ITALY. 



395 



eign flags. Of the sailing vessels 9,080, of 632,915 

 tons, were engaged in ocean commerce, 7,824 of 

 them, of 514,552 tons, under the Italian flag, and 

 1,256, of 118,363 tons, under foreign flags. The 

 coasting steamers numbered 22,551, of 10,153,202 

 tons, of which 20,895, of 8,271,076 tons, were Ital- 

 ian and 1,656, of 1,882,186 tons, foreign. Of sail- 

 ing vessels in the coasting trade the entries num- 

 bered 57,501, of 2,244,709 tons, of which 57,304, 

 of 2,215,070 tons, were Italian and 197, of 29,639 

 tons, foreign. The total number of vessels cleared 

 during 1898 was 104,009, of 29,743,734 tons, of 

 which 15,148, of 16,799,768 tons, were steamers 

 engaged in long voyages and 9,062, of 640,473 

 tons, sailing vessels engaged in long voyages, 

 22,531, of 10,068,505 tons, were coasting steam- 

 ers, and 57,268, of 2,234,938 tons, were sailing 

 vessels in the coasting trade. 



The Italian commercial marine on Jan. 1, 1898, 

 numbered 5,872 sailing vessels, of 526,827 tons, 

 and 366 steamers, of 259,817 tons. 



Commerce and Production. Over 70 per 

 cent, of the total area of Italy 20,238,000 hec- 

 tares out of 28,658,900 is productive, and 3,773,- 

 449 hectares more are utilized to some extent, 

 while 4,647,451 hectares, a little over 16 per cent, 

 of the whole, is totally unproductive. Agricul- 

 ture, however, is in a backward condition. Farms 

 are usually small, and a large proportion of them 

 are cultivated on shares. The production of 

 wheat in 1897 was 30,630,000 hectolitres; of In- 

 dian corn, 21,074,000 hectolitres; of rice, 6,430,- 

 000 hectolitres; of wine, 25,959,000 hectolitres; 

 of olive oil, 1,290,000 hectolitres; of tobacco, 

 6,210,000 kilogrammes; of cocoons, 36,726,000 

 kilogrammes. The production of wheat in 1898 

 was 47,000,000 hectolitres. There were 550,048 

 persons employed in raising silkworms in 1895, 

 and 172,000 in the preparation and manufacture 

 of the product. The production of silk in 1897 

 was 2,916,000 kilogrammes. The forests are gen- 

 erally under the control of the Government. They 

 cover 4,093,000 hectares, and produce firewood, 

 charcoal, timber, and other products worth 88,- 

 000,000 lire per annum, not including chestnuts, 

 which are cultivated in orchards covering 412,000 

 hectares. The area of the vineyards is 3,462,000 

 hectares; of olive plantations, 1,034,000 hectares. 

 The number of lemon and orange trees is 17,085,- 

 000. The value of cereals, pulse, hemp, flax, wine, 

 fruits, and other agricultural products is 2,639,- 

 000,000 lire a year; and of animals, wool, milk, 

 cocoons, and other animal products 1,424,000,000 

 lire, making with the forest produce a total of 

 4,151,000,000 lire, not counting minor and ac- 

 cessory products, such as vegetables, mushrooms, 

 poultry, eggs, and the like, of which about 88,- 

 000,000 lire worth are exported every year. 



The special imports of merchandise in 1897 

 were valued at 1,192,138,168 lire, and the exports 

 of articles of Italian produce and manufacture 

 at 1,092,719,241 lire. The principal imports were 

 raw cotton of the value of 110,628,804 lire; coal, 

 97,971,789 lire; wheat, 78,680,520 lire; raw silk 

 and unbleached twisted silk, 68,318.100 lire; hides, 

 42,290,140 lire; timber, 35,090,513 lire; machinery, 

 33,519,782 lire; fish, 31,556,200 lire; wool, 31,- 

 151,690 lire; horses, 29,121,300 lire; leaf tobacco, 

 21,404,740 lire; raw sugar, '2 1,038,836 lire; coffee, 

 19,481,353 lire; linen and hemp yarn, 11,660,760 

 lire; pig iron, 11,103,885 lire: refined petroleum, 

 11,035,696 lire; cheese, 7,664,990 lire; indigo, 

 5,797,200 lire; printed cotton cloth, 3,558,060 lire; 

 olive oil, 3,096,050 lire; cotton yarn, 2,962,343 

 lire; rice, 2,889,085 lire; silkworm eggs, 2,050,500 

 lire; dyed cottons, 1,513,266 lire; railroad mate- 

 rials, 1,467,648 lire; bleached cotton cloth, 1,212,- 



530 lire; unbleached cotton cloth, 791,594 lire. 

 The exports of raw and thrown silk were 270,- 

 376,300 lire in value; wine in casks, 58,479,100 

 lire; olive oil, 57,859,944 lire; raw hemp and flax, 

 44,156,233 lire; fresh fruit, 39,761,242 lire; sul- 

 phur, 34,098,568 lire; eggs, 32,558,900 lire; silk 

 waste, 24,290,050 lire; coral manufactures, 23,- 

 849,160 lire; fresh and salted meat, 15,398,440 

 lire; skins, 15,095,280 lire; cattle, 14,816,940 lire; 

 dyes and tans, 12,191,043 lire; zinc ore, 10,650,000 

 lire; cereals, 8,390,520 lire; rice, 7,639,045 lire; 

 plaited straw, 6,179,640 lire; hogs, 3,672,389 lire; 

 cocoons, 3,027,030 lire; cotton, 1,698,680 lire; 

 horses, 1,184,150 lire; lead ore, 806,990 lire. 



The total value of merchandise imports in 1898 

 in the special commerce was 1,413,300,000 lire, 

 and of the exports 1,203,600,000 lire. The im- 

 ports of precious metals were 3,500,000 lire, and 

 exports 19,600,000 lire. The transit trade amount- 

 ed to 127,900,000 lire. The special commerce was 

 divided among the different countries as follows, 

 values being given in lire: 



Communications. The railroads of Italy had 

 a total length of 15,643 kilometres on Jan. 1, 

 1898. The length of telegraphs was 43,376 kilo- 

 metres, with 162,831 kilometres of wires. The 

 number of internal dispatches in 1897 was 8,181,- 

 987; of international dispatches, 2,044,776; of 

 service dispatches, 106,258; total, 10,671,388. The 

 number of letters sent through the post office was 

 171,703,000 in the internal, 42,617,000 in the ex- 

 ternal, and 3,825,000 in the transit service; of 

 postal cards, 67,502,000 internal, 6,646,000 foreign, 

 and 310,000 transit; of newspapers and circulars, 

 261,310,000 internal, 24,844,000 foreign, and 2,168,- 

 000 transit ; of domestic money letters and postal 

 orders, 12,108,000, remitting 1,179,680,000 lire; of 

 foreign, 1,024,000, remitting 117,153,000 lire; in 

 transit, 3,000, remitting 965,000 lire. 



Politics and Legislation. Gen. Pelloux, a 

 Liberal of the moderate type in his political 

 affiliations, but not a party man, was selected by 

 the King to be Minister of the Interior and chief 

 of the Cabinet when the Marchese di Rudini was 

 forced to retire and a Republican and Socialist 

 agitation had to be dealt with that threatened 

 the existence of the dynasty, supported secretly 

 as it was by the great irreconcilable nonvoting 

 Clerical party, that strives for the restoration 

 of the temporal power of the papacy. Gen. Pel- 

 loux was an energetic soldier, who had no experi- 

 ence in political or parliamentary management. 



