The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1920-04-10
TELLS ITALIANS;
TIGHTEN BELTS
No Hope of Better Food Situa-
ton Seen by Food Con-
tr0Iler at Rome.
STILL EATING WAR BREAD
Strikes and Riots Are Bred by Stead.
'y Increasing Cost Of Everything
Causing Deen Anxiety to
Government.

Rome.-Italy's food situation is
worse now than it has been since the
armlstice and almost as bad as it
was during the dark days of the war.
The feeling that all is not we'll has
weighed upon housekeepers for weeks.
when life's prime necessities grew
rarer and dearer. But now the coun-
try has been told the bitter truth by
Food Controller Murialdi in a speech
before the chamber of deputies.
This years harvest of grain has
yielded 2O0,000,00O hundredweight
less than last year; the government
must import 25O,OO0,OOO hundred
weight for bread, which is sold at 20
cents for two-pound loaf, and means
$4oO,oOO,OOO on hard grain alone; on
soft grain the loss equals another
$4OO,OOO,OO0; on olive oil the state
loses several hundred million dollars.
Italy is the only allied country
whose Inhabitants must still eat war
bread. Its price, the government says,
must shortly be raised S or 10 cents
Tor two-pound loaf, because the
budget cannot stand the loss of $780,
100000 year on grain alone. The
public must bear part of the burden
in dearer bread.
Rlce is scarce, too; this years har-
vest shows shortage Of half a mill
lion hundredwelght; the oil harvest
IS SO poor the public has less than
one-third the quantity doled out last
year. There is less than half the
quantity of cheese, lard, butter and
milk of last year; there is a serious
sugar shortage too.
No Prospect Of Relief.
And the food controller has no
remedy to suggest. The public blames
him and his food ministry. he
blames the food ministry too, say
Ing that such chaos reigned when he
took it over last summer that he has
been unable to straighten things out
and will resign as soon as possible.
He told an astonished chamber that
he found his ministry buying cheese
at % cents a pound, to resell to
wholesale dealers, who doled it out
to the public at $3.50 a pound. He
added that one great trouble is the
lack of food experts to advise the
government in buying foods, es-
pecjally perishable kinds. And he
said he saw no hope for q better food
situation in the near future unless
people eat less and pull their belts
tighter over empty stomachs
The perpetual upward flight of food
prices in Italy causes deep anxiety to
those responsible for the country's
good order. Recent strikes and civil
strife were almost wholly due to
discomfort caused by the still in
creasing cost Of life's prime neces-
sites and more trouble is yet to come
unless the upward trend is curbed.
Sample Increases.
Cotton goods cost 300 per cent
more than they did in 1916, wooden
goods $50 per cent, hats and shoes
200 per cent, shoddy clothes $50 per
cent, glass goods 800 per cent. Home
grown produce has increased more
than foods imported from America.
For instance, eggs are now IS per
cent dearer than three years ago, po-
tatoes $50 per cent dearer, beans 426
per cent, fresh pork 80 per cent,
italian lard 286 per cent, beef 81
per cent, butter 279 per cent, cheese
250 per cent, milk 300 per cent, wine
525 per cent. The food control office
reports that wine growers made such
big profits this last year that they
paid for the land their wines are
grown on from the tone years gain
alone.
The ever-growing cost Of living in
Italy, once the cheapest country in
Europe, the paradise Of the poor man,
seems to be in vicious circle.
Dear food and discomfort go hand-in-
hand, breeding strikes, riots, blood
shed. They again react on local pro-
duction and cause prices to rise
higher than before. Then follow
fresh strikes and disorders the screw
is turned yet again and the vicious