Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-14
WIDESPREAD UNREST
THROUGHOUT ITALY
Frequency of Disorders at Home
Causes ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
OF War Heavy on Budget.

"a strong light is thrown upon the
| present condition of affairs in Italy,
and upon the decision of the italian
Government to maintain neutrality, in
a letter to the New York Evening Post
from It's Naples correspondent, OF
which the following is part:
lCerignola Is little city in Apulia, in
thc south of Italy, between the Appe-
pines and the Adriatc. Yesterday, as
certain orators of the Liberal party
'ere speaking in the public square, a
bomb burst under the platform of the
orators. The news OF the event is not
as yet precise, but it appears that a
poor young man was killed. It is hardly
known how. We read already that
Cerignola is nest Of anarchists; the
Intervention of the Government is al
ready invoked for making arrests in
mass, or. IL necessary. setting up some
ne" Kind of gallows in the public square.
In large proportions the same
thing occurred in the tumults of Ro-
magma and during the days of the gen
eral strike and of the threatened rail-
way strike a month ago.
| was not in Italy when there took
place, on the 9TH of last June. the dis
orders of Ancona. which have been dis
cussed largely by the national and inter-
n" ional press. After private political
meeting, about 200 persons, Socialists and
Republicans together, In small groups.
directed themselves toward one OF the
city squares, the Piazza Roma. A cor
don of police had been already placed
T. bar the way to the crowd. A conflict
ensued between the crowd and the po-
lice. The policemen say they were hit
by stones and by few shots fired,
which last they have not been able to
prove; the demonstrators deny It. 1t Is
easy to believe that the carabineers were
maltreated by the crowd just as II Is also
believable that nothing terrible would
have happened If 200 or more persons
had been allowed to walk about freely
In Piazza Roma in Ancona and to shout
few hurrahs and the reverse.
came back to Italy from a long jour-
ney in Greece, and first to Rome. where
he general strike had already begun,
and the most varied and sensational
events were In progress. The Conserva-
tive and Liberal papers were full of
catastrophe accounts; they spoke openly
of anti-monarchicaI plots and of organ
lied revolution. Thus a great panic
spread through all Italy.
italy can be ruled only by either a
tyrannical Government. like that of the
Popes or of the medieval mobiles. or by
strong and laborious democracy, con-
scious that faith in ideas and in the men
that represent II Is to Southern peoples
not less necessary than the perfect or
ganiIaton of the administration and of
the Government.
Certainly. this crisis Of growth and this
initial distrust in a form of government
tnsutficiently active and operative ac-
cordlng to what most people believe TO
be the material and spiritual necessities
OF Italian life, have had their share in
the recent disorders.
They here continued to consider and TO
treat the peasant as they did so years
ago; they have dominated the local ad-
and have had the Govern
ment at their service law and justice
have been almost entirely on their side
Thus, between proprietors and laborers
there has risen barrier over which is
stretched the hand of a mad
man. armed by a criminal, to fire the
fuse of bomb.
The consequences of the war weigh and
must continue to weigh heavily on our
budget, Italy. having shown herself
strong and great in the presence OF the |
whole world. has created new difficulties
for herself abroad. and this is another |
reason for not illudIng ourselves about !
ler internal conditions and for not falsi- !
Tying their origin and cause. .
The Italian Government has chosen !
he direct road of neutrality in the sX-
1losion OF this homicidal madness of CON |
.uest. II is not enough to say that the |
Dad chosen is the most loyal, by reason |
II the honest Interpretation of the treaty |
which binds Italy to Germany and Aus |
ria 1t must be recognized that this is |
/ duty toward the nation at this moment. |