Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-24
JEW IS PREMIER FOR ITALY
First of His Kind Known to Con-
tinental Europe.
DISRAELI ONLY OTHER INSTANCE
Not -nrthOdOx I'm His Religion, but
Does Not Deny His HebraIsm
ana Has Contempt for
Those who Do.
By CLEMENT J. BARRETT 'A


ROME, April 2S-CSpecial Dispatch to
The Bee.)-To Italy belongs the credit of
being the first contnentaI power of the
first class to appoint Jew as its prime
minister. Outside of Benjamin D. Israeli
Oord Beaconsfield), prime minister Of
EnglaaA5 Sgnor Luigi Luzzatti, the new
Italian premier, is the first Hebrew into
whose hands has been placed the guidance
of a great nation
Curiously enough, the ex-premer, Baron
Sonino, was also a Jew emigrant from
Leghorn but his mother was an English
Protestant, and he himself was not
brought up in the Jewish faith About
possible dOugbt. He comes of famous
family that has given Jewish rabbis,
physicians, poets and scholars to Italy for
generations. and he has never been other
than proud of his membership of the
Jewish race.
Last year, when described by a Social
list paper the Jew Luigi Luzzatt" he
wrote to the journal declaring that, al
though he had freed himself from dog
matte religion, he invariably turned back
to the Jews when he was taunted with
being one of them, in contradistinction to
whenever they were described as Jews.
Signor Luzzattis career has been consist
emily brilliant He first entered Parliament
forty years ago, and in 1891 received his
first cabinet appointment, as minister OF
the treasury. He has also won high aca-
demic distinction in the fields of political
economy and law 1t is significant testi-
mony to the position of the Jews in Italy
f1at Ia ha
mayor OF Rome, Slgnor Ernesto Nathan,
is a member of the Jewish faith.
American Consul Wood at Venice is de-
termined to put a stop to the attempted
Fleeing of his fellow countrymen by a
certain class of merchants after the style
attempted on a young American couple
recently. The wife bought necklace for
so francs, which she asserts, she paid for
with three English sovereigns and a 5-franc
piece. Other goods were shown to her and
pressed upon her, which she, however, did
not wish to purchase.
Later the salesman called at the hotel
and asked her il she would not take the
goods that had been shown her. Again she
refused Then he said that she had not
paid for the necklace. The woman was
amazed, and told him she had made pay
ment on purchase.
The salesman found out that she and her
husband were leaving Venice that even
ing. What was the astonishment Of the
Americans to find that the salesman, with
some other young men, were at the sta
tion, where again payment for the necklace
was demanded and angry words used.
| crowd gathered and finally policeman
came up and arrested the Americans.
Meantime Mr. Wood, the American con
sui, was communicated with, and appeared
In court in the morning. when the Ameri
cans were at once set free, the consul un
dertaking to answer for them. The magis
trate was given the necklace In the mean
/ time, so that he might probe the affair L
/ the bottom.
! The moral TO be drawn from it is this
that Americans would do we'll to demand 1
written receipt in every case when thel
pay for goods.