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

props and joists and barricades Of
bags; but the wondrous mosaics Of
the domes and ceilings were as inn
movable or as impermanent as the
whole fabric of the city, of which
! they are the browning glory.
On the streets life, though dwind-
led, seemed to a strangers eyes to be
going on as usual. The shops for
tourists were mostly closed, as they
perhaps had been for months past,
but those which ministered to every
day wants were open. recall
chestnuts roasting outside one, a
Dlucked turkey hanging in a Win
dow, the piled green OF island boats
laden with vegetables alongside the
market, the pigeons in st. Marks
Place. Perhaps, in the absence of
tourists, they were again being. fed
at public expense. as they had been
down to the close Of the republic.
Women stopped to gossip on the
pennies under the arches of the
only one familiar with the town
could have appreciated the lapse OF
customary manifestations of her ways
of Hfe-such as the thick smoke
from pitch-pots in the building yards
for her Rondolas, the orange and red
sails of her fishers, the streamers of
smoke from her glass furnaces the
rose and faded blue shirts OF her pile
workers, or the trains Of priests
and people making their way along
the Fundamental of some small canal
on a visit to the parish shrines, or
the serenades and regattas OF her
water borne festas.
But of more prOsaic factors in the
change which had come upon the
city we had testimony. For the
most part, the Venetian workers are
normally engaged in ace-making
and glass-making. The falling on
in tourists early in the war crippled
the retail speciality shops, and threw
out of employment much OF thar
varied service bound up in the MOTEL
business. The fishers, shut of from
the Adriatic, and the gondoliers had
both suffered. All this, and the leaV-
ing of the young men for army and
navy had given occasion for those
works OF relief and employment toI
supplement family incomes carried
out by the Comittato Civlle Which u
have already described.
But so far as the two prime IN
dustries went, tourist purchases In
Venice after all, absorb but an in |
part of the output in lace
and glass. The lace sales in 1915, Tor
example, were double those in 1914,
which were in turn an increase over
those Of the year before the war. me
sales in 1915 were double those In ]
1q15 and the months Of 1917 before
thn invasion had made new records. I
Sales in America had been big ele-
ment in this showing, and the actiY-
itv oF the American consul big ele-
mani in those sales. Various forms
az military contract work sprang up,
fhA arsenal workshops became CEN
ters of activity, and wartime
eouiIibriun was reached in the econ
ornic life Of Venice very difIerent
from that of normal times, but sur
ficing.
Effect of Threatened Invasion,
This equilibrium was shattered by
the invasion, The sudden rush OF
thousands of the better-to-d do peo-
ple from the city meant the closing
OF many shops and consequent un-
But that was only the
We were told that the
electric light and power works up In
the hills Of the mainland had Iallen
into the hands of the Austrians, and
Tins the power was shut on. II
thew were to advance much further
IL was said, they would also get the
sources Of water supply, and venice
has only a few artesian wells. More
over. in recent years, most house
holds. even Of the poorer people,
have become dependent upon gas
for cooking, and the gas supply Is
on coal from the outside.
Venice has never been q self-sus-
tanning community I'm the matter OF
food supplies. As the saying goes,
she has bought by the handful ana
sold by the thimbleful. The city
never has had large stores. the
source of much food was the upper
Veneto. where, even in districts un-
invaded agriculture and farm work
had been made difficult by she'll
fire. The railroad which serves
Venice rims for the whole length OF
the province parallel to and very
close to the line OF battle; coup de
main might cut IT.: 1t had become
subject to aeroplane attacks and, in
any case. this line was given over to
army use. The city can with DIFF
fcuIty be fed from the sea, because
fishing rs paraiyzed and there is mol
vessel service. These
were some of the factors in the site
uation Of which various people told
US.
On such a tenure, manufacturing
were quick to seek
other plants taking in many cases
their machinery and workers with
them. Private factories doing gov
contract work in clothing.
boots and shoes went to variousl