THE MENTOR
Italy Under War
Conditions

PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN

A BANK IN VENICE PROTECTED AGAINST ATTACK

PREPARED SPECIALLY FOR THE MENTOR BY E. M. NEWMAN
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 23, SERIAL No. 171
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

 ONE 

NONE of the Allied Nations has had more or greater problems confronting it than Italy has. Manpower has not been lacking, but the want of raw materials for the making of munitions has been a serious handicap, and one that has been most difficult to overcome. Italy has been absolutely dependent upon her allies for steel and coal. After her declaration of war against Germany, she was left helpless. Badly as France and England needed these raw materials, they had to come to the assistance of their ally. For a long time the quantities received were insufficient, and a sustained offensive against Austria was impossible, for want of ammunition.

This condition was greatly improved when the United States entered the war, and Italy received from us vast quantities of steel, and sufficient coal came from England to supply her needs.

It must be borne in mind that when war was declared (August 1, 1914) practically all the industrial and commercial organizations in Italy were controlled by Germany. The largest banks and financial houses were German-owned. One of the most prolific sources of income, the electric and other plants operated by water-power, were in German hands.

Germany had a firm grip on the resources of the country. Her agents carried on a propaganda which required the utmost courage of the Italians to overcome, and let it be said to the credit of the Italian people, they risked financial ruin when they decided to enter the war on the side of the Allies.

The first result of their entry into the World War was to demoralize their securities and almost to destroy the value of their money. The lira, a coin which, before the war, was worth about 19 cents, decreased in buying power to about 11 cents. Bonds dropped alarmingly.

With the United States as an ally, loans have been made to Italy, her credit has been re-established, the lira has gradually increased in value, and with steel and coal in sufficient quantities for all purposes, prosperity is returning.

It was the shrewd Bismarck who arranged with Signor Crispi, twice Premier, to come to the assistance of Italy. A loan was made, and the best Italian securities were obtained for a song. Ever since, the German grip has tightened. As a result of the war Italy will be restored to commercial freedom and she will have a new and much needed opportunity to expand.

The Ansaldo Company, a new and gigantic corporation, is now one of the largest munition plants in the world. Italy has tremendous resources in her water-power which is now being developed. Like her allies, she will be able to manufacture many of the things she needs.

Her airplanes are among the best that are made. Her engines are wonders of mechanical perfection. Her motor cars are unexcelled. Italy, prepared as she never was, is ready for the future.

PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN

A MARKET SQUARE IN ROME

 TWO 

HOW to keep the soldiers supplied with sufficient nourishing food was one of the first and most serious matters the Italian Government had to consider. As everyone knows, the principal articles of food consumption among Italians of every station, rich or poor, are macaroni and spaghetti. The staff of life of the Italian people, they are made almost entirely of flour.

Italy never has grown enough wheat to supply her needs. Under war conditions her imports fell to such an extent that little or no wheat could be obtained. Hence the country faced a critical situation.

The first step was conservation. It was ruled that macaroni and spaghetti could be served only on certain days. Manufacturers were restricted in the amount they could make. Then flours of mixed cereals were used.

Italians are great lovers of bread. To meet a shortage, every available acre of ground where wheat would grow was cultivated. If the men on the farm had gone to war, the women took their places. The Government encouraged and aided the farmers in every possible way, and then when aid came from the United States, in addition to sacrifices and restrictions in Italy, the situation improved.

Fruit and vegetables are plentiful and, for these times, reasonably cheap. Italians are not great meat-eaters; they have sufficient meat for their needs, and by adhering rigidly to the regulations they have been able to keep the army fully supplied.

The Adriatic and the Mediterranean abound with fish of almost every variety. Fishermen are therefore able to meet the country's needs. Next to macaroni and spaghetti the Italians like fish, and as it is far cheaper than meat, for the poorer classes it forms a food which they can afford to buy.

Olive oil, formerly used in great quantities, many of the people even drinking it, is now on the restricted list, and can be obtained only in limited quantities.

Bread, as in America, is mixed with other cereals, and for civilians practically no white bread can be obtained. In the army, there are no restrictions—the best of food is given to the soldiers. They obtain meat, butter, milk, sugar and other edibles denied wholly or in part to civilians.

As in France, wine is a part of the regular rations. Various welfare organizations see that the people do not suffer for want of food. Irrigation and intensive farming, in which representatives of all classes are now helping, is aiding in the solution of the food problem.

WESTERN NEWSPAPER UNION PHOTO SERVICE

AN ITALIAN KINDERGARTEN SHATTERED BY AN AIR BOMB

 THREE 

WAR did not seriously interfere with the grammar and high schools throughout Italy. It is in the higher schools, such as the universities, the medical colleges and in the technical schools that a changed condition is seen. Women came to the aid of the country in the crisis which called so many men to the colors. Many of the teachers in the elementary schools are women and girls, who are ably taking the places of the men whose positions were made vacant.

For the schools where higher education is taught, it is quite a different and more complex problem. To teach in a university or in a medical college certain qualifications are absolutely essential. Years of study and preparation are needed, and for this work but a limited number of women were available.

On the other hand, the necessities of war called to action thousands of young men who otherwise would have attended the various schools for higher education. As a result the number of students in practically all of these schools has fallen off materially, and there has not been the need for so many professors.

The Government is anxious not to discourage higher education; in fact, it is doing all it can to maintain it, as was evident in the establishment of the Camp Universities. It was inevitable that the attendance at the higher schools could not be maintained as in peace time, and the reduction in the number of pupils fortunately made possible a corresponding diminution of teachers.

By a system which permitted the return of professors in service at the front, although only for a limited period, the efficiency of the various universities and colleges was continued through the war. Students co-operated with the Government, some even giving up their furloughs to attend school.

Education for the youth of the land is still compulsory. The standard of wages among teachers remains very low, and out of proportion to the increased cost of living, but the recipients seem willing to sacrifice comfort for the general good.

Old men, who in their youth taught school, volunteered to return to a labor of love. It was this spirit which made possible the maintenance of education. Italy is a poor country, but her sons and daughters are eager to learn, and, poor as they are, they are willing to make sacrifices rather than give up attending school.

Many of the art students are gone, and some of the schools are closed. Beppo the model is no longer to be found on the steps of the Piazza Espagne, but the love of art has sufficed to keep some of the art schools going, no matter how rigorous the conditions.

Music is in the soul of the Italian, and the conservatories will continue in session as long as there is a pupil left. On the whole, educational conditions are as good as present-day circumstances will permit.

ITALIAN OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH

TAKING DOWN THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S, VENICE

 FOUR 

WHEN Italy entered the war, a commission was immediately appointed by the Government to consider measures for the protection of the country's art treasuries. Under the direction of the curators of galleries and museums, a civil engineer or architect was placed in charge of each principal building in all the art centers of northern Italy. The persons so appointed set about devising individual means adapted to the shielding of walls, towers, statues and pictures from attack by air and water, from shell and fire. In Venice the chief works and structures selected for protection were the Doges' (Dukes') Palace, with its rich arcades, sculptured façade and splendid halls, the superb Church of St. Mark, the medieval Loggetta, or vestibule, on the east side of the Campanile, the Church of St. John and St. Paul, the San Rocco School, the noble equestrian statue known as the Colleoni Monument, and the Academy of Fine Arts, with its canvases by Bellini, Carpaccio, Palma Vecchio, Tintoretto and Titian.

At Padua, Donatello's equestrian monument of Gattamelata, erected in 1453, and the sepulchral church of St. Anthony of Padua received special care; likewise the Gate of the Scaligeri, Verona; the early Renaissance Colleoni Chapel and some precious frescoes at Bergamo; Leonardo da Vinci's immortal canvas, "The Last Supper," in the refectory of the abbey-church of Santa Maria della Grazie at Milan; the Fountain of Neptune and the Church of San Petronio at Bologna; the early Christian edifice of San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (a queen of the fifth century) and the Tomb of Dante, in the deserted old city of Ravenna; and at Cremona, in the Church of Sant' Agostino, the famously beautiful altar-piece of the Madonna and Two Saints, by Perugino. The most renowned works of art in Rome, including the statue of Caesar in the Capitoline Museum, were padded and boarded up, and from Firenze and Naples rare examples of Italian craftsmanship, guarded through the centuries—manuscripts, statuary, paintings, tapestries, metalware, mosaics, glass—were carried away to safety, some of them to the vaults of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Titian's masterpiece, the "Assumption of the Virgin," was laboriously removed from the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice and transported by boat and wagon to a place of security against attack by the Vandals. Tintoretto's "Paradise," the largest oil painting in the world (72 feet by 23 feet) was unframed and removed from the wall of the Hall of the Great Council in the Palace of the Doges. Ceiling paintings were taken down, rolled around great sticks thirty inches in diameter, hermetically sealed in copper cylinders, and stored in crypts to rest until the joyous day of their unrolling. Altogether, seven thousand square yards of canvas were thus protected from attack and pillage. Statues were wrapped in mattresses and covered by brick flooring; the beloved horses above the doorway of St. Mark's were lowered and taken away. Domes were roofed at an angle of sixty degrees, so that aerial bombs would glance harmlessly off. In the defence of Venetian art treasures alone, sixty men worked for three months to wall in everything delicate and beautiful.

"Even Rheims and Louvain could not offer such tempting morsels to the vandal wrecker as Venice and Rome," writes Herbert Vivian in "Italy at War." "Venice, mistress of medieval art as well as queen of the sea, girded her armor on,—like the army, donned a vesture of gray-green. Just as in Holy Week the more signal emblems veil themselves in respectful mourning for the Passion, so, in war time, the monuments of Venice hide in their hoods, as though to proclaim sympathy with the nation's anxiety. At St. Mark's ... the venerated mosaics on the lunettes are blotted out by modern masonry, the golden cupolas are shapeless bags, the pillars and arches have become a brick fortress that goes on to engulf all that fairy portico of the Doges' Palace hard by. Where are the four famous horses of golden bronze, brought from Constantinople to defy the world through seven centuries from the portals of St. Marks? It was a sad scene when on May 27, 1915, a silent crowd watched their descent for conveyance to a safer stable. In the interior of the holy house heaps and heaps of heavy sandbags huddle against the porphyries and malachites and alabasters, throttle the carved columns, scale walls, bury pulpit, choir, altars and baptistery. Such are the bulwarks which Italian foresight provided against probable forays of the Hun."

PHOTOGRAPH BY CENTRAL NEWS PHOTO SERVICE

CHURCH OF ST MARK'S, VENICE. BOARDED UP FOR PROTECTION

 FIVE 

IN time of peace all the world flocked to Venice. In war time many changes were necessary. Many of the people who make up the inhabitants of the earth were barred from the city, not only by regulations, but by cannon and walls of steel. It required influence even for an Italian to get into Venice. For an American to enter the city, it was necessary to get special permission from the Minister of Marine, and he had to present the best of reasons before that permission was granted.

Several times the city was menaced by the Austrians and once it was near capture. Time and again, fleets of airplanes dropped bombs, destroying churches, hospitals and other property, as well as killing non-combatants.

The strain was more than many of the inhabitants could bear and they sought safety in flight. The result was almost to drain the city of its normal population, which was evident in its almost deserted canals and streets.

The soft, musical voices of the gondoliers were occasionally heard. A few gondolas were left, but very few, and there was no longer any singing. The beautiful hotels, where so many of us had lived in comfort and luxury, were either closed or converted into hospitals.

Most of the shops around St. Mark's Square closed. The famous glass and lace factories shut their doors. Picture postcards and photographs were taboo. The Government did not permit them to be mailed.

No damage has been done to the Basilica of St. Mark. A bomb dropped in front of it, but did not hit it. During the war this famous temple was, however, but a shadow of its former glory. It no longer glistened with Byzantine mosaic. Its golden covering was removed or covered with sandbags. Beside the Doges' Palace was a thing of brick supports, destroying its beauty. The ugliness of boarding and sandbags saddened the visitor who recalled the Venice of former days.

Motor and passenger boats plying along the Grand Canal were discontinued; there were no passengers. A few ferries remained for those who still lived in the city.

Venice has not been seriously marred. Much damage has been done to churches and hospitals, but most of this can be repaired. Only a careful search of the city would reveal the damage done by bombardment.

Within a few churches and buildings art objects have been destroyed that can never be replaced. It should comfort the lovers of Venice to know that the city gives no outward evidence of destruction. The inhabitants will soon return, the hotels will reopen, St. Mark's and the Doges' Palace will be restored to their former appearance, and Venice will once again reign in splendor as the Queen of the Adriatic.

PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN

PIAZZA DEL POPOLO (PEOPLE'S SQUARE), ROME

 SIX 

ROME still sits proudly on her seven hills, undismayed, undisturbed by the ravages of war. There is little real difference to be seen in the Italian capital as it is and as it was before the war. In the evening hours, when all Rome goes for a promenade or a drive, the Corso is as crowded as ever. One sees more uniforms, but otherwise the scene is similar to that of peace times.

Romans still love to dine on the sidewalks, partake of their ices, and sip their wine and coffee at little tables placed where pedestrians are supposed to pass. They attend the theater, the opera and the various other places of amusement of which they are so fond.

The main difference in the city's aspect is in the dress of the people. Officers are seen only in field uniform, privates in the gray of the battle-field. Women no longer attempt display, only the simplest effects are seen. All ostentation in the wearing of gowns and jewelry is frowned upon.

None has suffered more than the nobility. Most of them being of moderate means, the war brought many sacrifices, endangering slender purses and curtailing most needed comforts. A number have had to sell their prized art treasures to keep from actual want.

The beautiful Palace on the Quirinal is now a hospital. Many of its nurses are the noble women of Italy. The city is filled with welfare organizations.

Buried in the heart of Rome, its ruins telling us the story of the birth of civilization, lies the Forum, unchanged, unaffected by the world struggle. It speaks of days that were, of other wars, of Caesar, who, like the Kaiser, was ambitious, of Marc Antony who sacrificed everything for love of a woman, of Cicero, and others whose deeds and words have made history.

Above the ruins of the Forum is the Palatine. Here once lived the Caesars. Their palaces once covered the hill from which they looked down upon Rome. The Golden Palace of Nero has been obliterated by time, just as the chateaus and beautiful structures of northern France have been leveled by the invading Germans.

Fortunate is the world that the treasures of Rome are intact. St. Peter's and all the wonderful churches still stand unharmed. The Vatican with its storehouse of treasures remains as it was. Art galleries containing world's masterpieces are preserved for posterity.

Rome is still the Rome familiar to travelers. Its hotels are filled, not with tourists, but with officers and their families. Its streets are still throbbing with life, it remains one of the most interesting cities on this spinning globe. [1]

THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL
SERIAL NUMBER 171

By courtesy of the Italian Embassy, Washington

A "BABY NEST"—A retreat for children of Italian soldiers in service

ITALY UNDER WAR
CONDITIONS

By E. M. NEWMAN, Traveler and Lecturer

MENTOR GRAVURES—A BANK IN VENICE, PROTECTED AGAINST ATTACK · A MARKET SQUARE IN ROME · AN ITALIAN KINDERGARTEN SHATTERED BY A BOMB · TAKING DOWN THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S · CHURCH OF ST. MARK'S BOARDED UP FOR PROTECTION · PIAZZA DEL POPOLO, ROME

Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1919, by the Mentor Association, Inc.

ITALY has played a far more important part in the World War than is apparent to one who has not given the subject special consideration. The neutral nations have directed most of their thoughts to England and France. To do Italy full justice, the fact must be emphasized that she came into the war at a time when the Allies were in great need of her. The outlook for England and France was most serious when the Italian people, roused by love of liberty and democracy, demanded that their Government cast its lot with the Allies and declare war.

As a result, Austria was compelled to mobilize and mass her forces on the Italian frontier, and she was no longer able to give aid and support to the Germans on the western front. The entire course of the war was then materially changed.

[2]

Photograph by E. M. Newman

PEACE IN THE MIDST OF WAR

This picture of Italian children playing with dolls was taken in Italy's darkest hour before the turn of the fortunes of war

Austria's army and navy were thereafter kept busy trying to hold the Italians in check. What happened in the fall of 1917 will always be more or less of a mystery. After two years of the hardest kind of fighting, during which time the Austrians were being gradually pushed back until Vienna itself was threatened, there came a retreat, one of the most disastrous in the annals of war. The Italians lost in two weeks all that they had gained in two years. Worse still, Italy was invaded and a considerable area occupied by the Austrian army.

Consternation ensued, the Italian people were dazed. Something had gone wrong; no one could understand it. But one thing every Italian knew, and that was that no braver soldiers were to be found in any country, and that when Italy had time to recover from her surprise Austria would pay the price.

How the Italian Army Came Back

Photograph by E. M. Newman

BOOKSTALLS IN ROME

War did not drive the booklovers from their favorite haunts

The retreat of the Italian army was followed by a wave of patriotism that swept from one end of Italy to the other. If there were some that were lukewarm before, they were roused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm for the prosecution of the war. Italy had been invaded, and that was sufficient to stir the blood of every Italian.

When, in the spring of 1918, Austria launched her great offensive, she faced an army wholly changed. Indifference had vanished, every man thirsted for revenge. No Italian would breathe freely until the stain of the retreat was wiped out. Not an Austrian must remain on Italian soil. The Austrians were bewildered when, instead of encountering a demoralized and beaten army, they found themselves face to face with a new and rejuvenated force.

Instead of advancing, the Austrians were swept off their feet. Instead of a crumbling line, they met a wall of steel against which their onslaughts were of no avail. On came the infuriated Italians, crushing [3] the Austrian offensive and forcing them to beat a hasty retreat. Austria will never forget the punishment she received on the Piave (pee-ah-vuh), along the Asiago plateau, and in the vicinity of Monta Grappa.

Photograph by E. M. Newman

AMONG THE COLUMNS OF ST. PETER'S, ROME

Fields were strewn with Austrian dead. So precipitate had been their flight that they had to abandon guns, ammunition, supplies, in fact everything they possessed. When, a few days later, I crossed the delta of the Piave, I saw thousands of Austrian helmets, overcoats, and supplies of every description covering the ground that extended for many miles to the Little Piave, across which the Austrian army had been driven.

It had been impossible in their retreat to bury their dead. Heaps of bodies still lay where they fell. Every ditch was filled with slain Austrians, the roadways were lined with them. It was a gruesome sight, but it told the story of a changed Italy, of a new army that meant to retrieve the honor of the country, and bring to the Italian arms the glory to which they were entitled.

Italy needed coal, she wanted steel for ammunition, and these deficiencies threatened her effort. Her allies came to her assistance, and equipped and replenished her for the prosecution of the war to a successful conclusion.

Photograph by E. M. Newman

A HUMBLE FOUR-FOOTED CITIZEN OF ROME

His voice was never for war

In relief work the Italians are particularly efficient. The central organization of the Italian Red Cross has naturally assumed the responsibility and direction of all relief work, both for soldiers and civilians. Numerous other organizations have sprung into existence; chief among them is "Le Samaritane," which is under the presidency of Her Majesty, Queen Helena of Italy. In this organization are thousands of women who are members of the best Italian society, and they have rendered effective and generous assistance in many ways, relieving distress wherever they find it.

A hospital for wounded soldiers has been established at the Royal Palace of the Quirinal, which is under the direct supervision of the Queen. The Duchess of Aosta, wife of the King's cousin, is General Inspector of [4] the Red Cross nurses, and both of these noble ladies give actual, effective, and intelligent service to the various relief organizations to which their names are attached.

Photograph by E. M. Newman

AMERICAN RED CROSS HEADQUARTERS, PADUA

Italian women have proved themselves worthy mates and daughters of the heroic sons and soldiers of Italy. To them is due the initiative in the forming of several patriotic organizations, such as the "White Cross," for the protection of little children, "The Sowers of Courage," and "The Smile to the Strong," formed for helping and encouraging the fighting sons of Italy. Soldiers' huts have been erected and put in charge of the members of an association known as "Soldiers' Mammas." The members are women that have sons at the front, and may therefore be expected to give affectionate and maternal care to the young soldiers. There are other organizations, such as "The Mothers of Fallen Soldiers" and "The Widows of the War," whose object is mutual help among the women that have suffered the loss of son or husband.

Men who, because of advanced age, have been compelled to remain at home, have not failed to take up the burden of assistance and relief. Local committees have everywhere been formed under the name of "Assistenza Civile." There is also the "Segratariato del Popolo," besides many others. All these societies are banded together to assist the families of soldiers, to care for the mutilated, and to aid wherever help is needed.

The Italian Government has enacted special laws for the benefit of those stricken by the war. For instance, the Government furnishes shoes below cost to Government employees earning less than four thousand lire per year (about $800).

Press Illustrating Service, Inc.

TRAMWAY IN ROME

Showing women as conductor, motorist, and despatcher

Education

School life continues practically as in normal times, with the exception that, in the elementary schools and in the grades of the grammar and high schools, there is a larger proportion of women teachers. Many instructors who had been [5] retired have asked to re-enter service, thus relieving the young men called to the colors.

In the universities a few distinguished professors of military age have been permitted to retain their chairs, but a considerable number have gone to the front. Naturally the number of students has been greatly reduced.

Photograph by E. M. Newman

THE SMALL CANALS OF VENICE WERE ALMOST DESERTED

Special dispensations have been made for the schools of medicine, so that the services of the more advanced students may be utilized while at the same time they are enabled to continue their studies. This has been made possible by the establishment of the so-called "Universita Castrense," or Camp University, situated in the war zone, where distinguished physicians who are also university professors teach the young students, while teachers and pupils alternate the hours of class with those of service in the camp hospitals. The change caused by the war in the condition of women has probably been more profound and more keenly felt in Italy than in other countries, such as England and France, where women have for many years been engaged in various useful pursuits. In Italy the women of the middle class, with rare exceptions, remained at home. Those of the lower class, when they worked at all, generally chose some occupation such as teaching. Most women had no economic independence. Unmarried girls usually lived with their parents or some married brother or sister.

Photograph by E. M. Newman

ST. MARK'S PLACE, VENICE

Though the beautiful buildings were protected, crowds gathered daily and regular occupations were pursued

An ardent group of Italian women prepared the ground and labored for years to convince their sisters that they were wrong in the belief that under all conditions "a woman's place is in her home." This belief was almost a religion in the southern provinces of Italy; the prejudice there was so strong that it required the utmost courage of the women to combat it. Intelligent, progressive and cultured Italian girls are now to be found in almost every occupation in which their English, French and American sisters are engaged. This revolution in the attitude of Italian women is accepted, not as a temporary war necessity, but as a permanent change that cannot fail to have a deep and, on the whole, beneficent effect upon social conditions in Italy. [6]

Food Regulations

Conditions in civil life are comparatively good. Of course, there are many restrictions, above all in food conservation and supply. Prices have increased, but so have salaries. There are no unemployed, and the working classes generally are prosperous.

War conditions required three meatless days per week, as in the other countries of the Allies. Cards were given for bread, sugar, coal, olive oil, macaroni and rice. That the quantity allowed to each individual was sufficient was proved by the fact that the authorities often received offers to diminish the rations of some families who found they had more than they needed. The use of gas was limited to meal hours for heating, and for illumination until ten o'clock at night.

Hall of the Great Council, Ducal Palace, Venice. [1]

On the floor may be seen in rolls paintings taken from ceiling and wall

Ceiling showing spaces from which art masterpieces have been removed

No restrictions were placed on the use of electricity in most city homes, although street illumination was diminished and in certain cities in the advanced zone was abolished entirely, as a defensive measure. The abundance of electricity is explained by the fact that it is very often generated by water power, as, for instance, in Rome.

Restaurants must send to the authorities a list of food furnished, with prices charged for each portion, or for the whole meal, or for the week. They must indicate also any extra charges, and the reason for such charges. The authorities will approve the menu only if it corresponds with normal or prescribed prices, and a copy, stamped and signed by an authorized person, must be exposed to the public where it can easily be seen.

No food can be served unless it is on the approved list. In large cities, there is a committee of control, composed of five citizens appointed by the mayor, whose duty it is to see that the restrictions are rigidly observed. If the police authorities do not approve of a certain menu, it is submitted to the committee, and unless they put their O. K. upon it, the restaurant is not permitted to use it. [7]

Two factors combine to keep prices of necessities and even luxuries down to a reasonable level. One is the so-called "calmiere," or government regulation, that certain products may not be sold at a higher price than that fixed by the regularly constituted authorities. The other factor is the prevalence of co-operative societies that sell to their members at cost or almost at cost. Retailers have to compete with these societies, and there is a consequent curb on profiteering. Nearly every trade or profession has its own co-operative stores. The entrance fee which must be paid to join a co-operative society is very moderate, in some instances as low as five lire (about one dollar).

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN

Titian's great masterpiece in the Academy of Fine Arts, Venice

Amusements and Sports

Theaters, cinematograph theaters, and other places of amusement had to close at midnight. Restaurants and cafés closed an hour earlier. This did not apply to the war zone, where the military authorities made their own regulations and imposed all kinds of restrictions for defensive purposes.

TITIAN'S "ASSUMPTION" BEING TAKEN OUT

TITIAN'S "ASSUMPTION" BEING TRANSPORTED ACROSS COUNTRY TO A SECURE PLACE

In general, theaters and motion-picture shows in Italy are well patronized. Opera is still popular, and performances are given in various cities. Society does not consider it good form to wear evening dress. It would not be in taste for women to be elaborately gowned, or to attempt to give dances or house parties. Officers do not wear their dress uniforms, no matter what may be the function they attend. Ladies avoid the use of jewels, and there is, generally speaking, a soberness in the dressing of both men and women. Italy, however, is not gloomy nor depressed. On the contrary, the Italians are vivacious, and their sunny dispositions are manifested throughout the troublous times.

Sports generally have been [8] abolished. There is no horse-racing, but, for the purpose of breeding fine animals, horses are still being trained.

Travel is freely permitted, though, of course, the war zone has been carefully guarded. In the restricted area a pass was necessary, and vital reasons had to be given for permission to travel. On account of the shortage of coal, the number of trains has been reduced, as well as the number of cars in each train. Travel is therefore lacking in comfort, and it is not uncommon to see people standing even in first-class compartments throughout journeys lasting six or seven hours. The discomforts are accepted good-naturedly, and there is far less grumbling than one would expect.

Conditions in Venice

The morale of the Italians has never been better. Caporetto has been avenged, the Austrians were thrown back across the Little Piave, and brought to their knees. Venice has been saved. The city by the sea has had its trials. Severe, indeed, have been some of the air raids, and three-fourths of the population fled. About fifty thousand of the inhabitants remained, but this represents but one-fourth of the people that lived along the canals of Venice before the war.

THE LAST SUPPER. By Leonardo da Vinci

This famous painting has been half effaced by the ravages of time

THE LAST SUPPER PROTECTED BY PADDING

Da Vinci's great picture is painted on the wall of the Refectory of the Church of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan, Italy

Many hotels are closed, tourists come no more. No Italian city has suffered from the effects of war so much as Venice. Industries have been ruined, its commerce depleted. Its churches and hospitals have again and again been bombed from the air. Frescoes have been obliterated that can never be replaced, though much of the damage done will soon be repaired.

All about the populous Square of St. Mark heaps of sand-bags were piled to protect the arcades. The beautiful façade of St. Mark's Cathedral has been, for some time, hidden from view. The famous horses were taken down, the wonderful Byzantine mosaics were removed, and the entire front of the building covered with sand-bags and protected by huge timbers. [9]

THE COLLEONI STATUE UNDER
PROTECTIVE COVERING

THE FAMOUS EQUESTRIAN STATUE
OF BARTOLOMMEO COLLEONI, BY
VERROCHIO—VENICE

The Doges' (Ducal) Palace was supported by columns of bricks; everywhere evidence could be seen of the attempt of the Italians to save the most remarkable city in the world. Inside the sumptuous Cathedral of St. Mark's, the effect was startling—all the works of art gone, the altar covered beyond recognition, mounds upon mounds of sand-bags heaped around the columns. It was more like a cave than the interior of one of the most beautiful of churches. Along the Grand Canal the large hotels have been converted into hospitals. Vast palaces have been closed and deserted. Life on the Canal is so quiet that it is almost painful. It is not the same Venice so many travelers recall. Only one good-class hotel is open. There are a few boarding-houses, but all the magnificent hotels are either closed or filled with wounded men.

It was difficult in war times to get into Venice, and more difficult to get out. Everyone was looked upon as a spy until he proved that he was not. Officials inquired into your life history, traced your every movement, watched every step you took, and if finally you passed muster and got away without a long delay, you knew that there was not a suspicion of your ever having even dreamed of being a spy.

THE MADONNA AND TWO SAINTS BY PERUGINO-CREMONA

At the right, the painting covered with timber and sand-bags

It was, of course, more difficult in the war zone. Once inside the restricted area one became a suspect, and it sometimes took weeks to obtain police and military permission to leave Italy. The Italians were in earnest, they had had a severe lesson, and they did not intend to be caught napping.

An Allied victory was the one object, and Italy was ready [10] to pay her share of the price. No braver men ever faced an enemy than the Arditi, and no enemy army ever forgot an encounter with these "shock troops" of the Italian army. These men were born and brought up in an atmosphere that has taught them how to fight. They are as hard as nails, as fearless as lions—the pick of Italy's best troops.

Photograph by E. M. Newman

MARKET WOMEN OF ITALY

Italy, though needing food, is not starving, nor is she depressed. She has recovered from the shock of 1917, and there is no disaffection among her people. All are united. Socialists cannot overturn the conditions of the nation. As for their military stamina—Austrians can testify to the fact that the Italian army is a foe worthy to engage itself at any time, against any hostile power.

The Spirit of Italy

We cannot close more fittingly than by quoting Mr. Sidney Low's highly informing comments on the spirit of Italy:[2]

Photograph by E. M. Newman

LACE MAKERS HOLD TO THEIR TRADE

Island of Burrano, Venice

"Of all the belligerent nations I have seen, Italy seems to me the most tranquil, contented and serenely confident. She has endured heavy losses and is called upon to make great sacrifices, but her people have counted the cost and they pay it resolutely, cheerfully, almost, one would say, gaily. They have no love for war and on this one they entered with hesitating and doubtful steps, but now, I think, they feel, not only that it was necessary and right, but that it will give them some things which were wanting in the years of peace. War is a monstrous evil; but from its furnace of pain and suffering Italy, with other nations, may emerge hardened and tempered. She will gain a larger unity and that not merely by annexing the unredeemed territory. The war has gone far to obliterate that division of classes and localities which was the inheritance of her troubled past. The [11] common effort and the common burden have crowned the edifice which the makers of Italy built up in the nineteenth century....

Copyright, Western Newspaper Union

WOMAN LETTER CARRIER, ROME

Press Illustrating Service. Inc

SCHOOL INSTITUTED BY AMERICAN RED CROSS

At the Italian front, behind the war zone

"What Italy needs is security, sufficient to develop to the full her economic resources and her national individuality; and that she intends to obtain. She is resolved to be independent of external patronage, protection and supervision of any kind, and to enjoy all the rights, privileges, ambitions, which belong to the greater nations of the earth. She believes herself capable of excelling, not merely in art, science, letters, philosophy, laws, but in production, manufacturing, commerce, the exploitation of waste and backward lands. She is not content that her people, so intelligent, so industrious, so capable, should be packed off year by year in shoals to form the ill-paid labor helots of wealthier communities; she prefers that they should be kept at home to develop the riches and intensified vitality of their own land. She has watched the rise of Germany from poverty and weakness to strength and industrial magnificence; and she believes that the Latin capacity for organization, invention, scientific adaptation and enterprise, is not inferior to the Teutonic. She thinks she can do many of the things that Germany has done, and some things which Germany will never do; and she means to try. It is for the great free nations, with which she is now associated, to survey her effort with sympathetic eyes, and extend to it all the aid and encouragement in their power."

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

*** Information concerning the above books may be had on application to the Editor of The Mentor.

THE OPEN LETTER

In the coming months of reconstruction and restoration in Europe, Italy will have special problems of her own to solve. Victory in the world war means for Italy five million additional mouths to feed in her redeemed territory. Close rationing will, therefore, be necessary for a long time, and a liberal food allotment from outside relief sources must be made.

Italy cannot be accused of having neglected her land. The total area of the country comprises 70,820,197 acres, only a little over 7 per cent of which is unproductive land. In her agricultural production, however, cereals do not play an important part. Her wheat product did not meet her domestic demands even before the war, and annual importations of grain were always necessary. The situation, therefore, today, after the terrible toll that war has taken, is acute and distressing as far as the main "staff of life" is concerned. Italy produces fruits in quantity, but a starving nation cannot live by fruit alone. The traveler in Italy today may feast his eyes on twelve million acres of vine-covered slopes, but the children of the land are crying for milk and bread. The wines of Italy are famous for their flavor and quality, and her olives and lemons are known throughout the world, but the people cannot survive on wine and olives. They need more substantial food, and, under the present strict rationing, each person receives only seventeen pounds of bread a month.

* * *

Italy's exports have been chiefly olives, lemons and cheese—Gorgonzola and Parmesan being among the famous brands. These fine Italian cheeses are made from goats' milk, and, as there is little enough of that now to feed wounded soldiers and children, the exportation of cheese has been stopped. Before the war olives and olive oil were shipped in huge quantities. There are miles and miles of olive trees to be seen from train windows when traveling through Italy. Today just as many olives are grown, and as much olive oil is obtained, but it is needed at home and is carefully guarded there. The Italian government practically controls the output and very little is permitted for export. Lemons are grown in great quantities and are still exported to some extent. The difficulty in obtaining boats, however, has made it impossible to ship any considerable quantity of lemons, and so this source of income has been virtually eliminated.

* * *

Italy has found it necessary, therefore, to cultivate her products exclusively for home consumption, and, in this cultivation, thought is given only to the supply of things necessary for the maintenance of the Italian people. Things that are most needed,—that give most sustenance, are being cultivated to the exclusion of things that brought income from outside, but did not fill the hungry mouths of the people. Also, food products that formerly had to be imported, are now being home grown. Fortunately, this is made easy by the fact that Italy is a "clime where every season smiles." It is favored by climatic conditions to a degree comparable to those of Southern California, and, accordingly, a great range of crops, both of a temperate-zone and of a tropical kind, can be grown readily. In the southern part of Italy the climate is semitropical. The soil is fertile and garden-truck grows in abundance—and many kinds of fruit, including oranges, lemons, grapes, apples, plums and pears. In the fertile plains of the north are fields where cereals are grown and these are being extended and prepared for intensified cultivation. The delta of the Piave, captured and held for a short time by the Austrians, is again in possession of Italy. Comprising some of the richest soil in the world, it will soon be flourishing with growing crops, and its fields will contribute substantially to the solution of Italy's food problem.

* * *

We may be sure then that Italy, plucky and staunch, will "carry on" through hardship to renewed prosperity. With the sympathetic assistance that is her due from the United States, there can be no question of the future. Italy's firmly booted leg will continue to kick its sturdy way down into the "warm waters" that Germany so desired; her fair domains will continue to enjoy that "place in the sun" that Prussia so imperiously demanded. With all her advantages of land and sea, Italy must "come through" and find plenty in the wake of peace.

W. D. Moffat

NEW YEAR GREETING

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THE MENTOR

A New Volume in the Mentor Library

It gives us great pleasure to advise our friends that the sixth volume of The Mentor Library is now ready for distribution. It contains issues one hundred twenty-one to one hundred forty-four inclusive, and is, in every particular, uniform with the volumes previously issued.

One of the great advantages of owning The Mentor Library is that it grows in value from year to year—giving an endless supply of instructive and wonderfully illustrated material that would be impossible to obtain elsewhere. It constitutes one of the most valuable educational sets that you could possibly own, and, each year, the set is enlarged by one volume at a very small additional cost.

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