The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-04-22
Tho Financial Exhaustion OF Italy.

GuIzoT. In his history OF civilization in
France. was the first to point out that the
true cause Of the collapse Of the Roman en-
pire In the West was overtaxation carried
to such an intolerable extent as to make
patriotism seem q mockery. organized So
ciety O cheat. and anarchy q welcome sub
stitute. A similar process OF fiscal extor-
tlon has been going on In Italy for the last
twenty years. and threatens to have SINH
lar results. the readiness Of Sicily for a
social insurrection having Its counterparts
in several sections Of the mainland. Taxa
ton. imperial and local. has reached such
@ pitch that 1t cannot be pushed further
without SO seriously curtailing consumption
as to lessen rather than augment tho rev
enue. It Is under such desperate conditions
that Signor CRIsPI. the Prime Minister, has
to face deficit which In February he ad-
mitted would not be less than S35, 400. 900 for
the current year.
Few people are aware OF the amount OF
money expended In the Italian peninsula
since the occupation OF Rome. Between
1872 and 1892. although Italy has been en-
gagged In no war. except the relatively IN
important operations In Abyssinia. the ma
tional debt has been augmented by S7iO.-
100000. There Is also the debt OF the CON-
munes. which has Of late years been grow
ing at the annual rate Of $500. 900. and In
1889 had reached total Of more than $780,
100000. These additions to the permanent
Indictment OF the country would be en-
durable IL the annual revenues sufficed to
pay the interest, as we'll as meet other
necessary disbursements. But such. as we
have seen. is not the case. although the
yearly amount Of taxation is out OF all
proportion to the resources OF the people.
Since 1873 the Government has spent. In the
form OF revenue alone. S5.265. 200. 600. and
during the last ten years there has
been an increase OF 80 per cent.
In expenditure. as compared with the
previous decade. although In the inter-
val the gain In population has been
scarcely 10 per cent. 1t is also to be noted
that local taxation has become heavier
year by year. having risen from sl2l. oOO.-
900 in 1881 to nearly S154.0 900 in 1891. or
"a per cent. In some provinces. tax
alton In one form or another has trebled In
twenty years. In Florence IL Is said that
the taxes have been multiplied skiold I'M
der the new order Of things. Incredible as
1t may seem. the tax on incomes alone
amounts to 20 per cent. or one-ffth OF an
individuals annual receipts. For salt. which
is a Government monopoly. the consumer
has OF late paid thirty-five times the cost
OF production. and In future will pay forty
times. That the limit of taxation on some
of the necessaries Of life has been reached
will be made clear by the examples Of to-
bacco and salt. In 1888 the consumption OF
tobacco per inhabitant was IS ounces. but
four years later 1t had fallen TO II ounces
In the year first mentioned the amount of
salt consumed per head of the population was
% pounds; in 1897 it had sunk TO Il pounds.
That agriculture has for some time been
declining will be seen II We compare the
crops of ls9i-92 with the average yield OF
ls79-s3. In the earlier period the mean an
nual output OF grain was 22l, OO0.0OO hnsh-
els. against 20l .0O0. 900 In the later; the pro-
duction Of wine fell of from SIC. 200 600 to
770.OOOOOO gallons: that Of chestnuts. which
constitute an important food staple. from
100000 to 245.OOO tons. and that OF potatoes
from $4,000 TO 10000 tons.
What Is there to show for an expendi-
ture which is literally breaking the backs
OF the Italians. and reducing them to the
exhaustion and despair which characterized
the Gallo proVineials in the last days OF the
Western Roman empirei Enough has been
spent on popular education to Increase the
proportion Of eonseripts who can read. from
4S per cent, in 1871 to 90 per cent. in 1892. 1t
Is plain that. from the viewpoint OF litter
aey. Italy is still one of the most disgrace
fully backward countries in Europe. The
number Of miles Of high-roads has been
increased since 1870 by only 1900. still
exhibiting for Italy only II miles OF high
road for 10000 inhabitants. against 81 miles
In France. A good deal has bssn spent on
railWays-about three-fOurths Of the whole
network belongs to the stats-yet al the
lines put together have length Of no more
than a.sOo miles. Il l. not. in truth. on those
hDDliancSs and aRencIaa Of civilization