Indiana daily times., 1922-05-11
ITALY REGAINS
ALL PRE-WAR
TOURIST TRADE
Hotels in Florence and Rome
Again Are Meccas for
Sightseers.

ROME. May 11.-For the frst time
since the beginning of the great war
Italy has recovered her tourist trade.
Already her hotels are filed from one
end Of Italy TO the other In Rome.
where English and Americans always
come on sight seeing tours, it is almost
impossible to get & room. In Florence.
Ehere Princess Mary and Tiscount Las
ceIies spent q part ot their honeymoon. Il
IS almost impossible 10 find rooms. and
even Venice has an extraordinary mum
Der Of tourists
Italy is recovering" say the Italians.
out of the recent turmoil created by
the failure of the Banco Italiana di
sconto-one Of the four largest banks -
Italy-has come a loud cry Of Back to
Norrualcv and Reconstruction" Esre-
cially from the peastns, many OF whom
were denositors in the bank. come com
plants against the past programmes and
demands for new one.
Apparently the most rapid way italy
se,-S Il returning. to norllalcy is to make
up the difference in exchange between
the Iirrs ana English pounds or Ameri-
can dollars BY doubling her hotel rates
aud her prices on every article tourist
from the Middle West Of America could
thinF If wanting on q vacation.
HOTELS
INCREASE RATES.
4 year ago Americans complained bit
terly against this kind of welcome from
Italy. but this spring Americans. like
all other tourists. are delighted II they
can find a hotel that will take. them
at any price. Second class hotels raised
their rates of % lire for room and board
70 ~. and when they were filed the
third class hotels did the same.
In Z very dirty little pensione I was
told thar the rate was now 30 lire in
stead Of 81 rs Il was a month ago and
that If | Il 1n't like the dirt I conld
go somewhere else because there are
plenty Of other English who don't mind
paving 30 lire for dirt and all. and that
they would go out for their meals be-
sides. rather than eat the food the hotel
served Mt that price / explained IN my
best Italian that I was an Americana and
not English and that the hotel manager
was a Frofteer whereupon he burst
forth Indignantly against any American
who objects to paying out any sum Of
money.
That was only the beginning of my
Conversations with Italians about ex-
change. AS matter of fact every Ital-
ian is sure t t Americans are burning
with wealth, nut after all there is
friendly tone a all their remarks about
Americans.
ITALIANS ADMIRE
AMERICANS.
They admire America and Americans, !,
they wish they could be as clever: they
are proud Of their own great industriaI
city of Milan because they imagine II
Is "jalst like America" and certainly its
streets Of concrete apartment houses and
factories seem very liee new Brooklyn,
n Y
II is when italians talk about the diff
ference between French francs and
Italian francs or lire that they become
bitter One French franc viii buy al
most two lire France returned to white
bread while Italy was still eating dark
bread France had milk and butter while
Italy was still hungry.
THAT" says the Italian laborer or the
Italian business man, lis what Italy got
out Of the war
And usually he adds, I'VE should never
have gone in.' which after all is what
most of Italy honestly thought before she
went into the war. They are anti-German
even now. as result OF the war, but
italian commerce understands only too
wei that her large commercial interests
used to be with Germany and Italian la
Dor has not forgotten that Italy used to
send her excess population out or the
country-nearly 100000 emigrants a
year many OF them To Germany.
BLAME MISFORTUNES
ON WAR.
Whatever misfeEtunes come to Italy
you may he sure the people VIII say
That is what we got from the war" A
year ago Fascist were saying: THE So
cialists are running the country. That is
what We got out af the war" Employers
added: Look at the wages. That is
what We got out of the war" Socialists
blame the war for Communists: Commun-
lists blame the war for the Right Social
lists. and the Popclnre or Clerical Party
blames the war most particularly for
Giolittt and for the power OF the Fascist
And every one hlames the war for the
exchange. See what italy has suffered" ="
they say. We alone of all the alltes have
got nothing for cur suffering bu hunger
and political intrigues."