The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-23
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM A TON
Blu REAU
FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Director.
Washington. D. C.
GABRIEL D'ANNUNzIo.

the personal transformations which
the war has worked. Capt. Gabriel
d'Annunzio of the italian flying corps,
who recently crossed the Alps with a
squad of planes to drop a warning in
the streets of Vienna, is certainly one
of the most remarkable
Before the war. d'Annunz1o was
famed as a poet and aesthetic, q
ladies' man, and an autocrat with
fine scorn for what he-terme6 demo-
cratic mud" When the war broke out
he enlisted in the flying corps, won
rapid promotion, and has been many
times mentioned in dispatches. He is
further reputed to have renowned MS
autocratic philosophy. and to have en-
dorsed IN his speeches the principles
advocated by President Wilson.
To thus leave @ life of aesthetic ease
for the hardships and dangers of bat
tie, and to renounce a lifelong con-
tempt for the principles of democracy
by going forth to fight for them,
would be sufficiently remarkable in a
young man. But Gabriel d'Annunzio
is 54 years old.
According to members of the Italian
war mission here in Washington, the
message which d'Annunzio dropped in
Vienna the other day was as follows:
ITO the people of Vienna: We could
drop tons of bombs, but we 1taliaps
do not make war on women, children
and old men-only> on your blind, OBJ
stinate, cruel government, which can
not give you either peace or bread. but
feeds you on hatred and illusions"
Gabriel d'Annunzio has none of the
conventional chara cteristics Of the
Greenwich village type of poet. To
begin with, If compelled to live in
America. d'Annunzio would not live in
Greenwich Village at all. but on Riv-
erside drive. He likes all the luXuries
of life. His clothes are immaculate,
his fingernails deliberately manicured
and his hair-well, what there is of II
is short, but he is mostly bald.
He is described as a little thin man
with fair hair and short Van Dyke
beard, with large gray eyes and rather
thick, senuous lips. He is famous in
Italy for his love affairs and his
dramas. He long professed the belief
that the morals made for ordinary
| men should be disregarded whenever
they interfered with art. Thus in his
great tragedy THE Triumph OF
DEATH" produced by Sarah Bernhard,
| at the Renaissance theater in Paris, we
| find d'Annunzio announcing thru the
| lips of Alessandro, that everything
must be sacrificed to genius. Ales-
sandro is in love with a young girl
| Blanca Maria, and. according to the
dbONc Sldteu principles, pushes MS sui
| in spite of the fact that he has a de-
voted blind wife.
AS personality study alone
d'Annunzfo is among the most inter
esting of the worlds literati.f He il
so varied. In addition to his literary
activities. he has raised a family OF
| several boys, to whom he is devote d
He keeps kennel of racing dogs
| which he used to take to Paris every
! so often to compete in dog races. sAnc
| he has quite reputation as a hunter
OF Italian foxes. His horses are al
tthorobreds, and before the war ht
| used to ride horseback every morn.
ing He is also said to be very fon6
| of swimming and fencing. When thu
mediately bought one and went in fol
motoring, and with the invention OF
aeroplanes he Immediately became al
\ aviation enthusiast. 1t is interestfns
to note that d'AnRunzie,s first fiigh
was made with one of the Curtis.
Drothers in 1910, and row in 1918
| Hugo y Annunzio. his son, IS here il
America showing an American plan
/ now to make Caproni aeroplanes,
D'Annunzio, pere, entered the Ital
ian aviation corps at the beginning O
! the war as reconnaissance expert H,
does not run his own machine, but
! choosing the most daring of the pilots
lilies over the enemy's lines and spie.
upon them. He has uncovered in thi
way a great deal of important infor.
nation about the enemy and prevent
ed at least one large disaster 1t wa.
his idea to fly over Vienna two year:
ago. dropping words of wisdom on the
Viennese, but the commander of the
Italian aviation corps refused to per
nit him. They needed him at home
he said.
Before the war. d'Annunzio was on.
of the greatest disciples of autocracy
In one of his novels he speaks of tn,
mud of democracy" which was de
stroyfng the fine tradition of the 1t
allan nobility. Since the war. however
he is great exponent of the Wilson
ian democracy. In the first year o
the war he made one of the most stir
ring war speeches that has been mad
in Italy--a speech which is said t,
have had more effect in deciding Ital.
to join the allies than any other on
thing.