The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1918-12-28
ITALY'S DESPERATE
NEED FOR FOOD

Montpelier, Dec. 26-The need of
food is so desperate in the northern
provinces Of trieste and the Tren-
tino, recently liberated by Austria,
that the Italian government has been
using its great fleet of Caproni planes
to carry food to the starving people.
Each machine carried several tons
of food from Italy's slim supplies to
meet the terrible needs of people
who would have starved to death be-
fore the roads and bridges, destroy
ed by the retiring Austrian army,
could have been rebuilt.
Italy can i'll spare that food. Her
own people are never very far from
famine. This is true not only of
the laborin<; classes and of the poor,
but of all classes of society. A pro-
fessor in the University of Bologna,
who recently arrived in this country,
states that this fall he and his
family were actually without food for
three days, it being absolutely I'M
possible to secure food for that
length of time.
The average ration obtaining in
Italy prior to the signing of the
armistice consisted of 9 ounces Of
bread per day; two and half ounces
of rice and two and half ounces of
alimentary paste to be had on alter
nate days; 7 ounces of sugar per
month; and one-half quart of olive
oil per month. One of the first re7
suits of the signing of the armistice
was the further reduction of these
small sations in order that Italy
might meet the increased demands
upon her meager stocks of food,
which were to result from the ces-
sation Of Eostilities.
The signing of the armistice
brought no relief to the serious short
age of food existing at present in
Italy. In fact, the cessation of hos
tilities has greatly added to Italy's
burden in this respect, for now she
must feed the people of the districts
recently liberated by Austria.
Italy's normal population of 37,-
100000 has been increased by several
millions since the beginning of the
war. In times of peace, about
100000 people emigrated from Italy
each year Upon the outbreak of
hostilities, the flow of emigrants
from Italy was stopped and in the
four years since, it is estimated that
100000 people have remained in
Italy who ordinarily would have left
the country Add to this, 100000
Austrian prisoners; 100000 of
the starving people of the Trentino; !;
100000 in Trieste and Istria; 600,-
900 in Dalmatia; and 100000 in AL
bania; and one gets a total of over
100000 hungry mouths which Italy
has how to feed in addition to her
ordinary population. Subtracting the
losses of the Army, which amount to
one-qual.ter of a million killed, this
constitutes a heavy drain on Italy's
already depleted resources.
Italy has never produced sufficient
food for her population. She has
always been obliged to import wheat
and other foodstuffs, as her average
production falls below her consump-
ton. Since the beginning of the
war, of course, her production has
rapidly decreased. According to ad-
vices just received from Rome by the
Italian American News Bureau, this
years crops of wheat are estimated
to be 45,000,000 bushels short of the
normal yield. Her corn crop shows
a deficit of 24,000,000 bushels com
pared with normal production. Her
livestock has been reduced from a
total OF 15,000O00 head to less than
100000 head. This reduction in
livestock is doubly serious for Italy,
because there the animals are used
to large extent as beasts of burden
in farm labor, as well as source of
milk and meat.