The tendency to try to tap other sources of supply than the United Kingdom was increasing; more and more coal was being imported from the United States, Germany, the Saar basin, etc. Much was also hoped from the Heraclea concession on the Black Sea. Prospects for 1921 were more satisfactory; the demand was less owing to the industrial crisis, and supplies more abundant and cheaper. Before the war coal cost about 40 lire per ton in Italy; during the war and at certain periods after the Armistice it rose to as high as 800 lire. At the end of 1920 it had fallen to 650 lire, and lower in 1921.
Italy is almost as poor in iron as in coal, but she had nevertheless developed her iron and steel industry to a fair degree. In 1909-13 the average annual amount of iron ore mined was only 535,000 tons while the yearly output of iron and steel was 1,048,000 tons. During the war, owing to imperious military necessities, mining was greatly intensified, and in 1917 1,000,000 tons of iron ore were extracted; in 1918 the amount fell to 695,000, and in 1919 to 466,000, owing to the reduced demand. The total known deposits are estimated at only 40,000,000 tons, but the amount is probably larger, and the Cogne mines in the Val d'Aosta and those at Nurra in Sardinia are capable of much greater development. The output of iron and steel during the later years was as follows: 1913, 933,000; 1914, 911,000; 1915, 1,009,000; 1917, 1,332,000; 1918, 993,000; 1919, 732,000 tons. In 1913 840,000 tons of iron, steel, scrap iron, rails, pipes, plates, etc., were imported; 789,000 tons in 1919, and 378,000 tons in the first half of 1920.
Electric Power. Electric power and its applications have been developed to a very high degree in Italy, and extensive use has been made of the water-power, which is taking the place' of steam in many fields of industrial activity. In ft)i4 900,000 H.P. produced by water-power were in use, and at the end of 1920 the figure had risen to 1,500,000. There is still a great deal more water-power available, notably in the newly annexed territories, but the high cost of setting up new plant and of materials and labour has been a deterrent to further development. There are several lines with electric traction, of which the most important are the Simplon tunnel, the Turin-Modane line with the Mt. Cenis tunnel, Genoa- Arquata, Genoa-Savona, Milan-Sondrio, Naples-Piedimonte d'Alife. It was intended to adopt electric traction on several other lines as soon as possible, including the new Rome-Naples short line which was under construction in 1921. Altogether it is estimated that there are 3,000,000 H.P. available in Italy.
Raw Materials. Scarcity of raw materials seriously handicapped Italy during the war, but then, at least, the Allies accorded her certain facilities for obtaining them. After the Armistice not only were these facilities withdrawn, but several countries imposed what practically amounted to export duties on raw materials, while in some cases they altogether prohibited their export. The worst difficulties were those connected with coal and wheat. The system, by which British coal was being exported in 1919-20 at a far higher price than was charged to the home consumer resulted in Italian consumers having to pay 555. more per ton than the British, which with the exchanging for 90 lire, meant an annual tribute on 4,000,- ooo tons of 1 ,000 million lire, not counting freights. Even apart from this discrimination the Italian consumer had to pay four times as much as the British for coal. For a long time British coal en- joyed a practical monopoly of the Italian market, as there were few other sources of supply available. Afterwards American and German coal came to be imported into Italy in increasing quantities, and the British discrimination was removed. Argentina for a time imposed an export duty on wheat, and afterwards prohibited its export altogether. France stopped the export of scrap iron, of which Italy had great need. All these restrictions caused much hard- ship and not a little ill-feeling. At the Brussels Financial Conference (Sept. Oct. 1920) the Italian delegates complained of the tendencies of certain countries richer than Italy in raw materials to improve their budgets by raising their export prices, and asked for freedom of circulation for raw materials. Senator Schanzer, Italian delegate at the League of Nations Assembly in Dec. 1920, supported the theory of economic solidarity, demanding that artificial barriers and differential prices should be eliminated and that the whole world be regarded as one great economic system.
Trade.—Before the war, Italy's trade returns had shown annual imports from 25% to 50% higher than the exports. But the difference was made up by "invisible" exports—the sums sent or brought home by emigrants, those spent by foreigners in Italy, freights earned by Italian ships, etc. During the war and after the Armistice the trade deficit grew very considerably, owing to the immense quantities of war material and foodstuffs which had to be imported, without a corresponding increase of exports, visible or invisible. In 1919 the imports amounted to 13,677,169,245 lire and the exports to 4,500,653,431 lire. The following year the imports declined slightly to 13,038,034,351 lire, while exports rose to 6,219,585,088 lire.
Transport.—The total railway system of Italy increased from 3,728 m. in 1870 to 11,895 m. on Dec. 31 1919, to which must be added 870 m. for the new territories. Before the war there were 6,000 locomotives, 12,000 passenger coaches and 112,000 goods vans and trucks. After 1914 the rolling-stock slightly increased, but a good deal of it was worn out during the war and would have been scrapped had it not been for the difficulty of obtaining new material. On June 30 1919 there were building 860 locomotives and 17,000
cars of all sorts, but the necessary repairs to the old ones were going on very slowly, and a large number of passenger coaches remained in a very bad state. The number of railwaymen before the war was 170,000. During the war a number of men were taken on temporarily (avvintizi) to replace those who were serving in the army, and after the Armistice, when the old ones were taken back, the new ones were not dismissed; this fact, the introduction of the eight-hour day, and the decreased efficiency of the bulk of the railwaymen, resulted in a large addition to the staff. The State railways alone, which before the war employed 154,000 men, had 200,000 on their pay-rolls in 1921. In 1913 the railways transported 130 million passengers and 47 million tons of goods, and the revenue was 655 million lire, which was 45 millions less than the sum necessary to cover expenditure, including the 3^% interest. The inadequacy of the revenue was due to the low traffic of the lines in the south and in the islands, which were also the most costly to build. During the war the traffic increased considerably, but more than half of it was war traffic ; expenses also increased enormously, owing to the rise in the price of coal, the inferior quality of much of the fuel used, and the huge increase of wages, which varied from 158 % for the higher management to 643 % for the lowest grade of linesmen in 1920^-1 as compared with 1913-4. Expenses in 1920-1 were 1, 800 million lire for wages, 1,000 million for fuel and 500 million for other items a total of nearly 3,500 millions. The revenue was barely 2,000 millions, in spite of the increase of the tariffs.
The total length of the interurban tramway system (steam and electric) was 2, 796m. in 1921 ; and that of the motor-omnibus service, conveying passengers and goods, was 8,700 m. in 1917.
Shipping. The total tonnage of Italy on Aug. I 1914 was 1,534,- 738 ; her losses during the war were higher in proportion than those of any other country, amounting by Nov. II 1918 to no less than 905,393 tons, or 58-93 % of the whole mercantile marine. But the large development of shipbuilding, encouraged by high freights, and the addition of the greater part of the Austro-Hungarian ship- ping, brought up the total to more than the pre-war figure 2, 1 1 8,- ooo tons. Freights rose during the war from 9 to 15 times what they were before, and in 1921 were still three times the pre-war rate. In 1913 31,800,000 tons of goods were transported on Italian ships; the amount fell to 16,800,000 in 1918, rose to 19,200,000 in 1919, and continued to increase slightly until 1921.
HISTORY 1909-21
The general elections of March 1909 had returned a strong- majority in favour of the Government of which Sig. Giolitti was the head. A new Shipping Subsidies bill was now introduced by the premier, the old agreements with the steamship companies, having lapsed, but attacks made on the measure by the opposition, led by Baron Sonnino, so shook the Cabinet's position that Sig. Giolitti deemed it prudent to adjourn the debate until the autumn. When Parliament reassembled he modified the steam- ship bill, but the Cabinet was defeated on a point of procedure and resigned on Dec. 2. Baron Sonnino was now called upon, for the second time to form a Ministry, which comprised some of the best brains in Italy Count Guicciardini (Foreign Affairs), Sig. Luzzatti (Agriculture), Sig. Salandra (Treasury), Adml. Bettolo (Marine), and Gen. Spinfardi, who remained at the War Office. But the new Government, though widely supported in the country, had no stable majority in the Chamber, which was still Giolittian at heart. On. March 21 it was defeated over the new shipping bill and resigned. Sig. Luzzatti succeeded, with the Marquis di San Giuliano at the Foreign Office, Adml. Leonardi Cattolica as Minister of Marine, and Signori Tedesco, Facta, Credaro and Sacchi in other departments. In spite of his great financial ability and abundant self-confidence, the new premier proved unequal to his task, and it was obvious to all, save to himself, that he only held office on sufferance, until Sig. Giolitti saw fit to return to power after the shipping bill and one or two other awkward questions had been disposed of. The Government was extremely feeble in dealing with agrarian disorders in Romagna and other internal troubles. On Dec. 21 there was a division on the Cabinet's extension of the Franchise bill; although a majority voted in its favour, the Radicals opposed it, and the two Radical ministers (Sacchi and Credaro) felt bound to resign. The whole Cabinet followed suit on March 18 1911. The King sent for the inevitable Giolitti, who formed a new Cabinet comprising most of the former ministers, including Sacchi and Credaro. Sig. Bissolati, one of the leading but moderate Socialists, declined office at the last moment.
The year 1911 being the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Italian Kingdom, exhibitions were organized in Rome, Turin
