Evening star., 1923-09-24
Can Europe Hold Together?
W-Italy-The Land of Mussolini.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR

The problem OF Italy can be summed
up In sentence-she has too large a
family. too much expense and too
| small an income.
| She has sixty eight times as many
people occupying a land not half so
large or fertile as the prairie prov
lace of Manitoba, Canada. A very
prolific race, living in a densely
populated semi-arid Gountry with a
very low standard of living. In 1918
the per capita annual income was
s112 as against sIs5 in France and
1896 in the United States. Before the
war she had too many mouths to
feed. So many were forced to leave
Italy.
In thirty years. from 1876 to 1905,
the number OF Italians leaving her
each year. America took a large
share of these. Still her population
increased from 27,e6e,000 TO $500, 600
during this same period.
During the war, emigration stopped.
but she gained 100000 in popula-
| tion from 1911 to 1921. No other
nation approaches that record. After
the war came the worldwide depres-
sion: Emigration barriers went up
in United States and elsewhere. Her
population Is increasing at the pres
ent time at the alarming rate of 1900
| a day. She cannot relieve herself.
Emigration barriers prevent. Result
-as I write, Italy has 100000 un-
growing. That's the first big prob
| lem for Aussolini-how to take care
or get rid of the surplus population
of Italy.
The second big problem in Italy
| today is that of having too much ex-
pense and too little income. This
problem is all the more serious be-
| cause of the popuIation-the problem
remains unsolved. She has been liv-
ing beyond her means. From 1911
to 1919, the government OF Italy spent
los millions of dollars more than she
got from taxes. BY May, 1915, the
public debt of Italy was 2,621 mill
For such a poor country this was as
| heavy a debt as she could bear.
Then the war came. and during this
period Italy spent 1903 millions of
dollars for purely war purposes and
raised 1853 millions of dollars in
spent for war purposes. she raised
| just cents in taxes. She had other
| expenses too. We find Italy spent
for all purposes. war included. 1885
millions of dollars of It in taxes. That
! is 1873 per cent. The difference, S6.1
| per cent, she raised:
ID BY infiatinR her currency from
| 51S millions of dollars on July 81, 1914,
to 1894 millions of dollars on July 20,
1919. an increase of 572 per cent.
CD BY increasing her public debt
from 2.621 MILLIONS to 1909 on May
81, 1919, an increase of S72 per cent.
We now know what this means.
and relatively lower wages. Trans
lated into reality. il took s515 to pur-
| chase in 1918 what s12s would in
1913. The money had gone down in
purchasing power. In 1918, for every
dollar of bank notes and deposits out
standing she had 62 cents in gold to
| back 1t up. as against III cents in
gold when the war closed.
In 1913 an American dollar pur-
| chased 5 lire-now it will purchase
the international exchange machinery
had to slow down. This was very
serious to such a country as Italy
almost as serious as to England and
| Italy, like England. lives primarily
! by International trade.
81 *
But this is only part OF her diff
Guilty.
She had trouble before the war
raising revenue enough to pay her
way. Her public debt was equal to
/ 13 per cent of her national wealth.
: After the war the public debt was
equal to Sc per cent or her national
wealth.
The significance of these figures
can be shown in another way. Out
of a per capita income of $112 each
Italian paid s2.s1 for interest charges
before the war. After the war out
of the per capita income of certainly
not over $50, each Italian paid Ssh
for interest charges. Today ss per
cent of the 1929 budget consists of
items of interest on public debt and
civil and military pensions. The pub
| lie debt charges today are twice the
total expenses of the government In
1914. Yes. and the foreign debt
char ges. (s194.ooo.000 per year at 5