Grainger County news. (Rutledge, Tenn.) 1917-current, 1922-08-23
HOW ITALY HELPS
HER UNEMPLOYED
Great Construction Work Being
Carried Out by the Opera
del Combattenti.
BILLIONS OF LIRE ARE PAID
Policy contsmpates Using Money as
investment to Benefit the State
Retaining Marsh Land
Roads and Railways Built.

Roads and Railways Butt.
Rome.--In spite of the low state OF
national finance Italy Is attempting to
carry out broad program for the
relief of war veterans and the unem-
ployed by means of land reclamation
and other public works.
Italy deals with its problem Of war
veterans through the Opera Nazionale
del Combattenti, organized in Decem-
her, 1917, with an initial capital OF
300,O00,O00 lire. OF which the govern
ment contributed 25OO0O,OOO, The
opera has a social section for vOca-
tlonal training and placing, financial
section for providing credit to indi-
vidual soldiers or cooperative groups,
and an agricultural section, which
concentrates on land reclamation.
Relief for Unemployed.
The general unemployment problem
continues to be taken seriously by the
government although there is no fear
result Of the lack of work. In the last
few weeks the number of unemployed
has decreased slightly. but there are
still more than half million men out
of work Arrangements are almost
completed for starting the public
works authorized last August for the
relief of the situation, but at the
moment the apportioning of funds and
the increase of the amount Of work to
be undertaken is occupying the cham
Der of deputies. The public works
appropriation is the parliamentary
pork barrel of the country.
Signor Rlccio, minister of public
works, is attempting to hold the bal
ance between the deputies competing
for appointments and to protect the
national budget from being swamped
with more projects than it can stand.
He stated in the chamber the other
day that in the first three months OF
this year there has already been PAID
out for labor on public works 1900
000,000 lire, as against 25S,000,000 in
the whole y9lqf 1914 He added
that although the minister Of finance
had authorized the expenditure N
1900 100000 more for public labor
this year he did not See where the
mouey was coming from.
the grave depression in the metal
lurgical districts OF Milan aid Turin
x threatening to throw more man on
the streets. ard MS usual the. condi-
tion of unemr'avmont in the province
of Emilia is widespread.
The Situation in Emilia is tTnical Of
tho sort Of problem Italian state OH
cia-5 haze 10 face. tor tse last z
years tie province has been greatly
oyerpopulated, bnt The surplus citl.
zcns have refused to cmigate There
is therefore a chronic floating popu
lation Of day iaborers who practically
are charge on the state.
Plans Of Reclamation.
The governments policy of public
works is sound one in that the
money spent constitutes an invest.
ment which In future years will more
than pay for itself. Instead of pro.
viding "busy work" the ministry il
carrying out a far-sighted scheme fol
the transformation of malarial marsh
lands into fertile territory. Since
1860 the government has obtained
more than 339,O000O0 lire in plus
value from its reclaimed lands. Fol
this work the government spent 81,
7S3,31O lire for reclaiming 394,02'
acres, and private consortiums spen
an equal amount, but recovered 1914
OPT acres. This year the government
has appropriated S0,0O0,0O0 lire TO
reclamation of land in eight provinces
and work began in March.
Other projects of the government
are equally constructive. Roads ant
railways are being built in Sicily ant
| Calabria, and in the latter provinc
| the government is building artificial
lakes to store water for the hydro
electric plants in the Sila plateau
This part of the country being dry
| irrigation and not draining is tn
| problem, and the government has OF
fered to help local irrigation Censor
tiums by paying one-third of the cos
of irrigation projects of benefit to tn
whole country.