Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-06
ITALY WILL FIGHT
ONLY FOR ITALY
Her Spirit Is Neither Pro-Ger-
man nor Pro-Ally - Against
Russian Tyranny and Franco
British Imperialism.
BY ARTHUR LIVINGSTON

BY ARTHUR LIVINGSTON
RIO THE surprise Of everybody, the
i entrance Of Turkey into the war did
not cause much alarm in Italy. The
complacent attitude OF the italian Gov
ernment in that crisis is now fairly In
telllgible. Italy rightly estimated the
strength of England on the Suez Canal,
and Turkeys new entanglements simply
relieved the strain on the italian troops
| in Tripoli who have never pacitied the
| interior lands still infested by nomadic
raiders The recent attacks on the
! Dardanelles have meanwhile increased
| Italy's strategic value. Just as Aus
| trials disturbance of Balkan equilib-
rium clearly defined Ttaly's require
ment and brought the attainment of 1t
within her grasp, so the imminent col
lapse of Turkey has clarified her role
In the prospective readjustment Of the
Near East. Italy is now in a position
to sell her support to the Allies In eX-
change for concessions in Asia Minor
and the Aegean. From England par
ticularly she can exact nothing for her
weight against possible Russian pre-
tensions. Very frankly Italians are
talking of Smyrna and the Aegean isles
as the centre of a future Italian
Sphere of influence" in the Oriental
Mediterranean.
1t Is perfectly apparent that If in her
minimum demands italy is hostile TO
Austria and Germany, in her larger
ambitions she is equally hostile to the
Allies both individually and as a group.
Her continued neutrality hitherto has
sprung as much from these facts as
from internal conditions. 1t is obvious,
and has been obvious from the outset,
that the defeat of Germany and Aus
tria is necessary to the realization of
any part of the Italian program, A
victorious Austria would yield her
nothing. The Allies, If defeated, could
give her nothing. After five centuries
Italy is at last needing the voice of
her own Machiavelli A weak France,
n weak England, a totterlng Austria,
an isolated Germany, Italys two mil
lion men, with perfected and untouched
equipment, supported by n strong and
united national consciousness-for this
situation the Italian Government has
been waiting, Is still waiting. For this
she will continue to wait until the
Allies have granted her the majority of
her demands and until she is in posi-
tion to deal Austria a decisive blow.
on what conditions at home has this
Cool-headed policy of the Government |
rested? The anti-Austrian fury that !
swept over Italy from the Alps to
Benevento in August was counter bal |
anced by the hostility of the South to
the North, and by the vocferous if |
patitudinous moralizing Of clericals |
and aristocrats lukewarmly pro-Ger-
man. The Triple Alliance was for !
Italy never more than an official atti-
tude, an attitude. indeed, fortified by |
rather important commercial eX-
changes, involving some italian money .
in Germany and much German money |
in Italy. If that alliance was re-
newed in 1913, that renewal was only
a scrap of paper" Austria virtually |
terminated the Triple Alliance with
Italy as sane Italian policy by the
annexation of Herzegovina she de-
stroyed every shred of popular favor
in Italy toward that alliance by her
attitude on Albania during the Turco-
italian war. 1t is, moreover, only so
years ago that in every city of Lom-
hardy and Venetia the Austrian hang
man and the Austrian headsman were
numbering the fathers and the grand
fathers of the present generation of
North Italians. In August, too, the
Austrian firing squads were silenclng
at Trieste and cara, at Fiume and
Ragusa. the louder voices Of rejuve-
mated Irredentists.
South VIC North