THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



155 



The Sammarinesi seem little occupied 

 with business, the few stores of the capi- 

 tal doing a leisurely trade. But in its 

 quiet way San Marino has touched on 

 most of the economic and social problems 

 to its own satisfaction. It has its com- 

 pulsory education law, and everything is 

 being done to eradicate illiteracy, which 

 still prevails among the peasants. A good 

 school system, a college, and an excel- 

 lent little museum attract students from 

 neighboring towns. 



THE republic's cooperative 



INSTITUTIONS 



The Mutual Aid Society, with an im- 

 portant savings bank, whose object is 

 to aid the working classes, has many 

 branches reaching into the public life. 

 Cooperative societies have been fostered 

 by the Mutual Aid, among the interesting 

 ones being the Cooperative Canteen. Its 

 object is to serve good wine at a low 

 price. Drunkenness is little known in 

 San Marino, where crime is a rare occur- 

 rence. The Sammarinesi know what is 

 good wine and they insist upon having it. 

 One can always tell a wine 1 shop, even 

 when there is no painted sign, by the 

 branch of a tree or bit of bush hung over 

 the door. 



The public bake-house is one of the 

 busiest of cooperative institutions. Be- 

 fore October, 1917, families nearly al- 

 ways sent their bread to the public oven 

 to be baked. In October last, the eco- 

 nomic effects of war made it necessary 

 for the Republic to prohibit private bread 

 baking. Bread tickets are issued and the 

 bread, made in the public oven, is sold 

 during certain hours of the day in the 

 market loggia. 



The grain magazine, where members of 

 the Mutual Aid could buy grain and flour 

 at low prices and on credit, has naturally 

 been affected by the war. 



The branches of the Cooperative Labor 

 Organization indicate the occupations of 

 San Marino. It includes stone-cutters, 

 masons, carpenters, and manual laborers. 

 The Emigration Society's aim is to place 

 Sammarinese laborers in other countries. 

 The Consumers' League, of which the 

 bake-house is a branch, boasts an eco- 

 nomic kitchen. 



There is a charity organization, a per- 

 manent home for chronic invalids among 

 the poor, a fresh-air fund, which sends 

 babies to the seaside in the summer, a 

 hospice for winter, and of course a Red 

 Cross Society. 



Two theaters, one in the Borgo, one in 

 the capital, are scenes of occasional his- 

 trionic fetes, but dancing and theater- 

 going have been discouraged since Italy's 

 entrance into the war, this being the sim- 

 ple way of showing sympathy for the 

 war-shadowed nation which surrounds 

 the Republic. These quiet, unassuming 

 people — earnest and sometimes austere — 

 have adjusted life to their own wants. 

 Indeed, the little Republic, which im- 

 presses one as very neat and tidy in its 

 appearance, is quite as orderly in its 

 social and economic life. 



A REEUGE FOR THE PERSECUTED YESTERDAY 

 AND TODAY 



But while it seems self-sufficient and 

 asks only for peace and tranquillity, San 

 Marino has been a refuge for fugitives 

 through all the ages, since the Dalmatian 

 stone-cutter with his early Christians 

 found shelter on this mountain top. To- 

 day, one finds refugees of various kinds 

 and conditions living comfortably in the 

 Hotel Titano or with Sammarinese fam- 

 ilies. 



Penal offenders are not permitted to 

 remain in the Republic, but political fugi- 

 tives are given a haven. In times past 

 many famous people have found shelter 

 here, and today men known interna- 

 tionally live in the tranquil shadows of 

 Mt. Titanus, awaiting their hour. Extra- 

 dition agreements exist between the Re- 

 public and England, Italy, Belgium, and 

 Holland. 



Back in 1849, Garibaldi, with his hand- 

 ful of valiant men, found a life-saving 

 refuge here when pursued by overpower- 

 ing Austrian troops. The incident still 

 lives in the hearts and history of San 

 Marino, where tablets bearing Garibaldi's 

 words on that occasion, a statue of Gari- 

 baldi, and a square named in his honor 

 testify the love of the Sammarinesi for 

 the great liberator. The cooperative can- 

 teen is situated on the ground floor of the 



