Evening star., 1922-07-23
BY THOMAS H. MARSHALL,
Former Vice President of the
United States. ..


ROME. July 15.-I now have
some conception of the meaning Of
the age-old cry. Ave, Roma i'm
mortalis." I have seen Rome from
each of her seven hills. 1 havA
heard her history and the my
thology that Is interviewer with 1t. 3
Rome is not inhabited by Ro-
mans. The only pure blood of the
ancient empire is found in Ru-
mania, where. after its conquest, a
: Roman legion was left behind to
populate the devastated territory.
The city is like no other city upon
earth. Swept by fire, pestilence
and water, overrun time and again
by alien enemies, desecrated by
Goth and Saracen, the blood of each.
OF Its conquerors has mingled with
the ancient blood of the old en-.
pre-. Yet she sits upon her seven
hills. mighty influence in the af-
fairs of men.
Political institutions may change
their form or perish from off the
face of the earth: nations may
grow rich or poor, powerful or
=, helpless; luxury may give place to
poverty, but a city is eternal while
the 1mperishable works of art re-
main.
l have seen Italy's king, with his
shrewd. hawklike face, speaking
perfect English and manifestly
deeply interested in the welfare Of
his people. / have met some Of the
motive OF their seemingly lawless
conduct. They well might be call
ed the ku Klux klan of Italy. if
they only wore the bizarre dis
guise. They are young men who
have left the army, the sons of
tradesmen and others of like So
cial position: They hold that mur-
poses should be met by murder and
rapine until the lawless grow
weary of their conduct.
This band OF young outlaws has
Influenced the political institutions
of Italy, as statistics will show. At
the end Of 1920 there were 10000
matriculated socialists in Italy.
10000. At the close of 1920 the
National Federation of Labor.
which is a political party. had
100000 members. Today 1t has
100000.
The large number of small land
owners in Italy renders it almost
certain that neither bolshevism
nor socialism nor communism has
ghost of a chance ever of con-
trolling the political affairs of this
Kingdom. Notwithstanding the
facts that by direct and luxury
taxes so per cent of the income of
the people Is taken for the sup
port of the government and that
the lire is worth only cents.
Among almost any other people on
the face of the globe such con-
dition of affairs would tend to-
ward revolution and new order
of things, but Notwithstanding the
burden Of Indebtedness and the
frightful rate of taxation. there is
something in the italian character
that will disclose that Rome still
Is immortal.
I pass by the claims of the Pope
relative to temporal power. treat
Italy as though Italians intended
that church and state should be
as separate in their land as. they
are in the United States and be-
lieved that man could be faith
full to both the, political institu-
tions of his country and the faith
Of his church. Nor do l advert to
the unhappy misunderstanding be-
tween the average Italian and the
average American. which. am
glad to observe, is rapidly disap-
pearing. due in no inconsidera BILE
part to the fact that an American
firm is building large docks at
Palermo to foster trade between
Italy and the United States. 1 pre-
fer rather to speak of the things
which seem to me to spell peace
and a measure of ultimate pros
perity for the Italian people.
r r X
All good works have their in
herent weakness in them. In the
laudable effort to elevate the
world to higher plane the up
litter of modern times has not
stopped to consider the effect OF
his work in attempting to train a
people out Of their national char