Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-10-01
SMALLEST KNOWN REPUBLIC.
Commonwealth of Tavolara Boasts 4
reputation OF Fifty-Five SOUS.

BY a strange coincidence at the very
InomeLt Muen the rulersnlp OF the
lnICed States for the next four years
IS pelng UaIleu Tor another presIden-
Cial contest Is starting. Inc smallest
republic III the world IS looking abound
Lor new chief magistrate, and,
enough no questions of standards
or financial planks' are raised. the
usnt promises 10 be just as exciting.
lavolara, the little republic. is outnum-
veieQ million ana a naIf to one by
.Ae American commonwealth, It's popu-
Iatlon beng tfty-tiye souls, yet its
enthusiasm, long bo,ueu up for this
occasion, is rising quite as near fever
heat. The mlghuest and the least Of
the free governments OF the world are
passing through the same Uhroes.
In one way the presidential election
OF Tayolara has even more OF interest
about 1t. All OF the people within it's
boundaries are taking part. Woman
suffrage is one OF the foundation stones
OF its government and every petticoat-
Ell beng there has a vote to cast. 1t
would not be out or the question, III
TACT, for a woman TO be elected pres
ldent, though altogether unlikely. Yet
The miniature constitution does not
prohibit it, and by the time our next
president is determined upon there
may be sister chief executive already
settled at Tavolara.
Lost to the world, 10 all !nten1s and
purposes, because OF It's lsolauOn from
the nauntS and routes OIL commerce and
tourists, is this tiny republic Not
only is it the smallest repuunc on the
lace OF the earth; it IS Cne smallest gov
eminent OF any klnu as Well SaI
MarlnO on the eastern hills OF Italy
overlooking the Adriauc, generally
considered TO be the finest republic,
IS, with its 5000 inhabitants, a great
nation beside TavoIara. San Marine
TOO, has thirty-three square miles of
territory, while Tayolara is DuL u,e
miles long ana half a mile broad.
1t lies on the northeast coast of Sar-
dlnia, an island d dozen miles or so
from The mainland, tapped by the DIue
waters OF the classic 1yrhenian sea.
ON the Italian maps it is shown as
Isola di TaVolara, and the only TIME
the outside world ever regard it Is when
Jn5 Lookout on some little trading
vessel sees at night the CLEAN OF the
lighthouse on Its eastern end. And
CnIS IS but seldom, for this corner Of
Tie mediterranean is at all times de
serted. Sarulnlas days OF glory an
active commerce are long since past,
and whatever trade comes to her now
cOuecLs at Cagl1ari and AIghero, on
the other side of the island
Away from these towns, and up at
Lne northeast corner especially, s5ar-
uinia is still wild and uncullvated a
legion OF forests anu prImltIye people
/ ne pest hunting IN all Europe is TO be
FOUND there today, and what vii
lagos there are have not changed a
WHIT III The last 800 years. The old
customs OF the lnhaUItanJs-the Sardes,
they are calleQ-cOnLinue 10 be pre-
served, ana cut OH IRON all the world
or travel and trade, Cnese people still
keep up modes OF lie closely resem
bling those of the ancient Greeks. AS
some stray tourist has said: They
are like people in Homer and the Bible
III all their ways"
If this is the case with the Sardes
on the northeastern end of the main
land of Sardinia, it is much more SO
with the men and women of TayOlara,
Wnom no traveller ever visits, and who
are as far away from the world as if
they were some little, savage nation on
d desOlate island or the South sea-
They are a republic of fishermen and
farmers, fishing being the main in
dustry and little of the land being Gull
tlyated. Not much Of it. is fit for Gull
tlVatlon, IN fact, as 1t is, for the most
part, high, rocky LableIand, rising
Steeply from the sea, the wild goats for
which the island was famous a century
ago continuing to browse and disport
themselves as freely as ever and with
out restraint
Romantic in the extreme is the his
tory OF this tiny republic. No war or
revolution has ever touched it: no
foreign power has ever laid it's hand
upon it; yet it has passed through the
stages Of monarchy into those of free
government. Sixty years ago it was
part of the kingdom of Sardinia, then
an independent nation under the rule
of Charles Albert. That monarch gave
the island outright to the Bartoleoni
family late in the '30s and that Sardin-
ian house set up at once a miniature
kingdom, with thirty to forty subjects,
the smallest the world has ever known.
Sardinia kept on in her course, never
disturbing this pocket edition of a
nation. Years went by, Sardinia was
merged into the kingdom of Italy and
in 1870 Italy was unified and made a
state; territory after terrific
ry was gathered in, San Marine, though
nomlnaIly keeping her independence,
having to recognize the Italian power
IN some degree, but little TaYoIara
under her Bartoleoni kings remained
as free as air.
IL would be kingdom today had
not one of the most curious events in
all the annals Of history taken place.
In 1882 King Paul l. was on the little
and, much to the horror of his
people, he was found one day late in
nat year dead in his arm chair. On
able before him, spread out, the ink
u the signature hardly yet dry, and
he penholder he had used still in the
'Iutch OF his fingers, lay his last will