THE LATEST CALABRIAN DISASTER 135 



the inspiration of their presence and their magnificent personal cour- 

 age. The actual conditions have been terrible enough, but apprehen- 

 sions of phantom dangers flourish amid ignorance and superstition, and 

 in Italy the inspiring example of the sovereigns is hardly less im- 

 portant to operations of succor than are the rescue corps and their 

 supplies. It was the writer's fortune to follow somewhat closely in 

 the footsteps of King Victor Emanuel and Queen Helena after the 

 Calabrian earthquake of 1905, and again after the Vesuvian outbreak 

 of the following year, on both of which occasions a similar impulse 

 carried them at once to the afflicted districts. As a result of this ex- 

 perience the writer has only admiration for their conduct. 



A further word may be added concerning the work of the troops 

 which were then engaged in rescue operations, since their conduct 

 has been unfavorably commented upon in some quarters. The writer 

 had ample opportunity to observe their work and would submit that 

 the army acted not only with vigor and effectiveness, but upon a 

 thoroughly scientific plan. There is, therefore, every reason to believe 

 that all which is possible will be done by the Italian government in 

 the face of the much greater catastrophe which it is now facing. 



It is, however, beyond Italy's power to properly meet this disaster 

 without some help from the outside world. The first supplies of food 

 and of hospital stores, it may be expected, will be contributed in suffi- 

 cient quantity, for the horror of the event has stirred the entire western 

 world. The greatest pinch of poverty and starvation will come when 

 the great wave of emotion has passed and the future a,lone is to be 

 considered. To properly appreciate this, it is necessary to consider the 

 normal economic conditions and the recent physical history of southern 

 Italy. 



Calabria and northeastern Sicily, the provinces affected by the 

 earthquake, are overpopulated, and from them there has been much 

 emigration to the United States and to South America. The chief 

 sources of income are the culture of the olive, fig, the citrus fruits, 

 and the cereals, and in Sicily the mining of sulphur. As regards fruit 

 and cereal culture, the peculiar conditions of farm tenure are such that 

 even under favorable circumstances a large part of the population is 

 kept on the verge of poverty. The sulphur mining in Sicily is carried 

 on in a small way over most of the interior, and until a few years ago 

 was a fairly profitable industry. Now, however, the use of pyrites as 

 a substitute for sulphur in the manufacture of vitriol, and the recent 

 successful exploitation of the vast sulphur deposits of Louisiana, have 

 so reduced the price of sulphur as to threaten the only means of 

 livelihood of a large part of the Sicilian population. 



In contrast to southern Italy, the conditions of living in the north- 

 ern provinces are good, and it has long been necessary for the north 



