New-York tribune., 1875-09-25
ITALF'S BURDENS.

BLING ELEMENT IN ITALIAN LoANs-THE MIS-
FORTUNES OF FLORENCE-ITALY DETERMINED 10
REGAIN HER CREDIT-rHE soNzoGN0 MURDER.
PROM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TiiBUNEl
ROME. Aug. 25.-The first step toward finding
remedy for an evil is TO look ii well in the face lhls
is at least as true in national rs i'll Individual mat
tcrs. Italy has just been showing her sense OF
this truth and her moral courage by looking
a very ugly misfortune indeed fnll Ill the
facc-the state of indebtedness OF the sew
er,l communes The subject is unpleasanty in
tercs;ing to foreigners, especially To the hioheyu
communities of the world not only by virtue OF the
interest offered by the spectacle of young ha'ioh
struggling with the difficulties of its first entrance
into the world and the family of nations but also by
reason of the very numerous appeals made by
several of the Italian compunes to the money
markets of the world Most of the schemes for loans
TINS put forward have been artistically ar
RANGED so rs to combine in different degrees the al
mrement of a little gambling with the more simple
elements of an ordinary Investment. In most cases
a nominal hundred issued, say at S5or thereaDou's'
is to be repaid at par according to yearly ura"'he'
OF a certain number of the bonds. 80 that you may
rccoivc . hundred at the end of the year for your
~ besides the current interest at 5, g. or per cent.
The offer is tempting one But it will be perceived
that the transaction in fact amounts to paying the
interest out OF the proceeds oi the lOan Inc de'e-
opnent of social and material elements OF prosperity
is of course the motive, the Justification, ana the
nlco mt forward by the borrower and the hope
held forth to tho lender in all these loans. But 1t Is
impossible to write honestly the subject
without pointing to the very salient fact
that in some of the of the deepest
Indebtedness. the borrowed money has been spent,
AMI no development of prosperity has followed, nor
is any near hope of such at all apparent. One of the
worst perhaps the worst off in respect to its ndebt
cdne,s of all the Italian Communes, is one in which
the entire civilized world takes ordinary interest
no other than Florence the fair flower of cities,
and the flower of fair cities" as her citizens and
visitors have alike been fond of calling her Her
case has been hard and perhaps 1t may be SAID a
specially cxcusablc one. Called. TO her own great
surprise to the high position Of honor and proht,
to be the capital of the new kingdom OF united
Italy. she was as suddenly and Unexpectedly de-
posed from her new eminence. 1t is true that the
italians TO a man, with the exception of course OF
the clc;irals would have wished make Rome their
capital, VIXEN Florence was declared to be such.
much as when they subsequently entered the Eternal
City, But there ncitherproSect nor hope of being
able to accomplish anything of the kind. Nothing
but the war between France and Germany could
have made the step feasible The sentence OF dep0-
slton came upon Florence like thunderclap out OF
a serene Sky, She had already expended very large
sums in endeavoring to make herself i'll various ways
worthy of the honor that had bcfallen her. Vast
mosse, of buildings had been erected, which
longer likely to be rcmunerative investments when
Florence should have returned to its position of be-
inc the capita only of little Tuscany 1t is true
that the nation feeling the hardness Of e case. ac-
companici the sentence of d6cheGace by dOuce1r of
81 200 O0o-as much, perhaps, as Italy could be eX-
pected to give, but far, very far from sufficient 10
repay Florence for her losses The courageous
LITTLE city, however, or her rulers Tor her, some
of them OF the blood and lineage of those sturdy
old Republicans who made their city the center of
European civilization through SO many " mdardts
qaart dheure" in the oden time, determined to take
in no stitch of canvas, but rather to spread fresh
sails and see if She could not make headway against
adverse fortune "Ta ne cede mals sed contra doiea
G0r To - became her motto. The more timld, per-
haps the more prudent counsels of those who sug
pcsted that the application of the millions awarded
by the State to the reduction of the local burdens
of the inhabitants would. by constituting an induce
meut to strangers as we'll as Italians to make
Florence their home. prove the surest road 10 the
recovery of the prosperity inevitably lost for the
n0nce, were scorned. The money was spent IN IN
proysments and beautifying the city, the execution
of which left. as will not be doubted by those
who know anything of the mode in which
public works are carried ont, especially in
Italy somewhat more than legitimate profit in
the hands of the fortunate persons to whom the con-
tracts were awarded fortunate, indeed, II such
contracts were obtained gratuitously; perhaps
more fortunate still if they were not 50, since no ac-
counts are 50 pleasant to render those which cam
not be questioned In word the money was spent,
and very much more besides in order not to spoil
,f And il
burdened with an amount of debt that no one can
guess how size is ever pay. The city possesses
of the finest perhaps the iinest0 drive and prone
made in all Europe and a market 10y far the most
magnificent in Italy. But property is frightfully
depgecilted The market it is said, remains de-
serted and the bean monde, for whom the drive was
constructed 1t an enormous cost. will not come 10
Florence for that purpose
Itisa very singular fact that Tuscany which thanks
TO the encitenrd legislation and refo of Leo
pol the grand. .ather of the last Duke WAS unques-
tionably in advance of every other part of Italy in
all that constitutes social civilization and govern
ment. should be now in by far the most desperate
position. as regards the Indebtedness OF It's COM
muncs of all Italy. In 10 years from 1863 to 1873
the comInunes of Italy. with the exception of those
of the F.ovinces of Venice and Rome, increased
their yearly expenditure by nearly 10000 900. car
rying it from >l5O7J,025 to %Gi,572, li2. And at
the end of the decade closing with 1873 the debts of
the communcs amounted TO more anSlOOOO0,00O
On this sum the yearly interest is 'f5,GOO,OOO.
Now ont of this huge Tuscany
alone owes $33500,000 Veneia owes only
81 100000. Next in indebtedness to Tus-
cany come the Neapotan conmunes, with
debts to the amount of $l9,s00,00O; then Lom-
hardy with gls 100000. 1t is curious to note that
despite this state of things more than half the
munes in Italy are entirely free from debt But. as
mi ght be anticipated, they are mainly the smaller
communities the inhabitants Of the nnndebted