Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-25
A JAUNT into ITALY
Or. Mcconnell Makes Unexpected side
Trip.
ENJOYS The BEAUTIES OF VENICE
Italians Were Hard Hit by the War
and Have Not Y& Settled Down to
Stable conditions-Country of Fine
Looking Men and Beautiful Women.
rrespondeuco Tho Yorkvlllo Enquirer
Geneva Sutherland Aug

Looking Men and Beautiful Women
Correspondence The Yorkvillo Enquirer
Geneva, Switzerland, Aug Z.
When l left home ! did not expect
to visit Italy, but as the exchange was
so favorable | had my passport
revised at a cost OF $1,000 and came
into Italy, for the first time, leaving
Lucerne and travelling to Milan by the
St. Gothard tunnel, then after a few
days to Venice.
Swiss money is at par with ours
and Switzerland is the most eXpen-
sive country to travel in we have
found so far. 1t does not cost quite
as much as the United States though
at that. Gold circulates freely in $500
and S4.O0 pieces, railroad service is
perfect, the hotels are not crowded
and some of them almost empty. At
one hotel at MontreauX we had four
men serving at our table and there
were not 20 guests in hotel of 200
rooms.
While the Swiss made a great deal
of money during the war; they have
had two lean years, for all their prod
ucts are for export and no one can
buy Geneva is the watch making
centre of the world-and most of the
factories are idle and the workmen
drawing "a stipend from the govern
ment. Butter is So cents a pound,
though it Is a dairy section, while
butter is 20 cents in Germany.
Labor got high prices during the
waE and is on an S-hour basis and
will not accept lower wages or longer
hours. On $1,000 watch the labor
costs $3.50, the material $1.O0. So we
find in Switzerland somewhat the
condition we find at home-plenty of
money and goods but no one to buy
the products.
Italy has been hard hit by the war
the fighting along the Isonzo and Piave
laid waste a lot of country and they
had also a war on in Tripoli, north
ern Africa, and troops at Saloniki,
Greece.
You can tell war ridden country
as soon as you see 1t. The railways,
highways, etc, show il. Milan has
almost n million pcoplc--it is great
silk center and also makes autos and
machinery. For tourists the main
sight is the cathedral well known to
every one by pictures, built of solid
marble, towers nearly 300 feet high,
adorned with $500 statues without
and many fine ones within. Napoleon
was crowned king of Italy in this
cathedral in 1900, with the famous
Iron Crown of Lombardy, which is
said to be made Of one of the nails
of the Cross. The stained windows in
this cathedral are considered fine, be-
ing the work of Pellagrini, though
some of them were shattered by the
salute of the cannon when Napoleon
was crowned.
The treasury of this church contains
many fine jewels and much gold and
silver. Solid silver candlesticks of
10 pounds each and two silver statues
Of 500 pounds each, gold and bejcwel-
led goblcts etc. The patron saint is
Barromca and though he died some
400 years aSo-his body is shown -
you behind crystal glass screen, ly-
ing in the coffin, nothing but bones
covered with wonderful gold cmbroid-
cry and jewels worth thousands of
dollars | was interested in an emcr-
aid cross given by the great Queen
Marie Theresa of Austria some hun
dred years ago. 1t would probably
bring $4,000 at q jewelers. and lies
there glistening to mOcliing human
fIailty. You might be interested TO
know that two priests sleep in the
vault near the dead bishop, for there
are plenty Of Italians who would get
away with all those jewels. | can un-
derstand now whore the Bolsheviks
got so many jewels when they robbed
all llt tnuItDcS III RUSSIA. neN
brought from Russia millions OF dol
lars worth of jewels and sold them in
the great centers of Europe. In fact
that is about all the Soviet govern
ment has had to run on. To digress
Il moment. / saw n lottery conducted
in Geneva TO aid the starving Rus
SLAMS in Geneva, and when I asked
why they were in Geneva. I was told
that Geneva had been headquarters
for the Nihilists and now since they
had overthrown the car they had
nothing else to do. How is that for a
ridiculous condition? The Soviet gov
ernment should not be recognized un-
til it has established protection of
private property. a person is a fool
to contribute to Russia under its pres
ent government.
If Italy had more coal and less
marble, or as much coal as it has
marble it would he a humdinger.
There are mountains of marble all
kinds and colors and the Italians are
the most wonderful stone cutters in
the world. We do not get n fair eSti-
mate of the Italian in America We