Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-20

TNHUS cried the medieval pilgrims to the
= Eternal City They did not know that
a later ana punctilious scholarship would
fix the date A. D. 476 as marking the
end of the Roman Empire To those still
walking in the darkness of the Middle Ages
Rome still seemed an immortal beacon,
Merely because the invading Odoacer had
overthrown the tottering throne Of little
Romulus Augustulua, the boy monarch,
these humble pilgrlms-wise though un-
tutored-could not believe that Rome had
ever fallen.
As a matter of fact they were entirely
right. In the cultural sense, in the en-
tightening sense, in the empire of law-made
freedom over the minds of men, Rome is
still the conqueror. Even the barbarian
hordes Of the fifth century failed to extin-
guish the fame of civilization which she
bore aloft. The barbarian hordes of the
twentieth century are failing likewise
Rome today is waging her ancient fight
She is marshaling the powers of light
against those of darkness. That these
powers call themselves by such dstin-
gushing names as France, Britain, Amer
lea, Belgium, etc, does not make them
any the less the collateral heirs of Rome
battling for the same laws of life and lib
erty that once gave to the ancient world
two centuries of unprecedented and since
unparalleled peace.
Proud are we in virtue of our descent
from this superb mother, but to this emo
ton is added now a special joy in welcom-
ing the legates of the direct inheritor of all
this civlizing splendor-Italy herself.
Never Forgets Her Lineage
Unless indeed this conscious relationship
between Rome and Italy is fully grasped,
comprehension of the spirit of the modern
nation Is impossible. Italy never for a mo-
ment forgets her lineage We call her D.
kingdom, and true 1t is that Il crowned
monarch is her chief magistrate, but the
streets Of Rome today actually proclaim
her republic. on the walls Of every new
building and monument in the capital one
finds not the arms of Savoy, but the DEATH
less IS. P. O. R."-which is to say THE
Senate and the Roman People"-of the days
of Marius. On the handsome new bridge
over the Tlber leading to the Palace of JUS
llCe THESE NnuluSIOuS llllldlS are craven,
They are to be found even on the marble
entrance to the trolley tunnel under the
Quirinal Hill. Italy still symbolizes not
only Rome. but her people" Much virtue
In that "people!'
Yet for all this deliberate insistence on
democratic principles, for all the wondrous
transformation Of the city of the seven
hills from the sleepy town of the Papal
States to the imposing capital of great
| nation which Rome is today, it is doubtful
II we in America are inclined to give the
vast strides Of Italian progress full credit
We are, in fact, too close TO Italy in many
ways to acquire the proper perspective.
| Our tourists, who fiocked to the peninsula
before the war, usually took away the i'm
preston that Italy was primarily a mu-
scum OF antiquities and art
Out stay-at-homes living in the midst OF
| thousands of Italians, many of whom left
their homes before her thriving economic
and Industrial development really began.
often felt that Italy must be backward
and impoverished 10 be the source OF so
much immigration material Much inprove-
ment, Of course, is necessary even now in
Calabria and Sicily; but that Italy as a
whole is new nation, every day rushing
forward in the march OF civilization. IA an
indisputabIe fact The tide Of Immigration
70 our shores from Genoa. from Florence.