The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-17
WONDER WORKING WHITE COAL
Thanks 10 II, Italy Is No Longe- an indus
trial Back Number.

Northern Italy is prospecting beyond all
record. The product Of the silk industry
has doubled in the last eight years; one
third Of the silk thread used in the world is
now produced in Italy.
The cotton mills, scarcely in existence q
decade CO.. now nave an annual output
worth more than $50. 900 900, According to
Tho World To-day. textiles, have advanced
almost as rapidly.
The 5000 workmen employed in iron and
steel foundries in 1881 have become 90. 600
and Italy to-day is exporting steel instead
Of importing It.
Houille bldn che, as the French call It, or
white coal. has been the chief agent in the
Transformation. White coal is simply n.y.
draulic power. Strictly speaking, 1t applies
only to the power derived from glacier
streams rising in the Alps. The analogous
term. houiile rerte, or green coal, has been
adopted to designate the energy provided
by streams OF hum bier source.
Call it what you please, this newly har-
messed power Ia revolutionizing European
industry. 1t is more than a coincidence
that the great manufacturing countries
to-day are those which are rich In coal
the United States, Great Britain, Germany
and Belgium.
Now the tables are turned. BY an almost
~providential compensation those nations
which are poorest in black coal are richest
in white. Austria is much better supplied
with hydraulic power than Germany, France
than England, Switzerland than Belgium,
Canada than the United States. When 1t il
further considered that the white coal is
subject to neither exhaustion nor Interrupt
ton by strikes the full richness Of the
promise 1t offers begins to be realized.
Italy Is one Of the best endowed Of Euro
pean nations in this regard. The available
power her rivers hold is estimated at be-
an amount equal to the total steam power
Of the world to-day, exclusive OF that used
on railways and steamships.
Although only a beginning has been
made in utilizing this great heritage, more
Country eSMsl g' IN of Eur oeee'0 gom ens Of II th any A E5hss
lakes, twenty-five miles long and a thousand
feet deep, at varying elevations above the
sea, form ideal reservoirs OF energy.
Wholesale lie emigration, again, is reducing
a million Of Italy's children leave her shores.
In some sections, it is true. the drain has
so enormous az to be a danger rather
than a relief. When Signor Zanardelt, the
late Premier. was making an official tour
through the Basilicate, he was surprised on
entering a certain villag &c to find no arches
Of welcome, no ELUSIVE Populations, only
the Mayor with his pessimistio greeting
Il welcome you in the name of our eight
inhabitan ts, Of whom three thou
sand have just left for America, and the
other five are preparing to follow.
On the whole, the emigration has been
beneficial A new Italy has sprung UP on
the Platte and In Brazil, furnishing an inn
mems outlet for Italian exports, while the
remittances sent home from Italians resi-
dent in the two Americas are estimated at
s75 900 900 a year. MOI are all the emf
grants lost forever. The official returns
put the proportion Of temporary emigration
at ffty-fye per cent.