The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-12-02
THE CRISIS IN ITALY.

The overthrow of the Giolitti Cabinet at
Rome seems likely to lead 10 grave COM
plications. 1t appears that both the ad-
ministTation leaders and the leaders of the
opposition are equally involved in the
bank scandals. The only party which
comes out with clean hands is the Repub-
licaDs, who are opposed to the monarch
ial regime and the house Of Savoy. King
Umberto will be in a strange predicament
if he has to confide the administration of
Government to party which seeks the
overthrow of his dynasty. And yet there
is hardly prominent member of the two
other parties who is not besmirched in the
late investigation.
His present embarrassment is aggra-
waited by the growing impatience of the
Italian people under the burden of taxa
ton they have to bear. The sum of
money annually raised by taxation in
Italy is about $40. 600, 600, which, though
it falls short of the expenditures by some
100000. presses heavily Oh a popula-
ton of %. 10000 The Italian is taxed in
every way and shape. Customs duties
press lightly on him. for his poverty re-
stricts his consumption of foreign goods.
But he pays house tax, an income tax. q
SbduIp tdAs dUu wv u loduluR dTtICles VI COIL
sumption salt and tobacco are Govern
ment monopolies. so that the fact of the
monarchy is brought constantly to his no.
tice, and he is sharp enough to observe
that oue-seventh of the sum which is
screwed out of him by taxation is spent on
useless armies and navies. Hence a
steadily swelling discomfort among the
masses of the Italian people-a feeling
which is brought to an acute stage by such
scandals as the recent discovery that the
Parliamentary leaders have been having
their own little Panama at the cost of the
Bank of Rome and the Credit Mobilier.
The effect has been to shake public conf
dence in all public men.
The party which is in fair way to benefit
by the present imbroglio is in favor of an
Italian republic. which would probably
take the old name OF the Republic of
Rome. AS the Government has at its dis
posal a standing army of 250. 600 men, a
revolutionary uprising could not succeed
so long as the army was loyal to the King.
But Ohe-third of the army is drawn from
the people every year by coDscription, and
it will naturally share the popular feeling
OF the day. 1t appears. moreover, strange
as 1t may seem, that the Vatican looks
complacently on the prospect of a repub-
lie. Its influence is large everywhere ex-
cept in the city of Rome. In the rural
districts the church has never lost its hold
on the people; in the case of struggle it
could control many arms and many votes.
No modern enterprise was accomplished
after such protracted struggles and in the
teeth of such tremendous obstacles as the
nv ifiaatIon Of fol h. e
Savoy. 1t may be said to have been be-
gun when Napoleon created the Kingdom
of Etruria: it did not end till the battle of
Villefranca. From first to last it con-
sumed sixty years. Many times during
that period it seemed hopeless to try to
weld Milanese and Roman and Neapolitan
into one nation. Centuries OF misgovern-
ment and ignorance had dwarfed Italian
intelligence aud cowed Italian spirit. At
last under the leadership of the acutest
mind of this century, Cavour, the work
was accomplished, and Italy was one 1t
looked then as though the work was well
done. and would last. The men of the
house of Savoy were honest and patriotic :;
of all those who had tried to reconstitute
Italy. they were the best. Unhappily for
them, time came when they forgot their
family motto-Fara di Sc. When the pres
emf King assembled the throne and was
asked TO enter i to foreign alliances. he
answered that PItalia fara d se-Italy
would look out for herself. In an evil
hour he allowed Bismarck to beguile him
into joining the Dreibund, which involved
the present Italian military establishment
and diverted the mind of the Government
from domestic concerns. IL is the ccnse-
quenca of that blunder which now darkens
the Italian horizon.