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 ITALY

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ITALY

much in excess of those of 1903, in which latter-named year there occurred the maximum of industrial strikes. The cliief cause of strikes related to wages, to hours, to the monopoly of labour, and to discipline, and, as is natural, the first two produced the greatest number of strikes, and questions of discipline more than those related with the monopoly of labour. In 1906 20-5 per cent of the strikes were entirely success- ful, while 2-53 per cent were unsuccessful; in 1907, 25-5 per cent succeeded, as compared with 27-7 per cent that failed; in 1908, 21-1 per cent were success- ful, and 36-4 per cent failed. The remainder were partly successful. In the first quarter of 1909 there were 217 strikes, in which 34,118 workmen took part. There are in all Italy 69 organizations for the defence of the demands of workmen in the industries and in commerce.

The habit of making savings, which is one of the forms of natviral provision, and also that of attending to the needs of parents have always obtained among Italians, especially in the labouring classes, whether agricultural or industrial, with greater force, in fact, than that of phy.sical and intellectual development, and this is reflected in the remittances made by emi- grants to their homes. Prior to the establishment of savings banks, these fruits of economy were merely hoarded up by individuals and exposed to the dangers of loss; when those banks were established, however, offering ample security through the supervision of the State, and also facilities in relation to time and place, the proportion of savings was vastly increased. In 1872, there were 120 savings banks in Italy, a number tliat has been increased now to 208, while the number of depositors, which was 676,237, has now grown to 2,048,364. The aggregate of deposits in 1872 amounted to nearly $100,000,000, and is now equal to $400,000,000. The people's banks, which take sav- ings accounts, had, in 1898, deposits to the sum of .?7o,000,000, and now have deposits of a total of $147,- 000,000; and the post-office savings bank that was es- tabli.shed in 1876 has now 5,000,000 depositors, with accounts to their favour of more than $300,000,000. The .sum total of savings, therefore, may be estimated, in round numljers, at $800,000,000. Unhappily the savings banks are obliged to invest their deposits in state bonds and in first-class hypothecary loans, while the post-office bank invests deposits in loans to the Communes and to the provinces; the former, therefore, are not available in the manufacturing industries and in agriculture. Here it may be observed that while the figures given above are evidence of the habit of Italians of making savings, which is nothing but de- ferring consumption, those figures show also the want of the habit of placing savings in profitable in- vestments, that other form of provision which con- sists in renouncing the possession of the sum saved, that is, of the power of consumption, to transform it into other powers, or for one's own security against want. Hence the slow and laboured progress of the professional unions and of the leagues, of the so- cieties of mutual assistance and of insurance against sickness, loss of employment, or old age, the existence of which institutions depends upon the contributions of their members. Possibly this condition may be in a measure due to the malversation of funds by the di- rectors of such corporations and to the failure of kin- dred establishments that are without solid founda- tions or competent direction, all of which cau.ses have increased the want of economical conlidencp that is instinctive in the Italian character. Tiir [jroof of tliis is furnished by the national l)ank that was established in 1898 for insurance against disability and against old age for workim^n, conformably with the law of 31 May, 1907, No. 376; for in this establishment not- witnslnnding its total amountof funds of nearly $13,- 000,000, there were registered on 28 l'"(!bruary, 1909, only 297,749 workmen, mainly liy public corporations

which, in their own interests, wished to provide for the old age of their employees.

CoMMDNicATio.NS. — {\)Highways. — The highways of Italy, exclusive of those bordering on private property, in 1904, measured in the aggregate 85,757,300 miles; while there was a total length of 35,400 miles of mule and foot roads. (2) Railroads. — The first railroad in Italy, the Napoli-Portici, was opened on 4 October, 1839; in 1871 there were 3960 miles of railroad in operation, and on 30 June, 1907, there were 10,705 miles of railroads. The principal railroad lines are: (1) the one from Turin to Venice, by Novara, Milan, and Verona; (2) that from Turin to Brindisi, the sta- tion of the Indies, by Piacenza, Bologna, Ancona, Foggia, Bari, and Otranto; (3) that from Genoa to Naples, by Pisa, Rome, Salerno, and Reggio-Calabria. The Italian railroads and those of France communi- cate by two lines, that from Genoa to Marseilles and that from Turin to Lyons, through the Frejus, and they will soon connect, also, by the Cuneo-Nice line. They connect with the Swiss and with the German railroads by the Novara-Luino-Belhnzona line, by the Milan, Chiasso, Lugano, Bellinzona, and Airolo (the St. Gotthard road), by the Genoa, Alessandria, No- vara, Domodossola (the Simplon Way) ; lastly, the Italian railroads connect with those of Austria by the Verona-Trent (the Brennero line), by the Venice- Udine (the Pontebba line) and by the Udine, Cormons, Gorz, and Monfalcone line. (3) Tramways. — The first tramway that was operated by mechanical trac- tion was opened in 1875 between Turin and Monca- lieri, .and on 31 December, 1904, there were 2450 miles of tramway lines in operation, 475 miles being electri- fied; and the combined personnel employed on all these lines included 14,742 persons. With the tram- ways are connected waterways, aggregating a length of 1100 miles by river, and 680 miles by navigable canals. Interior navigation, however, has been neg- lected until now by Italy, to the detriment of com- merce and of industry, and it is a matter for congrat- ulation that the Bertolini bill, bearing upon this matter, became law on 2 Jan., 1910.

(4) The Postal Service.— On 30 June, 1908, the postal-telegraph offices and the places for collection numbered together 10,580, an average of 28 for each 100,000 inhabitants; there were, moreover, 143 such offices on wheels or afloat. This important public service is due in great measure to mutual conventions with other countries, on the basis established at Berne, 9 October, 1874, and developed in subsequent con- gresses (Berne, 1876; Paris, 1878 and 1880; Lisbon, 1885; Vienna, 1891; and Washington, 1897), leading to the establishment of the Universal Postal Union. In some foreign places where the Italian colonies are considerable, whether through the number of emi- grants or by the importance of their commerce, post- offices have been established, as in the Republic of San Marino, in Albania, Tripolitania, and Crete, at Con- stantinople, Valona, Salonica, Jerusalem, and in the Italian colony of Eritrea and Somalia. On 150 June, 1908, there were in all 24,198 employees in the postal and telegraphic service, and in 1908-1909 the postal, telegraph, and telephone receipts continued to in- crease, notwithstanding the effects of the great eco- nomical crisis in the United States that caused a stagnation in Inisinoss, in exchanges, .and in emigra- tion. Th(>conibiiied expenses ill 1898-1899 amounted to $12,490,000, and in the last year of the following decade, that is, 1907-1908, they amounted to $24,- 610,000. The combined issue of stamps, postal orders, post-cards, cards for packages, registrations, and answers prepaid aiiiciuiited in value to $17,296,- 000. During llic above year tli(>re w<-re 12,749,309 packages mailed, and 2,205,214 jiackages were received from foreign countries. These figures were due no doubt to the convention with the United States, pro- viding for the direct exchange of packages of frpm