The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-02-19


Events, galvanized by the spirited
resistance of the Italian armies
along the Piave, proved these fore
casts mistaken: but without them IN
mind, you would not get the feel OF
the situation, as we felt it when we
crossed the lagoon and through the
car windows saw the domes ana
towers of the city before us; and
when, a little later, an old ganziero
helping US with his hooked pole we
clamored into my first gondola.
Carried 100000 Lire.
We had made the night trip down
from Rome in an ordinary compart-
ment, filing up the space between
the seats with suitcases and getting
such sleep as we could in our over
coats. / was accompanying the two
American social workers who had
set the standards for emergency re-
lief at San Francisco and in the Ohio
floods, one now chief Of the Amer-
can Red Cross work for refugees in
France, the other the organizer Of
Red Cross help for the Belgian ref
ugees in Holland in 1914 and now
Red Cross commissioner to Belgium.
With us was a lieutenant of the
Bersaglieri, assigned to us as laisonI
and interpreter by the Italian war
department. And not least, my old
leather brief case, which has carried
many Survey manuscripts home for
night reading, but which now buig-
ed as never before, with $4,000 lire,
mostly in notes of from five to fifty
lire. For in this emergency, traffic
line congested with troops and mill
tary material. and the Venetian
banks closed, more bulky supplies
IL H. Al
or even large bills were useless.
An Old Doas of Venice.
In Rome we had been in confer |
ence with the Red Cross executives
from France (who were serving as an |
can ambassador, Americans in resi- |
dence and members Of the ministry.
With the representatives Of the As A.,
ISOLATED Press we had called on
Luigi Luzzattt, former premier and |
member Of parliament from Venezia, !
who had just been appointed high !
commissioner for profughi italian
for refugees) and was charged with /
a permanent plan Of
assistance. We found |
him in his apartments and passed |
through rooms stacked with papers
and official looking documents, and
our first thought was that these were
themselves treasure trove from
Venice. But 1t turned out that this
was the customary environment Of
their master, whom we came upon,
like some antiquary in the midst Of
his collections. standing in a furth-
or and larger room. Here were
tables, desks, cabinets, heaped two
feet high with such litter shelves
lined with paper-cOvered books,
books stacked in front OF the shelves
and wedged in on top Of other books
IN defiance Of all librarians.
And the man before us looked
nothing less than some old doge Of
Venice, stepped out of the middle
ages. His hair was white and long
over his collar; heavy black eye
,rows contrasted with white beard;
ne wore a skull cap. and a muffler
1unE down his neck like stole. IN
happy man, he said, that in his age
t should fall to his lot to be charg-
I'd with the evacuation OF his native
district But with that, he fired to-
his task, and talked brilliantly OF
he war, Of craftsmanship, OF Amer
cas- part in arms and in civilian
id 6f the refugees he said: ITO
rive all labor and not all aims ID
ny problem"
Selection Readily Understood.
In his quick nina and vehement
Ipeech we could gather why, how
Yer much OF the actual task OF ad-
comprehensive sys-
EN- of care for the refugees might
ali to his younger associates, this
-enerabIe senator and member of
ministries from the stricken district
,ad been chosen as embodytng in
he public imagination the care ana
,rovision which the government had
af itself to give. And in a sense he
food for another force in modern
Italian life. of which Americans are,
or the most part, unconscious. For
such have been the tremendous
mutations of the centuries--this
Guardian of fugitives from the city
4 Antonio and Shylock is, like the
Italian minister OF foreign aHairs
nd many another high in public
life, a Jew.
he course of our rapid tour, but
Tenice stands out among the rest.
throughout our stay there-we had
sense Of things impending. 1t was
Ike Luzzatti's room, piled high with
Is records of fifty years of Italian
lie. but with no script to tell what
he next month or day might hold.
t was beyond our powers to read,
q Rushin did. the history OF her
,eople written generation after gen.
ration in carved and ordered stonesi
nut there was a poignancy which no
ne could escape in moving down
i1ent canals beside shattered build
ngs. a sense Of frailness in this
eauty built in yesterdays, fallen on
time OF steel and high explosives.
renice had her beginnings In a
light OF refugees before the invasion
f the Huns in the days Of Attiia.
Vas She to end as she began?
The Peril Of the Air.
The chronicler Of the life of the Ia
oons has pointed out that in the