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Rh lined with timber and provided with water-pipes, electric light ing, etc. Galleries were excavated in the ice, between tht Italian and Austrian trenches, leading under cover to advancec posts or even well into the enemy's lines. Gigantic operations with mines were also carried out. Cutting the rock was renderec possible thanks to the great perfection of the compressed-air drills. During the war the Italians turned out an admirable type of motor-driven air-compressor, which met with success also in the Allied armies. On the Italian front there were 20 large plants for fixed drills and about 4,000 groups of portable drills of from 5 to 45 horse-power. The remarkable skill of the Italian miners facilitated considerably the carrying out of most important and difficult mining operations.

In road-making wonderful results were obtained. Once operations were transferred to the highest and most inaccessible points, where in many cases there was not even the narrowest path, it became an absolute necessity to create means of com- munication at once. Roads were constructed which allowed heavy artillery and motor lorries to reach points where a few months before only a mountain expert would have trod.

The total length of the roads laid down by the Italian army was in round figures as follows:

1,600 km of roads for mules

' " carts

. of roads for motor lorries. But the building of roads could not always meet the require- ments of troops operating in Alpine districts. It happened very often that the number of men detailed to a certain point did not justify the building of a road on such difficult ground; or that snow and avalanches in the winter prevented the safe use of means of communication already existing; or that the enemy's fire swept them; or, finally, that the occupation of new positions made it necessary to send supplies out of proportion to the available transport and before there was time to build a road. The difficulty in such cases was skilfully overcome by means of special mechanical transport. Wire railways or " telphers " were provided, thus economizing time, labour and oil, and avoiding congestion of roads. These telphers are a kind of suspension railway. A double metal cable called " bearer " is extended on trestles placed in a straight line at different distances on the sides of the mountain. There are two stations, one at the start- ing-point and the other at the end of the line. In one of these stations there is a motor which works an endless cable (the "drawer"), to which are fixed two or more small waggons. The cable turns and draws the waggons supported by the "bearer" cable by means of small wheels which run on it. Different kinds of telpherage plants were used.

1. Telefpri. These were provisional lines moved by man power and used in the most advanced zones to supply isolated posts or trenches. Their average length was 500 metres and each could carry about 50 quintals a day.

2. Dismountable Teleferiche. These were run by motors and were put up in advanced zones. Their average length was from 1,000 to 2,000 metres, and each could carry from 10 to 20 quintals an hour. They could be dismounted and were portable, and could be installed even where there were no roads. These lines proved most useful for the transport of supplies in newly occupied positions. When in 1917 the troops of the II. Army crossed the Isonzo and advanced on the Bainsizza (Bainitsa) plateau, they could not com- municate with the lines in the rear except by means of the few and bad mule-paths; but after only four days a few telphers were already in working order, and on the tenth day there were no less than 12 doing service. Similar miracles of speed were performed in the new mountain positions between the Brenta and the Piave.

3. Permanent Teleferiche. These were run by motors and were fixed. They were employed at some distance from the lines, and reached a maximum length of 8,000 metres. They could carry about 150 quintals per hour.

Some permanent teleferiche were already working before the war jor the service of mountain fortresses, and some types of portable elefericlie had been studied and estimates prepared. Oil and electric motors were in use.

The telphers covered on an average a rise of 650 metres from the starting-point to that of arrival; but in some cases even 1,500. The resiles were often at very great distances from one another and laced on peaks, while the waggons ran over fearful abysses. In the ighest regions the lines often ran at a height of 2,000 to 3,000 metres; i few were installed even at 3,500 metres above sea-level.

On the eve of the retreat from Caporetto, in Oct. 1917, 380 telefori and 530 teleferiche were in working order. The former had a total length of 190 km., the latter of 630. During the retreat about 550 teleferiche and telefori were lost or dismounted. At the date of the Armistice there were 270 telefori and 460 teleferiche run by motors. The former had a total length of 170 and the latter of 640 kilometres.

The telpherage lines laid on the Italian front transported in all 33,000,000 quintals, the load of 330,000 railway trucks.

The service was under a special central administration with a competent staff drawn from the telpher transport companies (one for each army). There was also a department for the supply and testing of the material and a depot-school with construction and repairing shops. The bulk of the material was built by private concerns, but set up by the military.

The services rendered by the telpherage lines were invaluable. It was only thanks to these lines that it was possible to main- tain positions which the troops would otherwise have been com- pelled to abandon for want of supplies. They allowed detach- ments to be kept in almost impossible positions even during the winter, as well as assuring an adequate supply of ammunition for guns placed in the most inaccessible positions which men could not have reached if laden with shells. Thousands of lives were saved when their gently sliding waggons were used for the transport of wounded and sick, who were thus spared a lengthy and agonizing journey to hospital. (M. R.)

TENNESSEE (see 26.619). The pop. in 1920 was 2,337,885 as against 2,184,789 in 1910, an increase of 153,096, or 7 % as against 8-1% in the preceding decade. The negro pop. during 1910-20 decreased numerically from 473,088 to 451,758, and decreased proportionally from 21-7% of the total to 19-3%. The average density of pop. in 1920 was 56-1 % per sq. m.;in 1910 it was 52-4, The urban pop. (in places of 2,500 inhabitants or more) increased from 20-2% of the total in 1910 to 26-1% in 1920. Only two cities, Memphis and Nashville, had in 1920 more than 100,000 inhabitants; only two, Knoxville and Chattanooga, had between 50,000 and 100,000. The following table shows the pop. and increase per cent, for the six cities exceeding 10,000 for the decade 1910-20:

1920

1910

Increase per cent

Memphis Nashville Knoxville Chattanooga Jackson Johnson City

162,351

118,342 77,8i8

57,895 18,860 12,442

131,105 110,364 36,346 44,604

15,779

8,S02

23-8 7-2 114-1 29-8 19-5 46-3

Agriculture. During the decade 1910-20 the interests of the state remained predominantly agricultural. Although the total land area in farms decreased from 20,041,657 ac. to 19,510,856 ac., the im- proved land increased from 10,890,484 ac. to 11,185,302 ac., and the number of farms increased from 246,012 to 252,774. During the same period the average acreage per farm decreased from 81-5 ac. to 77-2 ac.; but the average value per farm increased from $2,490 to $4,953, a "d the value of all farm property increased from $612,520,- 836 to $1,251,964,585. The average value of land per acre in 1920 was $41.40; in 1910 it was $18.53. Of the 252,774 farmers in 1920 214,592 were whites and 38,182 were negroes. Of all farmers 148,082 were owners; 103,885 tenants; and 807 managers. Of the total 11,374 were women. The total value of farm crops in 1919 was $318,285,307, of which amount $144,778,157, or 45-5%, represented cereals; the total value in 1909 was $i 1 1 ,133,210, cereals representing 49-8%. The cereal acreage in 1919 was 4,186,373 ac. as against 4,136,647 ac. in 1909, an increase of only 1-2 %. The following table shows comparative acreage, production, and value of the important crops for 1919 and 1909:

Acreage

Production

Value

Corn. . 1919

3,301,075

70,639,252 bus.

$127,150,649

1909

3,146,348

67,682,489 bus.

45,819,093

Oats. . 1919

162,417

2,413,409 bus.

2,534-082

1909

342,086

4,720,692 bus.

2,378,464

Wheat. 1919

684,497

6,362,357 bus.

14,506,174

1909 Hay and for-

619,861

6,516,539 bus.

6,913,335

T, age _,, ' I919

1,751,123

',907,345 tons

49,649,657

Hay and for-

age. . 1009

1,060,480

1,100,838 tons

12,784,783

Cotton. 1919

807,770

306,974 bales

48,808,866

. 1909

787,516

264,562 bales

17,966,517.

Tobacco. 1919

138,561

"2,367,567 Ib.

24,720,869

. 1909

90,468

68,756.599 Ib.

5,661,681