The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-11
Planninr and Building

The next Of the imperial habitations the Emperor chcse after he left the Her niitage was hardly less unconventional and romantic. This was an old castle at Porto Longcre. the second port of Elba, and on the opnosite side of the island from Portoferraio. where a suite of six looms was fitted mp, the Emperor ehoos- ing for himself a tueret looking out upon the Italian shore.
 He now had four palaces the Mulini San Martino the Bermitage and the cit adei of Porto I.oneone, and he sent his vorkmen tc remodel for his own oecu- pancy the house of the superintendent of mines at Rio which he had visited the morning after his arrival in the island F,lban palaces, however, came cheap. A tent sufficed on Monte Glove, and for Porto Longone three iron beds. two car pets few plain chairs at g cost of S1 each and two or three equally simple aimchairs and sofas were ordered. h. deed the furnishings of the citadel were almost as severely simple as they are today, when it is the gloomy abode of life oonvicts sent from the mainland.
 The fact was Napoleon had no money to waste in riotous living the Bourbons, with their inveterate stupidity, never haV- ing paid a sou of the S490000 of annual revenue pledged to him in the treaty of Fontainebleau But that and other of lis financial troubles more properly be- long in the story of his return from Elha.
 The construction or selection of pal aces was but a diversion, an innocent pastime of the island Emperor. His more serious care was bestowed upon the wei fare of Elba. While he housed himself and maintained his table with almost ascetie frugal lity. he shared with the local officials half the expense of all public f,,,, ,fa. la.at f.n only organized the government with as close attention to detail as he had framed the civil institutions of the French em- pire. but he also promoted the splender commerce and tagging industries of the island.
 Finding nc roads. he built them, and wisely planned complete highway sys- tenn. which still serves the convenience Of the people who nave vet no railways. II was under his inspiration and direction that the husbandmen planted an sovss the waste places and the long neglected soil was made so productive that it sup plies now nearly all the needs of q pop ulation three CT four times greater than the number of inhabitants a century ago.
 Although if was tradition among the reople that climate and earth alike were unfriendly. to the olive. the lemon. the orange and the mulberry. he introduced them in the island. and they are Hour ishing there to this day. He developed sp abundant water supply against sea- sons of drouth. He adopted rigorous quarantine against the importation of dis eases while he improved the health of the people by draining the ssyamps and lsv barring the mosquitoes from the springs and wells He swept the streets and gave the islanders their first lessons In cleanliness and sanitation
 Portoferraio Today
 In that attribute which is next to god 1ness the Portoferraic of today, with its sGo0 people, is shining example and aF well scrubbed as village in Holland The little hotel which perpetiiates the memory of the imperial symbol in its name, 'Albergo lAW Elhana"-Inn oi the Elban Bee--is as clean and unpre- tending as the town.
 The townspeople, the Elbans as whole are in keeping with their unique. if brief, chapter in history. The women are