The Washington herald., 1920-03-28
Red Ferment Disturbs Italy,
Semi Comic Situation May
End in Tragedy for Latins

Ineffective gas was used: had the
criminals been able to obtain the
latest and most deadly poison, ard
would have come out OF the tunnel
fil,cd with corpses. After this in
cident bombs on the lines and
tiown-up bridges savored of COM
monplace.
Whether the combined "posteie-
grafonico" and railway strike was
or whether Il was fomented by the
government for reasons Of foreign
policy, IL ended in a week mucn as
did the recent strike in England.
the men receiving the major pol
ton of their demands. That word
''postelegrafonico." coined by some
Italian headline genius, is a mar
vel OF compression: IL means, pos
tai, telegraph and telephone opera
tors" It is characteristic of the
censorship in Italy that the news
papcTs were not permitted to print
the demands of the strikers at the
beginning of the strike. nor the
terms of settlement at its close.
In one city of the north a con-
sulate Of one of the allied powers
not America-has notified all its
nationals that in the event fighting
breaks out they are to go to GER
tain specified houses which will be
defended with machine guns II at
tempts are made to murder for
eigners. That sounds serious; but
this Is Italy, and the sun Is shining,
and the people are so good natured.
except the few who do such things
as NIL tunnels with poison gas, that
personally I can't believe in any
such outbreak ever taking place.
Fiume Not Forgotten.
What about ,Fiume and the trou-
BILE with the Yugo-Slavs? The rest
of Europe. bored with this topic,
has done its best to forget that the
Adriatic question Is still more un-
solved than ever. But Italy does
not forget, her Chauvinist states
men clamor and her press howls
against the Slavs and against the
allies. and the more moderate
voices are almost drowned out In
the din.
Premier Nitti Is essentially q
moderate. and is said to realize that
Italy must live on good terms with
Jugo-Slavia and the allies IL he is
to get back to work, demobilize
and recover from her expensive
victory. But public opinion is such
that he is forced to appear some
what Of q lingo or be thrown out
OF the ONCE by the Chamber Of
Deputies.
Italy stin MobIiised.
In appearance a country at war,
Italy stands to arms with a mobil-
lied army 10000 strong. while her
economic position is going from
bad to Impossible. The other day
got 20 lira for dollar In Flor
ence, Is against a normal exchange
OF a little more than five. For
Italy this smash in her exchanges
Is more serious than for France or
England. because Italy must import
coal and raw materials and pay for
them. not In Ira but in pounds and
francs and dollars.
Meanwhile prices continue to soar
and the country would starve ex-
cepting the peasants amid all the
tumult go on raising food. But
they do not produce as much food
as normally because the bulk of
the men In the army have been
taken from the farms.
Militarists Dominate Government.
Opponents of the Fiume adven-
ture and the Adriatic policy of italy
here have told me that the govern
ment would like to demobilize, real
ICES that only in rehabilitation Is
there any hope OF Improvement and
that present policy of drift IL
heading Italy straight toward the
abyss. But the group OF generals
In command OF the army, I am told.
is too strong to be ruled by the
Cabinet and they in conjunction
with the heads of the fleet refuse
to be demobilized. II this Is true.
Italy Is in the hands of q military
caramilla and not of q parliament
tary government. and the success
of D'Annunzio's coup is not to be
wondered at
American Prohibition In UnpopuIar.
America is not popular in Italy.
President Wilson win never be Tor
given by the annexationists for his
stand on Fiume. The United States.
It Is felt apparently by most Ital-
ians. has formed financial al1f-
ance with England to exploit the
rest of the world. to bind the Latin
nations in chains OF economic sla-
very.
Another cause of Irritation with
the United States Is prohibition. .
That sounds like a joke but it isn't /,
Everybody here drinks wine and
most italians seriously think that
to pro hibit the drinking OF wine q
nstior must be literally mad
Mo- sover. great source OF
weaEs [" Italy in the past has been
the earnings OF italian Immigrants