386 



ITALY. 



one hundred and ninety-five hours in order to 

 earn the price of 100 kilos of wheat, in 1889 he 

 would have to work only ninety-five hours. 



The total value of the special imports in 1889 

 was 1,391,154,246 lire, and that of the special or 

 domestic exports 950,645,760 lire. The imports 

 of the precious metals were 49,612,800 lire ; ex- 

 ports, 55,058,100 lire. The export trade shows a 

 partial recovery from the sudden drop from 1,- 

 028,231,726 lire in 1886 and 1,002,136,762 lire in 

 1887 to 891,934,539 lire in 1888. The total for 1889 

 is almost exactly the same as that for 1885. The 

 cultivated area in Italy is about 36 per cent, of 

 the total superficies, while 12 per cent, is under 

 forest and 13 per cent, is waste. Over 69 per 

 cent, of the people are dependent on agriculture 

 The value of the chief articles of agricultural 

 produce in 1889 was estimated at 2,889,943,399 

 lire, in which sum wine stands for 985,369,170 

 lire ; wheat, 680,281,122 lire ; olive oil. 332,625,- 

 150 lire; Indian corn, 276,545,999 lire; silk 

 cocoons, 133,278,709 lire ; rice, 103,105,700 lire ; 

 acid fruits, 72,967,712 lire ; legumes, 71,353,790 

 lire; chestnuts, 65,533,641 lire. The other prod- 

 ucts contained in the list are hemp, oats, pota- 

 toes, barley, flax, rye, and tobacco. The imports 

 of cattle in 1889 were 42,896, and the exports 26,- 

 282 head ; 54,830 hogs were exported and 12,002 

 imported ; and of sheep, 49,508 were exported 

 and 7,381 imported. The woolen industry re- 

 quired 95,991 quintals of imported ' wool, while 

 17,722 quintals were exported. The yield of silk 

 cocoons was 75,678,000 pounds, against 96,786,- 

 173 pounds in 1888. The value of animal prod- 

 uce, including cocoons, milk, wool, meat, etc., 

 was 1,180,000,000 lire ; and the produce of the 

 forests, including fire-wood, charcoal, timber, 

 and other products, with the exception of chest- 

 nuts, was 88,000,000 lire. The sulphur industry 

 represents half the total value of mineral prod- 

 ucts, and employs more than half the labor en- 

 gaged in mining. Next in importance are the 

 zinc and lead mines. Almost equal to the sul- 

 phur mines in the number of men employed, and 

 quite so in the value of their produce, are the 

 marble quarries. The growth of Italian industry 

 is shown in the increase of the coal and coke 

 imports from 516,000 tons in 1867 to 4,000,000 

 tons in 1890. A large proportion of the agricult- 

 ural products, such as wine, silk, and fruits, is 

 raised for exports. The trade with the United 

 States in Italian products has expanded much 

 faster than the trade in American products in 

 Italy, which are so burdened with the profits of 

 intermediate English and German traders that 

 they can not compete with European manufact- 

 ures. The Italians are so well disposed toward 

 American goods that Manchester sheetings, Ger- 

 man machinery and implements, and Russian 

 petroleum are spuriously labeled as American. 

 The chief imports from the United States are 

 raw cotton, tobacco, resins, and lard. In ad- 

 dition to these a market could be found for 

 lumber, coal, grain and flour, candles, clocks 

 and watches, machinery, edge tools, machine- 

 made articles, cotton piece goods and yarns, and 

 canned fish, meats, and vegetables. The prohib- 

 itory decree against the importation of American 

 pork products was removed in October, 1891. 



Navigation. The number of vessels in the 

 registered merchant navy on Jan. 1, 1890, was 



6,721, of 824,474 tons ; of which 667, of 481,439 

 tons, were engaged in ocean commerce; 387, of 

 140,260 tons, in long coasting voyages ; and 5,- 

 667, of 202,775 tons, in the ordinary coasting 

 trade and in the fisheries. Of the first class 75, 

 of 123,122 tons, of the second 43, of 31,330 tons, 

 and of the third 161, of 27,797 tons, were steam- 

 ers. The number of Italian vessels entered at 

 Italian ports in 1889 was 107,188, of 13,312,182 

 tons, and the number of foreign vessels was 9,- 

 602, of 7,594,133 tons. 



Railroads. A large part of the railroad 

 system is the property of the state. In 1885 all 

 the state lines were leased to private companies 

 on contracts running sixty years, though termi- 

 nable at the end of twenty or of forty years. The 

 net, which comprised 2,561 kilometres of railroads 

 in 1861, had grown in 1891 to 13,068 kilometres, 

 exclusive of 2,262 kilometres of steam tramways. 

 The lines are the Mediterranean, with a length 

 of 4,770 kilometres ; the Adriatic, 5.177 kilo- 

 metres ; the Sicilian, 714 kilometres ; the Sardin- 

 ian, 759 kilometres ; others, 1,648 kilometres. The 

 receipts in 1887 amounted to 236,266,276 lire, of 

 which 95,132,681 lire were from passengers. The 

 railroads, built to a large extent for political ob- 

 jects connected with the unification of Italy, and 

 extended beyond the present needs for the sake 

 of satisfying the various provinces, have been one 

 of the main causes of the disorder in the public 

 finances. The ordinary expenditure on public 

 works in 1889-'90 was '29,496,155 lire, and the 

 extraordinary 164,755,543 lire, to which must be 

 added the interest on the railroad bonds, amount- 

 ing to 138,000,000 lire. The debt bears interest 

 at 4 per cent., while the returns, deducting work- 

 ing expenses, were only 1*41 per cent, on the 

 Mediterranean line, 1-62 per cent, on the Adriatic, 

 and on the Sicilian and Sardinian lines there 

 was a large net loss on the working expenses. 



Change of Ministry. Signer Crispi obtained 

 the general support of the country in the elec- 

 tions of September, 1890, on the programme of 

 the continuance of the triple alliance and exist- 

 ing armaments without new taxation, and the 

 rectification of the budget by retrenchments. In 

 the previous three years the ministry had effected 

 nearly 100,000,000 lire of economy in the ex- 

 penses. The diminution of receipts by 20.000,- 

 000 lire made the deficit in 1890-'91 45,000,000 

 lire. In the corrected budget for 1891-'92 rev- 

 enue was reckoned at 16,500,000 lire less than in 

 the first estimate. Minister Giolitti, by cutting 

 down expenses, reduced the deficit for that year 

 to 38,000,000 lire, and this was futher reduced 

 by Signor Grimaldi to 29,000,000 lire. This 

 trenched so close upon the necessary require- 

 ments of the Government that Signor Crispi de- 

 spaired of being able to go further without de- 

 stroying the efficiency of the army and of the 

 public services. As he was unable to carry out 

 his pledge, the conditions for a crisis were pres- 

 ent in spite of the great majority that he com- 

 manded. His Conservative supporters demand- 

 ed a larger share in the Government, and if it 

 should accord it he would lose followers on the 

 left of the Chamber, with whom he was more 

 closely affiliated. In .his financial statement 

 Signor Grimaldi applied for increased duties on 

 certain articles of import and a new excise duty 

 on the manufacture of alcohol. The measure 



