The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-02-20

4
point of contact with the demand
and once that contract is establish
| ed IL passes from an economic dral
to an economic motor. / find tina
Italy has a saturate solution of ref
ugees already, so that very few
communities have any capacity t
absorb any new quantities unles!
preparation is made to receive then
and to put them to work on arrival.
To move them in colonies YOU
get the advantage OF having classes
OF organized labor available among
which the community units have al
ready been established, and in which
the family units need not be de-
stroyed The cost OF caring fol
them is decreasing one. 1t Is
merely bridging the crisis. The sep.
aration of families and relatives is
avoided. and ceaseless searching fol
lost refugees is eliminated, thai
search which forms so many har-
rowing pages in the daily press al
present.
when the time is ripe, the colon
les can be retransported to Venice
If conditions justify it.; whereas. ii
they were sown broadcast over the
| face of Italy they could with the
| greatest difficulty be regathered.
THE third alternative of letting
the people be gradually driven out
| by hunger and the impossibility OF
obtaining the necessary work here
to support life is a plan that nobody
would aYowedly adopt, but as con-
| dition it may arise, due to the delays
in putting the other alternatives
| into execution"
! An Orderly Migration.
I Mr.. CAROLS memorandum is by
1 a L have
seen of the program of orderly
migration instituted in Venice, in
contrast to the prOmiscuous trans
port such as, all but inevitably,
marked the first rush of refugees
| down the mainland in the weeks
following the invasion. 1t is quoted
here on that account, rather than as
an argument for the wholesale civil
] ian evacuation Of Venice, the latter
being a question of policy which
will have been decided one way or
another by military events, or, as
| indicated, quite apart from those
events. long before this article
reaches America decision, Of
course, which fell wholly outside
the province Of the American Red
Cross.
Practical reasons, which need not
be gone into here, could be ad-
vanced in support of the contrary
policy-that Of encouraging all nom
combatants to remain in their homes
whatever befalls, which was adopted
by the government in November for
the INLAND war Zone-even in its
application to Venice. But the is
land city, as we have seen, con-
fronted an exceptional situation in
it's economic isolation; and, more
over, for the sake of the people
themselves no less than to remove
an element of weakness, those con-
cerned in the defense Of Venice are
credited with support of the plan
for colonization.
Conditions which gave 1t force
were reported by Sacerdote Silvio
Mason, priest of the parish Of Santa
Euphemia, which comprises the
Giudecca island, a section of the city
inhabited almost exclusively by
poorer people. In normal times, H.
600 souls 1900 families) make up this
parish. OF these, 1000 had been
called to the colors as soldiers. They
left behind them 500 families who
received the military allotment, BUT
that was not enough to support them
under existing conditions. The 9TH
err 400 families, made up of older
men, women and children, had only
what they could earn. Normally
the parish folk Of Santa Euphemia's
are factory workers, but only two or
the factories on the island were still
i'm operation in early December, a
flour mill and q cement factory, both
working with greatly diminished
forces. In the exodus from venice
in November, only about 200 people
left this island; there was no pros
pect of the resumption Of the rae
tories. and every prospect that With
in a short time from 1000 to 5000
people would have to be rattoned up
less they were transplanted to some
locality where their skill as factory
workers might be employed.
Conditions Bad in Suburbs.
Conditions in some of the suburban
island settlements were not different, |
Early in December, Consul Carrol
went by the little steamer TO Burano
and IRE Porti. He found very few
people left at Ire Porti, which is the
last station on the line, as 1t is at
the nearby station OF GavaHuceherlhIa
that the trenches come down to the
sea But at Burano there We're ten
thousand-all the civilians, In facl /
except about twenty workers be-
longing to the Bardwil Lace school, |
an American undertaking, who had
heen taken 10 Florence. Two hun
dred and fifty skilled lace Workers I
i'm Burano point, Venetian point and
flet lace were quite idle, but cap
able of becoming a self-sustaning
unit II transplanted and guaranteed
work.
The fishing population was able to
scanty existence. hoL
some time the town had been IN
5arxness. as the electric lights had
oean removed and the wires taken
There was no gas, but
wood was still to be had for cooking
and fuel. For three days there had
baen no bread, although there was
plenty of corn; the only mill had
been operated by an electric motor
and the shutting off Of the electricity
mad nut it out Of commission. A ffee
Kitchen had been opened the week
before, which was supplying meal
I dav To 600 lace-workers and their
:, ,,s,iios ana for this Mr.. Carroll left
! n6o lire from his Red Cross fund
with the president OF the local Conf
Eato Civile. ,
VIRGINIA Lee Welch, an American
naRaaine writer, for many years q
visitor to Venice, who has been serE-
- Mr. Carroll as a volunteer, visit
vi Turauo. where she found the
priest of the parish in charge or
he Comitato Civile. He stated
hat while all the well-to-do people
1ad left the island, some six thou
sand Of the less well-to-do remain
"a two-thirds Of whom must have
food supplied them in two weeks
one thousand soldiers are in the
7eld and their families got small
allowance, but the rest
were Deopie out Of employment. The
gIasg-workers could no longer work
for lack OF chemicals and coal. The
workers IN beads were unemployed
fhnrn WAS no glass. Fish