRINGE BENEFITS (TO 
$1.66 A DAY) . SPAIN, SAID FRANCO, IN A YEAR-END TV 
AND RADIO ADDRESS, IS NOW " A NATION OF PEACE, ON 
THE ROAD TO ECONOMIC RECUPERATION, WITH A CAPACITY FOR GROWTH IN 
ALL SECTORS OF ITS LIFE, AND WITH A YOUTH THAT IS 
TECHNICALLY PREPARED AND EAGER TO FACE THE FUTURE . TIME ALONE 
WAS BANNED OR SEIZED 54 TIMES IN ELEVEN YEARS BY FRAGA'S 
PREDECESSOR . 