The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1912-01-12

Africa. OF the agricultural promise
this land offers to the Italian peas
ant and farmer Mr.. Cora writes:
Among fertile zones of this region
are to be reckoned the GASES, in which
/ Gate-bearing palms are chiefly culti-
waited, which are most fruitful where
/ the subsoil IS rich in water. :. "A care
full calculation leads me to the con-
clusion, after actual observation, that
Tripoli has fertile area equal to the
combined arabic lands of Sicily ana
Sardinia combined"
OF the mineral wealth of this part
Of Africa, Mr.. Cora tells us that
while the regions hitherto explored
by specialists are limited, it has been
plainly demonstrated that the Syrtic
district has large deposits Of sulphur,
and that in the coastal zone we hear
|. Of rich beds of phosphate. The salt
pits Of Benghazi, he remarks, ARE
likely to yield a greater revenue when
the are better managed" This writer
also thinks that the cretaceous for
nations of Tripoli and Cyrenaica
promise fine building material, and
believes that there may be found
"quarries of that African marble
which was used so freely in the deco
ration of ancient Rome"
h One Of the main points this writer
dwells upon is the great advantage to
Italy and to Europe Of Tripolfs POSI-
ton as furnishing shorter postal
route between India and the Mediter-
ranean countries, lowing to the near
ness Of her coast to that of the Mo-
rea, Southern Greece and Sicily" and
he concludes as follows:
Taking all things into considera-
ton, the conquest Of Tripoli and its
dependencies is we'll worth to Italy
that which it costs her. 1t may not
be one of the best parts of Africa,
it is perhaps the least fertile of the
northern section of the country. 1t is
POSSIBLY for this reason that the other
Powers have passed it by. Neverthe-
less, if the Government settles it
with prudence, Italian taxpayers
will have nothing to repent of in the
new colonial policy, especially when
we consider what might be their
peril if those leagues of coast were
occupied even by such friendly
Powers as France, Great Britain, or
possibly Germany"
While Mr.. Cora thus speculates In
spirit of optimism on the prospects
Of Italy in Tripoli, an English writer,
who recently reused attention by his
: powerful book on war as the great
4 illusion" especially as regards terri
torial possession, tells his readers i'll
: London's Daily Mail that Italy is
! nfi xxrifh nd
The only profitable thing to a nation,
? we are tod, is the expansion of its
. trade. Mr. Norman Angel enlarges
!. upon this point as follows:
? "In the days of the sailing-ship and
= the numbering wagon dragging SLOW
!. y over all but impossible roads, for
, enc country to derive any considera-
, lie profit from another it had, prac-
!. tically, to administer it politically
= But the compound steam-engine, the
= railway, the telegraph have profound
3 ly modified the elements of the whole
problem. In the modern world politi
= cal dominion is playing a more and
i more effaced role as factor in com
perce; the non-political factors have
= in practice made it all but inopera
D tive. 1t is the case with every mod
ern nation actually that the outside
= territories which it exploits most sue
3 cessfully are precisely those of which
it does not own a foot. .......
= "All this diplomatic and military
3 conflict and rivalry, this waste Of
!. wealth, the unspeakable foulness
, which Tripoli is revealing, are re
3 served for things which both sides
to the quarrel could sacrifice moi
y merely without loss but with profit
and Italy, whose statesmen have
been faithful to all the old 'axioms
n (Heaven save the mark!), will dis
cover it rapidly enough. Even heI
defenders are ceasing now to urge
that she can possibly derive any real
benefit from this colossal inepitude
For Italy, as unhapplly as the bal
ance of Europe, the substance will be
represented by the increase of very
definite everyday dificulties-the
high cost Of living, the uncertainty
OF employment, the very deep prob
lens of poverty, education, govern
ment, well-being. These remain
worsened. And these-not the spec
IdCuld1 C1dbh VI VI ONOA Liz
less spectacular killing of unarmeC
Arab men, women and children-con
d stitute the real struggle for lift
- among men, But the dilettanti If
40 high politics are not interested. Fol
~ these, who still take their language
and habits of thought from the day:
of the sailing-ship, still talk of pos
sessing territory, still assume tha
tribute in some form is possible, still
imply that the limits of commercial
and industrial activity are dependen
upon the limits of political domin
ion; the struggle is represented b!
futile collisions which leave evec!
real problem worse than they fouat
" it.
=. rs it not time that the nan in tn,
street-verily, l believe, less de udec
n by diplomatic jargon than his bs'ters
n less the slave Of an old, Obsolete Dhra
seology-insisted that the experts il
the high places should acquire SOM
sense Of the reality Of things, of pro
portion, some sense Of figures, littl
knowledge of industrial History, o
the real processes Of human co-operu
tion"-The Literary digest. E. 80.
THE CHURCH AID SOCIETY Oh
KAYNE AVENUE CHURCH.
IF Tho old coxyiOo bo t,.,,o OTb n