Evening journal., 1917-11-08
7HE ITALIAN PROBLEM
IFrom The New York Trlbune).

wise to expect the Battle OF the Marne
along tho Piaye or the Brenta.
The real question that one has now
TO face in the Italian matter Is simple
Three years ago the French people.
under one OF the most terrible blows
a nation has ever suffered rallied. Il
was the stupendous resurgence OF the
French spirit which made the victory
Of the Marne possible. At the Marne
and again at Verdun the French as a
nation willed to live Today the great
question as to Italy Is whether a half.
century OF national unity has sufficient
ly welded the Italian people together
so that they are capable OF such a re-
spOnse and such a renaissance from
defeat as were the French
We really know very little Of mod
ern Italy Fifty years Is only a short
time in the history Of nations. and It
Is hardly more than nifty years since
the Italian peninsula was marked in
the Biographies by numberless states,
semi-independent. subservient TO alien
dynasties, mutual rivals. The idea that
there could be a unified Italy was re-
garded with contempt and amusement
two generations ago. The dreams Of
Alazzlnl, the cool calculation Of Ca
YOUR, these seemed equally fantastic
to the Europe of Metternich, to the
Europe which had taken its political
form at the Congress OF Vienna.
II Italy proves to be a welded ma
tiOn; if the spirit Of unity which saved
France, which has saved France
dozen times in the past, is manifested
I'm the Italian Peninsula, the present
German eruption may turn out in the
end to have been a blessing. In the
presence Of this storm Italy may at
last take her place among the great
peoples OF the world, proving by the
forlitude and determination with which
she meets the terrible and terrific blow
that the work Of the last century was
final. and that the Italy men dreamed
Of and died for through all the nine
teenth century has realized the dreams.
We are seeing one Of the most dra-
matte and terrible dramas In human
history. We are seeing a nation tested
in the fire OF defeat; a nation which
has had in modern. centuries a long
story Of suffering, Of misery which has
been again and again cut TO pieces and
parcelled out among various princes
which has been time after time
the battle-ground Of great nations. To-
day the problem Is not primarily mill
tary, but moral II the Italian people
rally: If the Italian people respond as
did the French three years ago, the
disaster Of the lsonzo will prove to be
the foundation stone Of Italian unity in
the future.
Every American must wish and hope
and believe the best for Italy in these
terrible hours. The Italy Of the Risor-
glmento won the affection Of the Eng
llsh speaking peoples the world over
The names Of the Italian patriots OF
the last century were on the lips OF
every man and woman who loved liber-
ty In the days before Napoleon III de-
clded TO take arms against the Haps-
burg dynasty and in some slight meas
.ure to repeat the victories Of the Great
Napoleon on the Plains Of Northern
Italy.
Since that brilliant time Italy, In bd
coming a nation, has lost something q
the glamour she bad for the world
The struggles, the difficulties, the prob
llems OF this new Italy have been too
, little understood beyond her frontiers
d The contemporary generation has for
: gotten much Of the nobility OF ltal'
/ in the great days before Solferino ant
/ Magenta. They have remembered Carl
2 baldi, perhaps, but they have forgot
/ ten not only the rest Of Garibaldi'
! Thousand, but those others who were
! the architects of Italian unity.
- Today all that was done nalf a cen