350 



ITALY. 



miles, with 22,340 miles of wire. The number 

 of paid domestic telegrams in 1899 was 7,896,081; 

 foreign telegrams, 1,164,403. Ihe length of tele- 

 phone-lines was 280 miles, with 375 miles of wire; 

 number of conversations in the year, 111,772. The 

 receipts of the post-office in the year ending June 

 30, 1899, were 59,667,014 lire; of telegraph offices, 

 14,611.268; total expenses, 58,990,597 lire. 



Politics and Legislation. Zanardelli, the 

 last surviving statesman of the historic Left, 

 took the premiership, and the supple Giolitti 

 became Minister of the Interior after Gen. Pel- 

 loux, the last of a series of Conservative minis- 

 ters who had trouble with the revolutionary par- 

 ties, himself appointed to deal in military fashion 

 with revolutionists and labor organizers, nearly 

 provoked a revolution with his public safety 

 bill. The Radical Minister had to rely on Social- 

 ist support, and its guiding principle was, not the 

 prevention of social disturbance, but the repres- 

 sion of disorder. The Socialists organized labor 

 unions and leagues of resistance throughout the 

 country without interference from the Govern- 

 ment. The agricultural laborers formed leagues. 

 The labor party increased to over 1,000 sections 

 with over 50,000 members. Strikes took place 

 everywhere, at the rate of 1,000 a year, often 

 successful; but only one was accompanied with 

 violence, and only then did the Government in- 

 terfere. 



The traditional Radicalism of Signor Zanar- 

 delli and the Socialistic affiliations of Signor Gio- 

 litti were reflected in the speech from the throne 

 delivered by King Vittorio Emanuele at the open- 

 ing of Parliament on Feb. 20. In the reference to 

 foreign relations the Government could boast 

 with better reason than its predecessors of being 

 in a position to defend Italian interests by fidelity 

 to alliances and cordial bonds of friendship and 

 of securing the esteem of foreign nations by 

 a policy mindful of every right and duty. The 

 Government promised to reduce the price of salt 

 and to build extensive public works for the de- 

 velopment of Apulia and Naples. The separa- 

 tion of religion from the civil powers was to 

 be maintained, the clergy honored when con- 

 fined to the sanctuary. The Radicals were ex- 

 pected to introduce divorce in Italy, since France 

 and other Catholic countries have divorce laws 

 now, but the action of Count Giusso, a Conserva- 

 tive member of the Cabinet who leaned toward 

 Clericalism in resigning because his colleagues 

 contemplated a divorce bill, though they were 

 not ready to introduce it immediately, not having 

 prepared the country for such an innovation, pre- 

 cipitated the bill, which was described as a pro- 

 posal to deal, in harmony with the common law 

 of other nations, with the ideal principle of the 

 indissolubility of civil marriage and to reform 

 by just regulations the law which deprives illegit- 

 imate sons of any right to a name and a career. 

 A bill on judicial reform was intended to secure 

 a higher degree of respect for the magistracy and 

 confidence in the administration of justice. La- 

 bor legislation occupied a prominent place in the 

 program. In addition to the increase by a recent 

 law of the old-age pension fund and bills already 

 submitted to Parliament, other measures were 

 promised for relieving the working classes and 

 developing social legislation, especially a bill on 

 labor contracts. The happy consequences of the 

 new civilization were said to be that labor is hon- 

 ored and strengthened by equitable compensa- 

 tion and prudent protection, raising the condi- 

 tion of those abandoned by fortune. The speech 

 dwelt on the work of the Government for social 

 justice and peace, on the pacification obtained 



by the policy of harmonizing law and liberty 

 because there was a rock ahead on which . this 

 policy must split, and the Government was com- 

 pelled to take preventive measures in defiance 

 of the Socialists, indicating its purpose by a ref- 

 erence to public peace, strongly protected. Among 

 the many classes of laborers that formed unions 

 were the railroad employees, who demanded of 

 the companies higher wages and a classification 

 and grading of their positions, with regular 

 scales of pay and promotion. This organization 

 of the men was a condition in the contracts when 

 the companies leased the railroads, but had never 

 been fulfilled. The Opposition watched with 

 eager anticipation the development of a situa- 

 tion in which the Government must either break 

 with the Socialists and resort to the Conserva- 

 tive policy of suppressing labor organizations in 

 order to prevent strikes or face the consequences 

 of a tie-up of the railroads. The ministers found 

 a logical and legal way out of the dilemma 

 and indicated their policy plainly enough in 

 good time. The railroad employees were pub- 

 lic servants, and if two or more of them com- 

 bined to stop working they would commit an 

 unlawful act. In their case it was the duty 

 of the Government to prevent a strike, and a 

 correlative duty was to bring pressure to bear 

 to make the companies pay fair wages and to 

 compel them, if necessary, to carry out the 

 terms of their contract. The Socialists would 

 not support a policy restricting in any way the 

 right of workers to strike. They issued a. decla- 

 ration that the bourgeois Cabinet had enabled 

 them to organize throughout the country and 

 could offer nothing more worth having, hence 

 they renounced the alliance and would be inde- 

 pendent. They set up a candidate for president 

 of the Chamber, and consequently the Govern- 

 ment candidate failed to get an absolute major- 

 ity of votes. Having no longer a majority to 

 support them, the ministers on Feb. 21 offered 

 their resignations to the King, who proposed to 

 Signor Zanardelli the reconstruction of the Cabi- 

 net, as no other leader could form a combination 

 and Signor Giolitti, who had secured Socialist 

 support for the ministry, was bent on retiring 

 now that this support was withheld. He was 

 persuaded to remain, all the ministers yielding 

 to the persuasion of the King. They decided to 

 put their policy toward the railroad workers to 

 the test of a vote of confidence. Labor disturb- 

 ances in Turin in connection with a gas strike 

 were met by strengthening the garrison. The 

 threatened railroad strike was forestalled by an 

 order placing on a military footing all railroad 

 men who were liable to service and calling out 

 one class of the army reserves. About 24,000 

 out of 86,000 railroad employees were under the 

 age of forty and subject to the order of mili- 

 tarization, the effect of which was to place them 

 under martial law and subject them to the pen- 

 alty for desertion in case they left their posts. 

 They wore badges to signify that they were under 

 military orders, and, unlike the men who in 1898 

 in a similar contingency had been militarized in 

 the same way, they received their pay as soldiers 

 in addition to their wages on the railroads. The 

 ultimatum of the railroad employees expired 

 on Feb. 10, but the time was extended till March 

 4, as the railroad companies offered to raise 

 wages to the extent of 1,700,000 lire a year and 

 to discuss the question of fixed scales of rank, 

 promotion, and salaries, which was already be- 

 fore the courts of law, the Government having 

 brought suit to compel them to introduce such 

 a system according to agreement. In 1905 the 



