Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-21

done in its different panels, was de-
stroyed. A. bomb hit the angel on the
dome of San Pietro di \; Castillo, the
island church which was for three
the patriarchate. % *
According to the American consul
at Venice, the city had suffered from
thirty air raids since the" beginning
OF the war, twenty-four people were
killed in one night, Inc -four bombs
had fallen anywhere from nine feet
to a hundred yards O. st. Marks,
eight to ten more bombs within an
additional hundred yards. The Church
Of the Scalzi is next the railway sta
ton. that Of st. Pietro near the ar
senal base, which made these fair
military targets. Only concerted or
sporadic attempts at terrorism could.
in the judgment Of local observers,
account for others of the raids, and
only self-restraint from such a policy
can account for the complete freedom
of the city from harm this fall. much
less keep it so. once the enemy's
lower Piave.
Why Venice Was Bombed.
OF the outlook in mid-November,
there was as many notions as men
you met-that the churches had been
attacked in order to prompt the Pope
to press for peace. and hence bomb
ing would be repeated; that it had
been stopped by his intercession and
hence would not be repeated; that
the Austrians in a spirit Of vengeance
would raze the city; that their plan
was to take it and then threaten to
leave no stone upon another IL Italy
did not make peace; that, rather
than see it fall into Austrian hands.
a certain fervid poet had proposed
that Venice be evacuated by the Itali-
ans and burned by them, and so on.
The more reasonable hypothesis
seemed to be that, from the stand
point of the land campaign, there
was no military importance to the
city as such. It's impregnability by
land or sea was of other centuries.
before hypdroplanes and long-range
guns. The modern line of struggle
reached up the Piave river valley,
from, the coast to the mountains. and
If the line broke in the upper reaches
1T must fall back to the mex river
valley. and Venice be left behind like
SO much farm land.
On tn other hand, from the stand
point of the sea campaign. the port
of Venice is of. great Importance on
Adriatic. without it. the Italians
would have no adequate naval base
in its upper waters. The question:.
. might become one of
whether. as a naval base. it could be
held even if the line broke, and
whether, as such, it's Importance war
h ruin of the city. In other words.
Venice as a city and art treasure
would neither be wi'fullv hazarded by
the Italians nor wilfully demolished
bv h Austrians, a judgment which.
any days developments might
overthrow. hu which those Of No
ven1ber and December seemed to sus-
tain. her Camnarile, domes and roofs
unscathed while the fighting
went on from the coast to the noun
tains. and such military centers as
were bombed.
"a Watch That Has Stopped"
But our concern was with civilian
needs rather than with military 'oper-
atoms. and. as will appear. the fur
evacuation. Of Venice was being
considered quite independent of the
latter. The considerations were econ
fuel, work to do. The
town was like a watch which has
stopped: Not h frailness Of the an
cient architecture. but the helpless-
ness &c the modern city, once 1ts: arti-
Is thrown out of gear, was
was to bear in upon US at every
Onilke your nenls 1t fs not
given to economist or sociologist to
Isolate his subject-matter and expert
ment on a large scale. He cannot
put a community in a test tube and
what happens while he does
his or that. He must wait upon
And a student. Of civics would
have had here, had he the time or
heart to explore it, the phenomena Of
IN urban center. torn loose from those
lnderpinnings Of sustenance and ex-
of services which support the
city in the nation, the in
dustrial state in the world of raw ma
terial: The piles had been ripped out
from beneath the livelihood Of Ven
laying bare how every part of the
commonwealth is rooted in the whole,
and how. in casting for the future,
war is quicksand in a world Of econo-
my.