Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-06-05


Of Early Italian CuIture-Very
Small Proportion Of the Population
of the City Is Hungarian.
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 hotly
disputed it 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 u potent Slave
factor In the turmoil of Balkan poll
ties and it felt strongly the influence
of Hungary upon its thriving indus
tries and fast growing commerce, If
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 1S4S. Consideration for its
value as a seaport rather than for
it's citizens prompted it's establish.
ment as a royal free town..
"Dcspite the Hungarian interest in
the city it's prewar population was 30
per cent Italian and Slav, with the
Italians slightly predominant. Only
about half the remaining tenth We're
Hungarians. The Savs 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
70 miles by rail southeast Of it's trade
rival, Trieste. Across the bay is the
popular summer resort, AbbaZia,
famed for its evergreen laurel and
profusion of roses, to which tens 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 breakwater half
mile long. The quay is two miles
long.
Before the war Fumes manufac'
turing plants included II government
tobacco factory, the Whitehead tor
ppdo works, a rice Smelling factory,
petroleum factory and many smaller
plants, among which We're sawmlls
and paper mills. It's fisheries consti-
tuted an important industry. 1t eX-
ported sugar, grain, flour, horses ami
timber.
"Originating in Roman times, Fiume
was destroyed by Charlemagne In 1913.
The Franks ruled it for a consider
able period. Then 1t passed to feu-
dial lords until Emperor Frederick III.
made it part of Austria. This en-
peror. who as an archduke Of Aus
tria was Frederick ", was the son
OF Ernest, the man of from and
Cymburga, a Polish woman from
whom the HapSburgs are thought to
have inherited the protruding lip
which sometimes became a disfigure-
ment. His long and inconSequential
reign is recalled chiefly because he
puzzled photographers by leaving on
his books and pottery and having in
scribed on his tomb the initials "A.
f. l. O. o. The most generally ac-
cepted explanation is that the initials
stood for the Latin, Austria Est I'M
perari Orbi Universe, meaning, All
the earth is subject to AUSTRIA This
was promiSsory note of future Aus
tran greatness which Frederick did
little to realize.
Proclaimed a Free Port.
Charles VI. proclaimed Fiume a
free port. Maria Theresa first united
it with Hungary. Successfully Occu-
pied by the French and British, it
reverted to Austria and later was re-
stored to Hungary before 1t was added
to Croatia.
Small wonder that Dalmatia should
form one of the most sharply con-
tested regions in the rival italian and
Jugo-Slav claims, for this strip of
sea coast land fer eight centuries has
been swept by continuous racial tenn
pests. With an area about equal to
Connecticut, Dalmatia is so elongated
that nowhere is it more than 30 miles
wide and it tapers down to a mile at
Cattaro.
= "With a climate of extreme tempera-
lures, hot and dry when the siroccO
sweeps over it and cold and wet when
the dread bora or wind of death
comes from the sea- peasants find life
a struggle. The land is not fertile,
much of it is not rrable at all. The
Croats and Serbians constitute the
Slavic element In Dalmatia. They
speak the same language but employ
two alphabets. The Serbs use the
Russian and the Croats the Latin let
tiers and alphabet, In the cities the