Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-09
Copyright in the United States and Great Britain
by Curtis Brown All rights strictly reeerved.)

Copyright in the United States and Great Britain
by Curtis Brown All rights strictly reserved)
MILAN. January 30. 1908.
a MERICANS probably have heard
something Of the socialistic eX-
"A pertinent on Duke I,itta's es-
Il tate i'm I.ombardy and the RAIL-
-ure that has overtaken it. The
report has been circulated widely that MS
experience has led him to renounce so
cialism. I have his own authority ior
stating that this is not true. The duke Is
just as much q socialist as ever. HIS pc
lief that socialism is the only system oF
which any great Improvement In the lot
of common humanity can be effected mas
not been shaken a jot by the failure OF MS
own efforts to found an ideal soclailstlc
community Nor have they changed the
convictions of his American wife.
The dukes experiment has cost him
something like sG0, 900 and the loss OF the
bulk of his ancestral property. The man
whose faith i'm theories of human regen-
GRAFTON can survive practical test OF
them which has greatly impoverished
him must he of a unique type In tnlS
money-grubbing age Whatever opinion
one may entertain concerning socialism.
no one who hos mingled much with men
can see the duke and converse with nm
WITHOUT DelIlS llilpItSStu ny ioitS ''itA'
acter of the man. his broad impersonal
outlook on life. his wide learning and
the genuineness and sincerity of his de-
sire to do something for the betterment
of humanity. He is not the sort OF man
one can label as crank and let it go at
that.
Duke Pornpeo I-itta Nisconti- Arese the
last scion of a historic Milanese family.
is man of rare culture and one OF the
worthiest types of active Italian ariStoc-
racy. Inclined to the study of the most
serious problems of social life before en-
terfnS the active field of reform with
which he is prominently associated. he
realiZed-and in this he has shown him
self unlike the attitude of the Italian high
class-that travel is one of the surest
means of charging personal experience
and acquiring broad view of men and
things. While on his pilgrimaSeS he made
the friendship of Won Wollman and Bebel
the Henry George of Germany. and
member of the reichStag. and through
them became convinced that socialism
contains in it's essence the highest dogma
of human progress.
An unfortunate marriage contracted
in his youth with Countess Rosa Tarsis
precipitated him for a time in domestic
complications. 1t had its epilogue, how
ever in 1895. when the duke. after liv-
ing five years legally separated from
his wife. brought action against her
to disprove the legal paternity of
child. The case, finally carried before
the tribunal of Florence. caused a Ger
tain scandal, and was decided III favor
of the duke, who later secured di-
vOrce. After some time he again mar
of Charleston. S. c., who had been his
companion in his labors and sympa-
thetic advocate of the dukes social
ideals.
- CHI
be stated. is more than the agreeable
helpnate of an intellectual and high
minded man; she is also an author of
mark in her own right having distin-
guiShed herself on various occasions in
the literary field. Among the books she
has given the public is recent trans
lation into English of the 'Figli della
Gloria of Padovan. and Negrfs great
work, Julian the ApOstate
AS for the duke, he has quite a long
list of literary productions to his credit.
Possessed of the faculty of writing
we'll in French and English. as well as
magazines and journals Lately the
Nouvelle. Revue printed one of his
French stories. and within the las few
months a London publishing house has
brought out one of his romances in En-
glish. entitled The Soul of Priest"
which has been criticised so ravoraoly
. by the press that it has quickly passed
into third edition. In it the author
mas given more tnan glimpse OF Ills
philosophy of life and his views of So
cial reform. At present Duke Litta is
engaged in preparing the Memories
of the Italian revolution left by the late
Jessie White, which is shortly to appear
through the same London firm.
Casale, the village that takes the ad-
ditional name of Litta through The vast
possessions of the duke is situated oniy
a few miles to the north of the busy
capital of Lombardy. and almost on the
border of the Milanese province. Above
the village--its position evidently had
taken the fancy of an old feudal baron
through its picturesque as well rs stra-
tegic POSITIONS the castle of Litta
S&Hf1s22 o2co,eS