Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-07

Nobody who is familiar with Italy's economic position can fail to appre- ciate the exceptional nature of the financial strain which the war has placed upon her. writes Professor B. D. Attolico, minister plenipotentiarv and Italian commissioner general in the United States for financial and economic affairs, in the Independent. The main features of Italian economic structure are such that the conee- quences of the war were bound to weigh more heavily on her than on any other country. All agricultural exports-a most important item in her foreign trade-had tp be suppressed, as the food could not be spared from home. Her greater dependence upon the markets of central Europe, the shortage of tonnage and shipping fa- cilities, the deficiency of raw materials or every kind, the grave submarine menace to which the Mediterranean was exposed, these not only severely curtailed. but almost killed, her indus trial export trade; while the tourist trade and emigration, which played in her trade budget more important role than in that of any other counirv were completely destroyed.
 Italy suffered from all the economic disadvantages of the war, but she en- joyed none of the advantages which it brought. England, for instance. had to become a manufacturing emporium for the allies, which implied an i'm mediate economic benefit to her people France had the tremendous advantage of the presence of the allied armies on her soil which meant a steady in- f1ux of fresh blood into her economic organism. Nothing of this kind oc- cured in Italy.
 RI1t if rnI1Sf Iaa A greater the compression, as compar- ed with other countries, of our export trade, the greater win necessarily be the margin of our recovery. The few CT the war industries Italy was put in position to create during the war, the less complicated will be the diff cuities of transformation. The higher the proportional cost of freight on our imports, the more noticeable will
 be the benefit which, in time. we shall derive from the lowering of the cost of transportation. The greater the dis advantage Of the displacement of sup- plying or importing markets during , the war, the more conspicuous, in due course, will be the benefit of the re-
 turn to normal conditions. In other words, Italy eventually will benefit from the severity of her past sacri- fees. Then, again, Italy's future is dSSdTSuf 41f0IR p6IndpS lfldn DY any other factor. by the proportionately larger amount of labor which she has available, while the value Of labor, az
 a factor in the general economy o1
 nations, is certainly higher than il
 ever was before.
 It is not possible to show in a few
 words how remarkably well Italy has
 done, and is doing. in the way of her
 economic recovery. For the moment
 I wish to cal attention to two con
 spicaons features of our situation:
 The steady increase Of our export
 trade and the courage of our hscal policy.
 During the last few months not g [ single strike of any importance has
 taken place in Italy. The great mass laof the country has been and is har6 at work. In many instances, in sev- ] eral Italian industries, the workers, al their own request, are working more I than eight hours daily, and produc- ton is at full speed. Increased ex- portation is of course resulting iron I increased production. The increase i is relatively greater than in any oth- \ CT European country. From the
 monthly statistical bulletin of the sui.
 preme economic council the following I figures are taken showing in thous. ands of pounds sterling the exporta- tion from the United Kingdom, Franct I and Italy: