Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-26
Little ITALY HERE NOT EXCITED
NOR WORRIED BY AUSTRIAN INVASION
older Men Think Weakening by Their Troops Is Merely
strategic and Presages Fierce Advance-Younger
generation Here Interested in Connie Mack and
His Athletics

Little Italy in Philadelphia is not wor-
@ ..ee over the fact that the hated Austrians
are occupying parts of the land Of TuIjus
Saesar ana the immortal Gnribaldt II ts
strange OF course and little ItaIv frankly
astonished. admits Il TO he so but II is NO,
an astonishment Of horror or dismay that
mas mas gripped little Italy. Rather II is the
,ssoilsnnent ssoo,,nnent OF one who wonders how such
saorilese ever could be perpetrated.
Conquering Italy is impossible. absolute
~ ana uneqNvocally. to the Italian mind
me man who suggests such a thing is no
lrienu OF the italian people. He is not con-
Nersaht with the glory of Italian history.
nor with the indomnltable spirit of the
iand To intimate such a thing is out
rageously sacrllegious. inexcusable indir-
ference to the wonder traditions of centur-
les Because a man today suggested Mt
catherine and Ninth streets that thu Aus
I VI ans might get TO Rome. he nearly got
phled In the eve. At least. he hoped Il
would be only a bin But finally the irate
son OF Italy calmed down and informed
MN that there have been other occasions
when the barbarians from the north crossed
the border and one or more times did get
10 Rome, but they were mighty glad to
leave again." so said Giuseppe in broken
English.
But don't for n moment think that all
nttle italy Is choosing the Austrian in
Vasion as the chief topic of interest, Not
so. Older members of the colony gather
In groups along the streets, which have
escaped the attention of the cleanup week
reformers. and anlmatedly talk, with all
the eloquent gestures that have helped to
make the Latin famous of what they call
our generals strategy" But the younger
generation is not so much interested in
Italy versus Austria as In the Athletics
versus Cleveland or the next battle of Jess
willard
That's a fact. They are In the melting
pot And the great emotionalism OF the
Latin ought to make him a far better
baseball fan" than the calmness OF the
Teuton or the matter -of-fact spirit of the
Anglo-saxon. It's case of the older gem
erations ''rootin' " hard for Italy, with the
younger men strong supporters Of the
Mackites.
And the spirit of the baseball fan" is
the spirit of the older Italian toward his
native land. The teams just got to win
that pennant Apparently 1t has taken a
slump now and seems to be playing i'm the
second division, but the season isn't over
yet by long shot, and soon you will see
Italy slamming out hits in great style. not
singles, but triples and home runs galore.
Italy has great confidence in its fielding
outfit and its managers Its "Ty'' Cobbs
simply have failed to fatten their batting
averages.
For Austrians to remain in Italy any
length of time. Philadelphia Italians rea-
son. is impossible. That they are now is
unfortunate and most distressing to those
finer patriotic sensiblltes which the Latin
alone possesses. but the land of the inn
mortals will soon rise in its might and drive
the hated Austrians far across the border.
That's the only sentiment to be obtained
by an American speaking the English Ian
guage only. II there are other sentiments,
such as fear of the outcome 1t would take
an Italian-speaking indiviGuai TO discover