Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-16
Var Cut off Two Biggest
Incomes From Tourists
and Emigrants: Large
Loans Needed to Make
Up Deficiency
Markets for Cotton Goods
and Silk in Central Eu.
rope Eliminated; Un-
steady Exchange Market
One of Difficulties
BY FRANK A. VANDERBILT

BY FRANK A. VANDERBILT
WHEN one comes to see the impor-
tancc Of looking Mt nation in the
light of its power OF self .sustenance. he
Will distinguish sharply between domes-
tic wealth and national ability to com
mand and pay for necessities of foreign
origin.
Take Italy, for example. She is won
derfully rich in man power. moderately
well to do in agricultural resources.
She has partly developed her great po-
tential resources of water power. She
has no good native coal, little mineral
Of any kind and none of the great staple
raw materials. She raises silk which
she unwinds from the cocoons onto the
bobbins and spins into skeins, and then.
in the main, exports 1t to the looms Of
France and Switzerland, and formerly
to Austria, to be woven.
Coal Essential
IT is absolutely essential to her life
to import about million tons Of coal
month. all Of her cotton. much Of her
wool and some Of her food. She exports
the lovely skeins Of yellow silk; her
looms convert American cotton with a
great deal of skill into cheap fabrics for
the Near Fast. She exports olive oil
and few special food products Of small
lyo o1,,a In ho
roni, cheese and certain amount Of
wine. In the present stage of her in
dustrial development she has, compare
lively speaking. little to export and an
absolutely insistent need for very con-
siderable imports.
For many years. therefore. Italy's
foreign trade has been out of balance.
She could not sell the world goods equal
in value to the amount Of goods she
must have. from the world. She did
have, however, two special and unusual
sources of annual income. To tour
lists Italy has for centuries been ''the
garden spot Of the world" The aggre-
gate from the tourist business reached
very large figures in recent years.
| She had another important source of
annual income. reaching, indeed, in re-
cent years to upward of 500, ,0O0, 900.
and that was the savings her emigrant
sons sent home. This has been a con l.
stant and growing fund which yearly
contributed in an important degree
toward equalizing the international
balance.
For several years prior to the war,
and in spite of deficient volume Of ex-
ports, Italy was able fully to balance
her international account without
making foreign loans, through the aid
of these two great sources Of annual in =
come-the expenditure by tourists and
the remittance from her emigrants.
War Changes Position
The war has wholly changed this sat
isfactory position. During the war
Italy incurred foreign obligations
amounting to $3,100 900 900, the an
nual interest charge on which is, say,
81 200, 900. Il
This alone would have thrown her
International account severely out of
balance and would have been extremely
serious because she has no way by
which it Is feasible promptly to in
crease her exports. But the incurring
of the foreign obligation with its an
nual interest requirements is only q
part of her present difficulties. s
The embargo on travel all through
the war and certain continuance Of
that embargo for further year or two
costs Italy In her international account
while her other source of annual in
come, the remittance from emigrants.
has necessarily been greatly curtailed
because of the return to the colors of a
great number of her Industrious sons.
These emigrant remittances have
continued in remarkable volume, but
still there is n deficiency there from
| prewar figures that is important in
view of the extreme need for something
to counterbalance the absolutely nee
essary payments that Italy must make
abroad.
Two of her important exports, raw
silk and cheap manufactured cotton
goods, have had their market seriously
interfered with. The markets for the
raw silk were France, Austria, Ger
many and Switzerland. The market in
the central powers was wholly cut of
and in France badly disorganized.
Silk Industry
The raising of the cocoon is an essen :
tial part of the agricultural industry of
Italy. The cocoons are sold to the silk
mills In June and throughout the rest
of the year the mills are busy winding
the half mile or more Of fiber that each
cocoon is said to contain into yellow
skeins OF raw silk that in the main 60
to foreign looms to be dyed and woven.
The cocoons are paid for by the silk
mills in June. The mills In turn receive
their payment for the raw silk month
by month throughout the year. Here
was where the fuctuation in exchange
made serious difficulty. The silk mills
having paid for the cocoons definite
amount Of lire. found when they came
! to dispose Of the raw silk some months
l lafsr mat fhe carrenciee were no de- i.