The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-04
ITALY'S ARMY AT FULL STRENGTH WILL BRING MORE THAN $500, ,OOO
 FIGHTING MEN TO BATTLE LINES

Arny-1nfantry cavalry, artillery, and ngineers-besides separate bodies for special purposes, such as the aero plane corps, the Bersaglieri, or mo
 bile sharpshooters, with their pie | turesque costumes and hats with flow ing plumes; the Cacciatori Alpini, or Alpine rangers. and finally the Carabi-s nieri, national police, from whose ranks many privates rise to become officers in the permanent army. The Alpine rangers are believed by many l to be the most effective corps in the l army They would form the first line of defense in case of invasion The infantry regiments are distinguished by numbers, as are also the cavalry, but the latter have as well special names taken from the places where they were originally formed or where they won fame in the wars for unifca- ton, such as the Aosta Cavalleria, the I Novara Cavaueria, sc.
 The engineer force is very well or ganized. It is arranged in six regt- | ments, two of which are of pioneers, one regiment of pontoon troops, one regiment of telegraph troops, a reg1- ment of sappers and miners, and a separate regiment of railway engin- eers.
 The aeronauticaI service of the Ital- ian Army has been steadily developed in the past few days. It consists of a specialist battalion of five compa- nies, which is understood to have been recently increased, and a, grow ing number of field squadrons of sew en aeroplanes each.
 It is understood that there are now thirty of these field squadrons- This would give the Italian Army in the neighborhood of over 200 aerop1anes
 Two years ago the Italian Army had nine dirigtbIe airships, and this num- Der has also been increased.
 The cavalry is the aristocratic branch of the service, and it's officers are usually from the old families with plenty of money to spend for 1 horses and entertaining. The off, cers are great sportsmen and take the lead in organizing games in the towns l where they happen to be quartered.
 while in the cities the fact that man i is a cavalry officer gives him entree i into society without any further in
 qttry being made as to his antece- dents.
 Infantry officers usually come from
 the middle classes, and socially have
 not the status of their colleagues in
 the cavalry They make their way 1 into society only through personal let era1 officers, who are received on the
 same plane with the cavalry. The I infantry officers, having much time
 on their hands and small pay, drift
 about on the fringe of society, or, if ambitious, become students of the game of war. Other students, many l of profound knowledge of military l affairs, are to be found among arti1- 1 1ery and engineer officers.
 Until quite recently military service 1 in Italy was not looked upon as the
 privilege of the citizen to defend his
 country or to add to her glory or her
 territory. but rather as an unpleasant
 necessity. The new army, however, l has revived the traditio ons of the Wars of Unif1cation, and the war with Fur key, as we'll as the preparations of l the last few months, have done much to improve the national spirit. The
 army is an educator in two ways. In
 it i1literates are taught to write and 1 read, and strong local or factional differences, which sometimes result in serious quarre1s among the recruits 1 become modified under comm on
 discipline For & man who in civil l life is proud to be a Piednontese, a 1 Venetian. a Tuscan, or a Neapolitan ] in the army is merely an Italian and
 a soldier.
 i To become an Italian officer two l courses may be followed. The most
 popu1ar way is through the military colleges of Turin, Modena, Pinerola- etc, where the course leading to g | Second Lieutenancy takes three | years. The final examinations fo1
 this rank are not very difficult, ex-
 cept for a, commission in the artillery or engineers The other way is tc
 serve in the ranks, study, and ther pass the necessary examinations l Many of Italy's best soldiers have risen in this way.
 The army has lately become pop 1 u1ar institution. Long live the l arnay!'' is the cry at all public demon. 1 strations, even when the troops art
 called upon to put down riots, wT1ict
 is usually done with the greatest self.
 control on the part of the officers
 who. when their work is done, are al
 ways the first to organize relief fo1
 the families of those who had beer l wounded or killed in z the struggle
 Tn the eyes of the people the army
 particularly the earabinieri, repre-
 sent the law. When a few years agt
 Sicily was placed under martial law
 the people petitioned the governmen
 to send the carabinieri there. The
 work of this corps in putting do0r
 the criminal political associations o:
 the Maha in Sicily and the Camorrs
 in Naples, is matter of thrilling his
 tory. And, although nearly ever
 other department of the governmen
 has been attacked by the press ant
 many scaLAe1s have been unearthed
 so far the army has suffered no re
 proach.