Understanding Italy

UNDERSTANDING ITALY PREFACE It would seem to be a queer mood that would impel any one to write another book about a country of which the last word appears to have been uttered long ago. But is the last word ever spoken about a grow ing and changing nation as Italy is to-day Further more, though much may be known about Italys art, her music, and her charming climate, an understanding of the Italian people and a clear knowledge of the economic and industrial renaissance which has been sweeping through the country of late are not so common. There is not only a lack of understanding of Euro pean countries to-day on the part of Americans, but there is also a tendency to act the Pontius Pilate and to relieve ourselves of responsibility for the Old World, now fallen under such sullen and averted stars, 1 by saying, We do not understand those coun tries therefore we had best keep free from European affairs. However, it is gradually being borne home to cer tain sections of our people, particularly to those en gaged in financial and commercial dealings with vi PREFACE Europe, that, whatever we may say or think about it, our national prosperity and destiny are closely inter woven with the life and destiny of transatlantic peo ple. As ex-President Taft once said, Unless every body prospers, nobody prospers. We cannot have a permanent period of good times while Europe is languishing in bad times. Our future national welfare, as well as our moral duty, impels us in this morning of Americas material prestige to understand Europe, and to render to these people who have sent to us the richest bloods of earth, and who now must have our aid if civilization is to survive, a discerning as well as a material appreciation. A far-sighted statesman of Europe, President Masaryk of the new state of Czecho-Slovakia, is re ported to have said that the first duty of Americans was to understand Europe, that material help to Euro pean nations would be of little value unless it had wise direction, and that it could not have such direction unless there is back of it sympathetic understanding. During the past summer I talked with scores of men in Europe and especially in Italy, many of them lead ers in business, commercial, political, and industrial enterprises, and I do not recall a single instance in which it was not stated in one way or another that there was evident in certain states of Europe a new spirit, something other and different than the ancient dominating principles of the old continental world. That this spirit of hope and progress was particularly noticeable among the Italians, young as a nation but PREFACE vii old as a race, many discerning students of Europe have borne witness. It is because of this renaissance in Italy along eco nomic and industrial as well as along political and spiritual lines, that this book has been written. It has been the aim of the author to throw light upon this new day in Italy, telling of the spirit of the Italian people, of their rapid recovery from the depressed conditions following the war, and of the way in which the youth of the country, moving spirits in this revival period, are taking a hand in nation building. When we say Understanding Italy we mean the Italy of the last half-century, the United Italy, - par ticularly from the point of view of her remarkable industrial development. We mean the Italy captured so recently by Benito Mussolini and his youthful cru saders, who, whatever we may think of their method, represent the spirit of vigorous youth in the nation, while back of them, acting as supporters, are the indus trialists, bankers, foreign traders, and also the mer chants and manufacturers of the country...