Evening star., 1948-04-12
italian Production
SO% Of preWar Level
Despite Seibacks
DY Marion Wade campbell
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ROME, April IA cotton-weav-
Ing factory near Milan lost half its
works and Z third Of its machinery
during the war but still Is managing
to do nearly % Per cent Of its pre-
war business.
This record II typical Of the sharp
industrial recovery. Credit for this.
which has bean achieved despite
strikes, shortages and . waverins
currency. Il claimed by both Conn
munists and Democrats. The Demo-
Gratis say American aid. given
through them, worked the miracle.
The Communists say the laborers
Of the industrial north, strongly
Communistic. should have most Of
the credit.
The General Confederation Of In
dustry Of italy, . private, middle-of-
the-road organisation Of nnanufac-
turers. says the record II due main
ly to American aid. but also to the
fact that war damage was less In
italy than other countries.
Exported Produce In 1sl5.
italy actually exported some pro-
duce six months after its liberation
in April, 1s45. Other countries took
Is months to reach that level.
Italian production then was at
about 40 per cent Of its prewar level.
Now 1t has risen to 90 per cent and
would have gone to 30 per cent were
1t not for strikes, the industrialists
said. Persistent pre-election strikes
have lowered the average this
spring, but the industrial experts
hope the drop Is temporary.
The cotton-weaving factory near
Milan used to have 1,700 workers.
Down to half that In 1s45, the num-
Der has risen to 1900. Despite re-
placements Of some machinery with
American money, the factory can
not give work to It's former total Of
laborers. Under the Marshall
money" as many Italians call the
European Recovery Program, the
factory hopes to rebuild beyond It's
past capacity.
Wages have increased amazingly
since prewar days, but are Offset by
the even swifter drop OF the Ira.
Before, one dollar was worth only
20 lire. New 1t is worth 57S lire off,
cially and $50 in the black or free"
market.
Operating Costs Higher.
Before. employees got 1h lire pei
hour. Now they get lis lire per
hour. But other cost of operating
the plant also have risen and the
employer cannot afford to pay wages
which would really put the worker
in q position to live comfortably.
Military aid given to Italy before
the war legally ended totaled nearly
$120, ,000, 900. The Aid included jeepe
and trucks and some surplus ma
chinery and the majority Of this aid
went to industry, the industry con-
feration spokesmen declared.
= The greatest contribution of the
Marshall Plan, it was said, will be
to rejuvenate several European
countries simultaneously. Then they
can trade with each other as they
used to do and not exclusively with
America, Is Italy does now.
Has Little Raw Material.
For example Italy has little raw
material Of its own. It has always
been . processing country. It gets
material from outside, such Is steel,
cotton or iron; turns it into . nm
ished product and ships it out
again. Before the war Italy got its
cotton from Egypt, now it all comes
from America. Before wool came
from Australia and South Africa,
now mainly from the United States.
Italy has some pure silk, but now
America is buying most Of that
from Japan.
Italy has never had much coal OF
it's own, ana now can get 1t only
from Sardinia, because Yugoslavia
took its other coal field, Arsa. So
10 per cent Of its coal is mined in
Sardinia and the other 90 per cent
in America.
Before, steel and iron came from
Germany, Belgium and England.
Now Italy Is forced to depend upon
the United States except for . little
she can exc out Of the tiny island
of Elba.
The De Gasperi democratic gov