The Ocala evening star., 1919-03-19
RxuoYp ALLEN.

Our American ambassador mere ID
Rome, Thomas Nelson Page. believes /
that Italy suffered more from the ray
ages OF war than any other nation 4
fighting the central powers, except l
Serbia and Poland. both of which /
were robbed and almost wholly over
run by invading Hun armies.
In spite OF her war losses, which in
clude almost half million dead and
near on to a million wounded. to say
nothing of an enormous national debt, /
Italy is today starting out on pro
gram OF reconstruction aiming to make
the most out Of whatever place I'm the
sun the peace conference gives her.
The slogan of the national leaders
might well enough be Italy for the
Italians" since that phrase summa-
rfzesl a majority of their ambitions
and to all appearances has the sup
port Of the people.
It is going to be tremendous up
hill job, this business Of repairing the
damages wrought by war; Sixty-two
per cent OF the italian merchant ma
rine was sunk by Austrian and Ger
man submarines-the Mediterranean
sea was made into graveyard OF
merchant ships. every one of which
could now be put to excellent peace
time use carrying raw materials and
food.
Enormous Task Ahead
Half a million fine acres CT land in
the northern provinces of Italy, which
was virtually abandoned during the
Austrian occupation. may not be
pl0wed this spring. owing TO the shortf
ness OF time. and the enormity Of yhe
task of rehabiIitating the farm popu-
lation. Several thousand plowing ma
chimes must be rushed i'm for the work.
IL IL is to be accomplished, as well as
a large number of horses for trans
porting fuel and fertilizers and for
sowing the fields.
There is a food shortage in the
meantime meat and wheat and dairy
products are very scarce, in fact, but
ter ii almost an unknown commodity
In even the best hotels of Rome, Milan.
Turin and Genoa
And there is fuel shortage that is
even worse, because Italy does not
produce one pound of coal within her
own boundaries. Every pound burned
must be hauled in ships, either from
| England or America. and there is none
| to spare in England.
Not counting the excessively high
| prices of all commodities, these were
some of the principal economic trou-
bles the Italian government was en-
| deavoring TO overcome during the first
weeks of the peace conference in
Paris. The army of $500. 600 men was
still in uniform, although a few had
been demobilized. and 100000 men and
women were still in the munition fac
| tories.
Slight Tinge Of Anarchy.
Throughout the political situation
there was naturally enough an under
current of radicalisni. which, fortunate
4 ly enough, was thought TO he only
slightly tinged with the aparchistit
1 doctrines of the bolsheviks.
4 With this groundwork Italy's ma
tionai leaders confidently expected *
develop a greater Italy; an Italy thai
would be big enough. and prosperous
enough. to keep at home most, If no
all. OF the half million Italians tha
in former years were obliged TO leave
the motherland to find work in th'
Americas, either in the United State.
or the Argentine Republic.
First OF all the government expected
TO do great things for the country b,
) encouraging the development of water
power sites in the big rivers and in tn
mountainous country of the north
through the Trentino, which had jus
, ,, been won from Austria.
Food Administrator Crespi, here II
!. Rome. outlined some of the advantage
to be gained by the greater use o
electricity generated by the hydro
electric plants to take the place. o
coal costing more than 500 ton
Available Water Power.
According to Crespi:. and his view
! were substantially the same as thos
. i expressed by other Italian official
. with whom I talked. Italy Is today ut
+ | lizing 1.25OOO0 horse power out Of tn
: 5000. 900 horse power that Is availabl
: in all of the rivers and streams Of IN
e country.
81 4You must remember" Crespi sai'
! "that II will be many years before
fl IN an economic proposition. TO Us
!, every bit of the 100000 horse pows
h we own. los a simple problem J
: financeering. Some OF the water-pow'
" sites must be left untouched becau'
II costs too much to harness the poH
er. The cost Of installing plant
stI these doubtful sites is at present t
i great, even though coal, the on
B power substitute, is frightfully expe
1t sive."
s. Orespi is a manufactures himse
il prominent I'm the silk industry, and
10 recognized throughout Italy as pra
wi tical administrator of large affairs
nr More electricity VIII mean more fs
nj tories: and that I'm turn implies c
l. employment Of Italians who before {
,t. war could not find jobs In their moth
IN country. So the government is
"A norraCinp large CORPORATIONS to cRea