Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-27
ITALIAN SPORTSMEN
GOING TO THE FRONT
One Club Has Sent Nearly 300 Mem
bers - Success of Popular Sub
scriptions for the Relief of the
Soldiers Families.
BY ApALBERTo cApoRALE


BY ADALBERTO CAPORALE
IF ANY moro proofs were needed to COM
i plete the picture Of the unanimous enthu-
slasm with which the Italians first demanded
and then greeted the present war against
| their traditional foe. one Of very decided
| character would be found in the result of the
! efforts made by almost every newspaper
| whether large or small in Italy, to raise
funds with which to help the families of
| those who shed their blood for the redemp-
ton of the "unredeemed" The appeal was
launched to the italian people in moment
in which the Government was asking the
Italians to subscribe to the war loan, running
into several hundred millions, and when tho
general economic conditions in Italy were, in
consequence Of the European conflict, not at
the best.
However, while the loans were completely
subscribed, the Italians responded cheerfully
and generously to the appeal for the SOL
diers' families. One single newspaper, the
Corriere della sera, which, is also the most
prosperous unit in the italian press had
raised in less than a month, up to Juno 2S,
the sum of s923O00 And results which are
not far from this figure have been attained
also by other large newspapers, including La
Tribuna, II Giornale dItalia, La Stampa and
others. If the people, the rich and the
poor alike, contribute one million dollars in
month or so to the fund of a single newspa-
per for the aid of the soldiers families, it
cannot be denied that the whole nation
favors this war of liberation, the third war
of Independence the Italians call it.
Sports Clubs Deserted
And, while contributing money toward the
war, the Italians are still asking to be sent
to the front. The sport societies of all the
big cities are deserted, for their members
have gone to the firing line are impa-
tiently waiting for their chance. Not single
man is to be found in the offices or on the
track of the Milan Auto Club. Among those
who left are Marquis Camille di Soragna, who
is in the navy and Count Aldo Bonacossa,
who is a sublieutenant of the engineers
corps. The club has sent to the front nearly
300 members, almost all volunteers, and
large number of volunteers has been given
also by the Italian Football Federation. The
same thing can be said of all the sport
ganizations in Italy.
Thus the morale of the Italian people con-
tinues to be the highest that could be desired,
and not only among the fighting soldiers, but
also among those who, while nursing the
most patriotic sentiments, are anxiously
waiting for news of their relatives. Prof,
Ettore De Toni a teacher in the Foscarini
College of Venice, had his son killed in battle
on the Austrian front. His colleagues and
friends wrote to him expressing their con-
dolence for the death of the young man. but
the grieved father replied to them all with
letter, in which he announced that his |
younger son had decided to enlist to take his |
dead brothers place, and he, his father, had
raised no objection. He added in his letter:
"I regret only one thing, that some of my
friends have made it appear as If 1 had a
right to share my sons heroic action. 1t is
not so. l have done nothing, and my genera
ton has done nothing of what the old and the |
new are doing. My ancestors fought against
the traditional enemy, and now my sons are
fighting the same foe. They doing what
we ourselves had to do were it not for the
sake of a peace which lately became a state
of slavery. We wanted to save our own
blood at the price of what is our blood, too"
Sending Patriotic Books to the Soldiers
Another feature of this Italian war is that
a committee has been formed at Milan to col
lect books and distribute them among the
soldiers at the front Fifty thousand vol
umes have already been collected and sent
to the front, where they are being circulated
among the soldiers. They are mainly books
relating to the present war, in which the mo-
tives of Italian intervention are explained.
or novels of a historic and patriotic charac-
ter
At the front, while the King and General
were reviewing regiment of Bersa-
glieri. the commander -in-chief of the It9lian
army called out of the ranks soldier and in
troduced him to the King, who cordially and
repeatedly shook hands and chatted while
with him. The soldier was Salesian monk,
who had been until few days before the
of war the rector of the Saleslan
of Trieste. He is the Rev. Michele
Rubno Cadorna had known him for a long
time, as he had met him in one of his trips
to the Irredenta. A couple Of days before the
war was declared the chief of the Italian
General STAFF sent the following telegram
TO Father Rubino: "A happy birthday" The
telegram had It's meaning for the Salesan
father, who Immediately left Trieste. If he
had delayed one day his departure would not
have been possible.
ASSISTING NATURE
From the Independent,
Il, Thurhar ibospn oF tho ITntted States