1902.-Law affecting women and child laborers. See CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATION: 1902-1920. 1902. Sources of public debt up to date. See DEBTS, PUBLIC: Italy.

1902 (June).-Renewal of Triple Alliance. See TRIPLE ALLIANCE: Content of the treaties.

1902 (November).-Secret treaty with France. See WORLD WAR: Diplomatic background: 55.

1903-1904.-Coercive proceedings against Venezuela concerted with Great Britain and Germany. Settlement of claims secured.-Hague decisions. See VENEZUELA: 1902-1904.

1903-1905.-Initiation of International Institute of Agriculture under patronage of the king, and its foundation. See AGRICULTURE, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF.

1903-1920.-Interests around the Mediterranean sea. See MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

1904. Conciliatory movement between church and state. Several marked indications of a conciliatory disposition on both sides of the long break in relations between the papacy and the government of the kingdom of Italy appeared in the course of the year. The government introduced a bill for increasing the public salaries of curés. Its diplomatic agents in South America were instructed to give attention to a papal nuncio, who traveled thither on a mission from the Vatican, as though he represented the king. Also, the king conveyed a piece of ground to the pope which enlarged his domain. A cardinal took part in a reception to the king at Bologna and sat at table with the officials. Such amenities between the royal and pontifical courts had not been seen for a generation; they seemed to bear much significance, though the results were comparatively negligible. 1904. Strikes and disorders.-War on Socialism.-Dissolution of Chamber of Deputies. -Socialist defeat.-Government upheld in elections. A number of serious strikes, accompanied by scenes of violence and lawlessness, disturbed internal conditions. The agitation was largely the work of the socialist elements and led the government to announce a war upon Socialism and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies on October 17. Elections were fixed for November. The political canvass was more animated than usual, Catholics taking part in it and in the subsequent election voting more numerously than hitherto. This circumstance was due to the action of Pope Pius X, who had issued, in 1903, an encyclical withdrawing the prohibition against Catholics participating in public affairs. The ministry of Giolitti, representing the Liberals and Moderates in politics, between groups of the extreme right and left, secured a strong majority while the Socialist party lost many seats.-See also SOCIALISM: 1899-1908. 1905.-Agreement with the Mullah of Somaliland. See SOMALILAND: Peace with the Mullah. 1905.-Conference of agriculturists in Rome. See AGRICULTURE, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF: 1905.

ITALY, 1906

1905.-Problems in immigration and emigration. See IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION: European problems.

1905 (September).—Earthquake in Calabria. -A terrible earthquake, accompanied by storms and volcanic disturbances, occurred in Calabria on September 8th. "Hundreds of dead were swallowed up, and ruin was spread far and wide in a country already sorely tried by an unfortunate system of land ownership. The public authorities, the provinces and towns of Italy, strained every nerve to soften the misery of the Calabrian population, and the King eagerly hastened to the scene of the disaster. The public mind, however, was embittered by reports that the rich Calabrian landowners had shown great want of consideration for their unhappy tenants, and that the work of restoration was greatly hindered by absurd disputes between civil and military authorities."-Annual Register, 1905, p. 278.

1905-1906.-Illness and retirement of Premier Giolitti.-Fortis and Sonnino ministries.-Demoralized railway service.-Return of Giolitti to power.-Premier Giolitti was forced by illness to withdraw from office early in the year, and Signor Fortis was commissioned by the king to form a new ministry. He did not succeed, and Signor Tittoni was then requested by the king to take the lead in government with the late colleagues of Giolitti. Tittoni soon resigned, however, and Fortis was again called, late in March, to form a cabinet, which he now found himself able to do. In the following December, however, a reconstruction of the Fortis ministry occurred, the king requiring the premier to retain his office, while the cabinet was partially changed. Throughout the year the government and the country were greatly troubled by a general demoralization in the management and service of the railways. Travel and freight transportation were seriously delayed; accidents were of constant occurrence and strikes, having no result but the public inconvenience, were frequently repeated. The Fortis ministry held its ground against much criticism until February, 1906, when it lost the support of a majority in the Chamber, and gave place to a coalition cabinet formed by Baron Sonnino, which conducted the administration till the following May, when, on a question of the purchase of the Southern railways, it suffered defeat, whereupon Giolitti returned to power, in the face of a threat from the employees of the railways that they would proclaim a general strike if he took up the reins again. The strike did not occur, and a notable access of vigor and activity in the Government appeared.

1906.-Part of Italy at Algeciras conference. -Growth of traditional Anglo-Italian friendship. "Italy's first effort to emancipate herself from the tutelage hitherto exercised over her foreign policy by the Great European Powers was made at Algeciras in January 1906. True, the tutelage in question was suave and skilfully veiled, especially as far as Germany was concerned, but it none the less militated against Italian interests. Italy was represented at Algeciras by Emilio Visconti-Venosta, formerly minister of Foreign Affairs, a cultivated, far-seeing man, well disposed towards both France and England, who had the interest of Italy and the maintenance of European peace at heart, that peace which Germany had imperilled by refusing to recognise the settlement arrived at with regard to Morocco by France, Great Britain, and Morocco itself. At this conference Visconti-Venosta endeavoured to improve the existing relations between France and Italy,

1905.- Effect of Russo-Japanese War on Triple Alliance and balance of power. See TRIPLE ALLIANCE: Effect of Russo-Japanese War.

and to disperse the clouds left on the political horizon by the unfortunate episodes of Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles, where Italian workmen had been attacked, and in some cases killed, by an infuriated French mob. He further strove to bring about a better understanding which should pave the way for the Italian projects in Tripoli and did his utmost for the furtherance of peace. Great Britain had openly stated that she would back up France, and she kept her word. ViscontiVenosta had consequently to play the part of peacemaker. This he did so skilfully that at the close of the conference, when Great Britain and France both expressed their satisfaction and only Germany was discontented with its results, the saying became current that at Algeciras Italy had taken a tour de valse with France-a saying which has since become historical. This tour de valse brought forth good fruit for Italy by making it plain that her ministers knew their own minds, and that she had definitely chosen a path from which she did not intend to swerve. Moreover, Italy's attitude at Algeciras enlightened France as to Italian feeling and policy, showing her that Italy though a member of the Triple Alliance did not desire to afford Germany an opportunity of attacking France. Naturally the relations between Great Britain and Italy became still more cordial, and yet another link was forged in the traditional Anglo-Italian friendship, and on various subsequent occasions it was England who furthered the interests of Italy, whereas the Central Powers, though nominally her Allies, would have had no scruples in sacrificing them. On the other hand Italy's foreign policy began to tend in a direction contrary to the schemes of Austria in the Balkans and to those of Germany on the southern shores of the Mediterranean and in Asia Minor."-H. Zimmern and A. Agresti, New Italy, pp. 57-59.See also MOROCCO: 1905-1906.

1906.-Eruption of Vesuvius.-"At a meeting of the Geological Society, London, on May 9, [1906] a paper giving a scientific account of the

great eruption of Mount Vesuvius was read by Professor Giuseppe de Lorenzo, of the Mineralogical Museum in the Royal University of Naples, a foreign correspondent of the society. . . Professor de Lorenzo stated that after the great eruption of 1872 Vesuvius lapsed into repose, marked by merely solfataric phenomena, for three years. Fissuring of the cone and slight outpourings of lava began in May, 1905, and continued until April 5, 1906, when the fourth great outburst from the principal crater occurred, accompanied by the formation of deeper and larger fissures in the southeastern wall of the cone, from which a great mass of fluid and scoriaceous lava was erupted. After a pause the maximum outburst took place during the night of April 7 and 8, and blew 3,000 feet into the air scoriæ and lapilli of lava as fragments derived from the wreckage of the cone. The southwesterly wind carried this ash to Ottajano and San Giuseppe, which were buried under three feet of it, and even swept it on to the Adriatic and Montenegro. At this time the lava which reached Torre Annunziato was erupted. The decrescent phase began on April 8, but the collapse of the cone of the principal crater was accompanied by the ejection of steam and dust to a height of from 22,000 to 26,000 feet. On April 9 and 10 the wind was northeast, and the dust was carried over Torre del Greco and as far as Spain; but on April 11 the cloud was again impelled northward. The ash in the earlier eruptions was dark in color and made of materials derived directly from the usual type of

leucotephritic magma; but later it became grayer and mixed with weathered elastic material from the cone. The great cone had an almost horizontal rim on April 13, very little higher than Monte Somma, and with a crater possibly exceeding 1,300 feet in diameter; this cone was almost snow white from the deposit of sublimates. Many deaths, Professor de Lorenzo states, were due to asphyxia, but the collapse of roofs weighted with dust was a source of much danger, as was the case at Pompeii in A.D. 79. The lava streams surrounded trees, many of which still stood in the hot lava with their leaves and blossoms apparently uninjured. The sea level during April 7 and 8 was lowered six inches near Pozzuoli, and as much as twelve inches near Portici, and had not returned to its former level on April 13. The maximum activity conformed almost exactly with full moon, and at the time the volcanoes of the Phlegræan Fields and of the islands remained in their normal condition. Professor de Lorenzo [believed] that this eruption of Vesuvius . . . [was] greater than any of those recorded in history with two exceptions-those of A.D. 79, the historic eruption which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, and of 1631, when Torre del Greco was overwhelmed and 4,000 persons perished."-Scientific notes and news (Science, May 25, 1906).

1906 (December).-Agreement with Great Britain and France to respect and preserve the independence and territorial integrity of Abyssinia. See ABYSSINIA: 1906.

1906-1916.-Enormous emigration to the United States. See IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION: United States: 1870-1910.

1907.-Protection of Roman Catholic interest at Constantinople transferred to Italy.-Political problems. Anti-clericalism.-Strikes and industrial riots.-Disestablishment of the Church in France (1906) had strained relations between that country and the Vatican, one result being that in January 1907 an agreement was concluded between the Italian foreign office and the Holy See whereby Italy took over the duty of protecting the interests of the Roman Catholic Church at Constantinople, which had hitherto been exercised by France. Foreign affairs attracted considerable attention from the visits to Italy of the German chancellor, Prince Bülow, and of King Edward, while the Italian monarch paid a visit to Greece. Religious troubles and Socialist agitation complicated the internal situation. Violent anti-clerical demonstrations broke out on the occasion of commemorating the punishment of Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) and the death of Carducci the poet. The clerical party gained an electoral triumph at Naples through their active organizations. Labor demonstrations on May 1 were strictly kept in hand by the government, and when the king received Cardinal Lorenzelli at Lucca with royal honors, the Socialists charged the government with yielding to Clericalism. During June and July there were serious strike riots among the agricultural laborers in the provinces of Ferrara and Rovigo. The leghisti (trade unionists) established a reign of terror in this region accompanied by violence. Order was restored after the leaders had been arrested. Agrarian disorders broke out in Apulia in September, and in October a general railway strike at Milan crippled the traffic of Northern Italy. The government, as owner of the lines, took energetic measures; the ringleaders were discharged from the service and partial peace was restored.

1907.-Second Hague conference. See HAGUE CONFERENCES: 1907.

deavoured to gain time by making great speeches and promising everything which was asked of him. ... Giolitti remarked once that Luzzatti lost votes wholesale in order to gain them retail. Dissatisfaction became so general both in country and Parliament that the Luzzatti Cabinet fell in March, 1911, and Giolitti was forced to resume office. He... retained in the cabinet the four Radicals appointed by Luzzatti and added two more to their number-a minister and an under secretary of state. The new Radical minister, who was destined to play the most unfortunate part in this ill-fated Cabinet, was Nitti, who was nominated Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry. But if the composition of the new Ministry did not fulfil the expectations of the majority, its program had still more unpleasant surprises in store. As for the extension of the franchise, Giolitti brought in a much simpler bill

Keystone View Co.

GIOVANNI GIOLITTI

than that suggested by Luzzatti: he proposed to grant manhood suffrage, with the one provision that electors who could not read or write should not be allowed to exercise their rights until they were thirty years of age instead of at twenty-one. He further proposed to make life insurance a State monopoly. . . . The monopoly of life insurance was not in itself a reform of so radical a nature so necessarily to involve such bitter struggles. The measure could have been carried without any great difficulty had it been better prepared. . . . Professor Nitti . . . precipitated a political catastrophe by the carelessness and imprudence with which he prepared the scheme. In a few weeks he launched on the country a scheme which was not only incoherent and inadequate from various points of view, but in its first clause decreed in a few lines a sort of total confiscation without awarding the insurance companies any compensation. According to this clause all life insurance companies were to cease work at once

and stated that no compensation could be claimed for the loss entailed by the new law either by the insurance companies, their employes or the insured. Such a high handed abolition by the State of the rights of its subjects, such a calm appropriation of private property for its own purposes was an unheard of thing and only an extremely strong government could possibly have carried such a measure and Giolitti's government was far from being strong. The majority, which disliked the composition of the Cabinet and dreaded the introduction of manhood suffrage, promptly rose in arms against the legal enormities of the bill, which was attacked from every point of view. The protests of those affected gained over parliamentary circles and ere long the question of manhood suffrage was relegated to the background. For a time it was hoped that Giolitti would realize his mistake, withdraw the bill and sacrifice its unlucky author. This time, however, Giolitti persisted in his scheme. He managed to get it approved by the parliamentary commission which examined it and laid it before the Chamber. The situation went from bad to worse. The Chamber was resolved to reject the scheme, but did not know how to set about it. The House had entered its third year of existence and Giolitti was supposed to have the decree of dissolution in his pocket. The Socialists fomented the general irritation by making it plain that they intended to profit by the rupture between Giolitti and his majority to seize the reigns of power. The storm, which had nearly broken four years before, began to lower in the lobbies of the Chamber and the word 'treason' was whispered for the first time.

Whilst these whispers were heard in the lobbies, the discussion of the bill dragged on for weeks in the Chamber. No one dared to attack it boldly, and Giolitti showed no intention of yielding and he was only convinced of the impossibility of passing it in its present form by Salandra's forcible speech showing its absurdities and mistakes. By this time June was drawing to an end and Giolitti profited by this fact to ask for a vote approving the general principle of the law, whilst postponing the discussion of its details-i.e., the essential part-till November, after which the House adjourned for the holidays. This affair left the ministry very weak. . . . The hopes raised in April by the 'great ministry' had given place to bitter disappointment. Political circles were more and more absorbed by the scheme for manhood suffrage and the attitude adopted by the Socialists who were now posing as the next heirs to power. The dissatisfied state of public opinion was aggravated by the uncertainty and contradictions of such a paradoxical situation. No one knew whether Giolitti would emerge from it as the triumphant ruler or the hated victim. His enemies were working hard. Just at this juncture the 'Panther' went to Agadir and the Franco-German pourparlers on the Morocco question began."-G. Ferrero, Europe's fateful hour, PP. 137-142.

1909-1913.-St. Gothard agreement with Switzerland and Germany.-Convention of Berne ratified by Swiss National Council. See SWITZERLAND: 1909-1913.

1910.-Trade union statistics. See LABOR ORGANIZATION: 1910-1919.

1910-1911.-Growth of nationalist feeling.Demand for change in foreign policy.-"In spite of general scepticism, the Nationalist idea advanced steadily, especially among the younger generation. . . . Paolo Arcari's Referendum (a collection of opinions of prominent Italians on

Nationalism) gave evidence of the progress achieved. In December, 1910, a congress of Italian Nationalists was held in Florence, and at that gathering, which was attended by several hundred persons, including numerous well-known names, many aspects of Italian national life were examined and discussed. . . . The various speakers impressed on their hearers the importance of Nationalism as the basis for all political thought and action. The weakness of the country, the contempt which other nations felt for Italy, the unsatisfactory state both of home and foreign politics, and the poverty of a large part of the population, were all traced to the absence of a sane and vigorous patriotism. The strengthening of the army and navy, the development of a military spirit among the people, a radical change of direction in the conduct of the nation's foreign policy, and the ending of the present attitude of subservience to all other Powers great or small, were regarded as the first desiderata of the country. The Foreign Office as conducted by Signor Tittoni and the Marquis di San Giuliano received some scathing criticism delivered by Signor De Frenzi with his sledge-hammer style, especially as regards Italy's policy towards Austria and Turkey. Irredentism was dealt with at some length ... but in a sane and moderate spirit. There was no demand for war with Austria at once, but for a firmer and more dignified policy, so that the 'ally' should be persuaded that the continued persecution of her Italian-speaking subjects might be dangerous, and that Italy's presence in the Alliance was worth something. The Turks, too, who since the revolution of 1908 had become particularly truculent towards the Italians, especially in Tripoli, also came in for rough treatment, and various speakers demanded that the Government should secure adequate protection for Italian citizens and trade in the Ottoman Empire, and that watch should be kept on Tripoli lest others seize it before the moment for Italian occupation arrived. Signor Corradini insisted that there were worse things for a nation than war, and that the occasional necessity for resort to the 'dread arbitrament' must be boldly faced by any nation worthy of the name. The congress proved a success, and the ideas expressed in it which had been 'in the air' for some time were accepted by a considerable number of people. The Nationalist Association was founded then and there and soon gathered numerous adherents; a new weekly paper, L'Idea Nazionale, commenced publication on March 1st, 1911 (the anniversary of Adowa), and rapidly became an important organ of public opinion, while several dailies and reviews adopted Nationalist principles or viewed them with sympathy. Italian Nationalism has no resemblance to the parties of the same name in France, Ireland, or elsewhere; indeed, it is not really a party at all, for it gathers in Liberals, Conservatives, Radicals, Clericals, Socialists even, provided they accept the patriotic idea and are anxious to see their country raised to a higher place in the congress of nations even at the cost of some sacrifice. The movement arose as a reaction to the decline of patriotic feeling, and of the ideal that peace must be preserved at any price. . . . The work of propaganda proceeded actively all through the winter and spring of 1911. Every day new branches of the Nationalist Association were opened throughout Italy, courses of lectures were delivered in the chief towns, debates with opponents were held. The Socialists now found themselves confronted no longer by a timid, weak-kneed sceptical bourgeoisie, but by energetic, intelligent young men,

ITALY, 1911

who were game for anything and who, when attacked by the gangs of hooligans egged on by the Socialist leaders, not only defended themselves, but gave far more than they received. This movement progressed side by side with a Monarchist revival, and at several by-elections and municipal elections, notably in Florence, there were surprising collapses of the so-called 'popular' parties. The Idea Nazionale conducted a vigorous campaign against every form of political corruption as well as against the foreign policy of the Government. Giulio De Frenzi, whose brilliant eloquence always attracted large audiences, was one of the most active propagandists, and so were Goffredo Bellonci, a student of political economy and a cultured journalist and littérateur, Enrico Corradini, less eloquent than De Frenzi, but fired with the enthusiasm of an apostle, Professor Scipio Sighele, the philosopher of the movement, Maurizio Maraviglia, Commander Limo, formerly of the Italian navy, Colonel Barone, a retired army officer and a student of military questions, and many others. Numbers of the most prominent men in Italy, belonging to all classes of society and all professions, joined the movement-lawyers, doctors, business men, landowners, professors and school teachers, artists, officers, Government officials, engineers, men of letters, &c. Parliamentary men at first fought rather shy of Nationalism as being too much outside the groove of orthodox politics. But a few joined at once, and subsequently others followed. Many people who do not call themselves Nationalists, and, in fact, repudiate the name, have adopted Nationalist views with enthusiasm. In May a congress of Italians resident abroad was held in Rome, and although most of the questions discussed were of an economic and legal character, the political note was conspicuous, and the Nationalists took an active part in the debates. The vote of censure passed unanimously on the Foreign Minister for his vacillating policy towards Turkey whereby all hope of promoting Italian trade in the Levant was precluded, was peculiarly significant inasmuch as the assembly had been organised under the auspices of the Foreign Office, many of whose officials were present on that occasion."-Ignotus, Italian nationalism and the war with Turkey (Fortnightly Review, Dec., 1911).

1910-1914.-Emigration to South America. See LATIN AMERICA: 1910-1914; IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION: Argentina: 1914-1922.

1911.-Moroccan crisis.-Agadir incident the overture to Tripolitan War.-"On July 1, the German gunboat Panther appeared off Agadir. [See GERMANY: 1911: Morocco crisis.] For a third time within the brief space of five years a European war was threatened by the 'mailed-fist' policy of the Central Empires. . . . The Moroccan question, which had been one of the most thorny problems in international politics, was now tending towards a solution, and it was evident that the establishment of a French protectorate over Morocco would not be long delayed. [See MoROCCO: 1911-1914.] Suddenly Italy remembered the engagements entered into by France and Great Britain regarding Italian rights in Tripoli. In the dismal, confused twilight of Italian public opinion... there flared forth a flame which now burned brightly. . . . To assert the strength and vigour of Italy as a nation, to arouse the Italians to a sense of their position as a World Power, was the chief aim of the nationalist propaganda which was now carried on actively throughout Italy. It was not until 1911 that the new movement came out openly with a definite, political