The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-05-26

Data In the records Of the National
Geographical society throw strong
light on the places which figured In
rival territorial claims Of Italy and
Jugo-Slavia. OF the city most holly
disputed 1t Is said:
"Fiume Is another of those foot
holds on the eastern Adriatic where
Italians chung fast despite the steady
influx of the Slavs in the interior and
even into Fiume itself. Thus the city
bears evidence Of early Italian cul-
ture. 1t figured as q potent Slave
factor In the turmoil of Balkan poll
ties and 1t felt strongly the influence
of Hungary upon its thriving indus
tries and fast growing commerce. Ii
Trieste was the Bremen of Austria,
Fiume was the Hamburg of the Hun
garian kingdom.
Magyar gerrymandering caused 1t
TO be annexed to Hungary In 1870 In
spite of the protest of Croatia, to
which it had belonged since the revo-
luton Of 1S48. Consideration for It's
value as a seaport rather than for
its citizens prompted its establish
ment as a royal free town.
Despite the Hungarian interest In
the city its prewar population was 80
per cent Italian and Slav, with the
Italians slightly predominant. Only
about half the remaining tenth were
Hungarians. The Slavs included
Croats, Serbs and Slovenes. AS i'm
portant to Hungary as is New York
or Boston to the United States,
Fumes total population is not much
greater than such suburbs of those
American ports as East Orange, N. j.
or Brockton, Mass.
Three Harbors at Fiume. :.
'Fiume Is situated on the northeast
shores of the Gulf Of Quarnero, only
20 miles by rail southeast of its trade
rival, Trieste. Across the bay is the
popular summer resort, Abbazia,
famed for It's evergreen laurel and
profusion of roses, to which e OF
thousands OF visitors formerly
thronged each summer The Older
town, distinctly Italian, is built on
the hillside overlooking the gulf. The
newer city lies nearer the water front
There are three harbors. The largest
accommodating $50 large vessels, Is
protected by a breakwater half
mile long. The quay is two miles
long.
Before the war Fumes manufac
turing plants included a government
tobacco factory, the Whitehead tor
pedo works. a rice Smelling factory.
petroleum factory and many smaller
plants, mons which were sawmill'
and ape mills. It's fisheries consti
tuted an important industry. 1t ex
ported sugar., grain, flour, horses. ant
timber.
Originating In Roman times, Fium'
was destroyed by Charlemagne in 100
The Franks ruled 1t for a consider
able period. Then 1t passed to feu
dial lords until Emperor Frederick III
made 1t a part of Austria. This EN-
peror, who as an archduke of Aus
tria was Frederick ", was the sol
of Ernest, the man Of IRON ant
Cymburga, a Polish from
whom the Hapsburgs are thought t,
have inherited the protruding Iii
which sometimes became q disf1gure
ment. His long and inconsequentia
reign Is recalled chiefly because HI
puzzled photographers by leaving OIL
his books and pottery and having in
scribed on his tomb the initials "A
e. I. O. o. The most generally ae
cepted explanation is that the initials
stood for the Latin, Austria Est I'm
perari Orb Universe meaning, al
the earth is subject to Austria Thu
was a promissory note of future Aus
trian greatness which Frederick iii,
little to realize.
Proclaimed 4 Free Port.
"Charles vi. proclaimed Fiume
free port. Maria Theresa first unitet
1t with Hungary. Successfully occu
pied by the French and British, 1
reverted to Austria and later was re
stored to Hungary before 1t was addet
to Croatia.
Small wonder that Dalmatia shoul,
form one of the most sharply con
tested regions In the rival Italian an,
Jugo-Slav claims, for this strip o
sea coast land for eight centuries haI
been swept by continuous racial tenn
pests. With an area about equal I,
Connecticut, Dalmatia Is so elongate,
that nowhere Is It more than IS mile
wide and 1t tapers down to a mile q
Cattaro.
with a climate Of extreme tempera
lures, hot and dry when the sirocc'
sweeps owe 1t and cold and wet wheI
the dread bora or wind of death
comes from the sea, peasants find lif'
struggle. The land Is not fertile
much of 1t Is not arabic at all. Tn
\ Greats and Serhians constitute tn,