AM) UNDEK BY THE ACT OF OCTOBER 6, 1917, ON FILE AT THE POST OFFICE OF PHILADELPHIA. PA. BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT. A. S. BURLESON, POSTMASTER GEN. 1 forti caratteri sono gli Dei Supremi della Storia Nazionale. A. GIUSEPPE DI SILVESTRO, Direttore 906 Carpenter Street ANNO 11. - Numero 27 Il Protagonista Dopo aver apposta la propria firma sul Trattato di pace impo sto alla vinta Germania, il pre sidente Wilson, il protagonista dell'interminabile dramma di Pa rigi, se ne torna in America, o nusto di gloria che i posteri di ranno se fu vera o usurpata, sod disfatto dell'opera sua, poiché crede di aver condotto a compi mento una magnanima impresa di pacificazione e di giustizia; mentre tutto il mondo, non esclu sa la maggior parte del popolo americano, è precisamente con vinto del contrario. Wilson è in viaggio di ritorno; anzi, quando questo scritto ve drà la luce, il novello Giasone, seco portando il conquistato vel lo d'oro, avrà diggià gettato l'àn cora sulle coste della sua patria. Vi saranno qui liete accoglien ze, feste trionfali, ricevimenti magnifici, ma mancheravvi la spontanea esplosione di entusia smo di un popolo ed assisteremo soltanto al disperato tentativo del partito wilsoniano, di infon dere un soffio di vita al rachitico e ridicolo parto della Lega delle Nazioni che l'illustre apostolo, in cambio di presenti più preziosi e più solidi, ha voluto regalare al l'Europa mistificata. Questo ritorno di Wilson dopo il cerimoniale di Versailles, que sti sforzi dei suoi seguaci, il cui numero si va giornalmente as sottigliando, da farlo apparire co me trionfatore, ci fan ritenere che egli voglia parodiare il trion fo di Roosevelt, reduce molti an ni or sono dall'aver visitato le maggiori Corti d'Europa. Ma quale differenza, quale a bisso tra i due avvenimenti; lo stesso abisso e la stessa differen za che correva e tuttavia corre tra la personalità mediocre che non ha saputo elevarsi, malgrado il momento storico favorevole, perchè accecato da meschinissi me passioni, ed il grande Statista troppo immaturamente scompar so. Gli amministratori della cosa non ingannano impunemente la buona fede dei popoli; ma se pu re sfuggono alle critiche dei con temporanei, incappano fatalmen te nel giudizio della storia, che è freddo e sereno. Tra due anni, anzi è da sperar si molto tempo prima, Wilson rientrerà nell'ombra, donde non avrebbe mai dovuto venir fuori; ma i veramente grandi rimango no tali sempre e la loro fronte ap pare circonfusa di gloria, anche se sfiorata dal soffio della sven tura. Quando l'ltalia scese in campo, per salvare dall'estrema rovina quelle nazioni che oggi tentano pugnalarla alla schiena ; fin dal primo giorno il nostro Re corse al fronte a dividere, col suo eser cito, le ansie e le gioie, le speran ze e le amarezze. E vi rimase per quarantuno mesi, fino all'ultimo istante e quando tornò alla capi tale pareva invecchiato di venti anni, ed immensamente dimagri to, ma sulla fronte vasta e pen sosa una nuova aureola brillava: l'aureola della gloria. Allora non era peranco inco minciata la perfida opera della stampa e della diplomazia alleata, di svalutare l'importanza della nostra vittoria, e tutto il mondo salutò il nostro Monarca col ti tolo di Vittorioso e l'impresa del nostro esercito come la più mera vigliosa della storia. Il ritorno, dal fronte alla Reg gia, di Vittorio Emanuele 111, fu una marcia trionfale e nella capi tale il Sindaco Colonna al popolo delirante, diede la lieta novella: Torna il Re e lo accompagna la vittoria! , EXTRA! RISPARMIATE MONETA 1 So farete i vostri acquisti presso il nostro grande negozio P. LA BOCCETTA 901-003-905 So. Bth STREET*. PHILADELPHIA, PA. ove troverete specialità' per übiti da farsi su misura. Abiti di battesimo, Vesti per giovanotte, Vestiti per ragazzi. Camicie, Camicette, Sottane, Cappelli ed altro. * ITALIAN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER WITH THE LARGEST CIRCULATION AVANTI SEMPRE, COISI l_A FIACCOLA IN PUGNO «CI "Entered as sccond-ctass matter Aprii 19, 1918, at the post office at Philadelphia, Pa., under the Act of March 3, 1879". Wilson toma anch'egli nella sua patria ma non vi è accolto con generale esultanza. Egli do vrà lottare aspramente al Con gresso per fare accettare il mo struoso Trattato di Versailles; ma l'esito gli appare tanto dub bio, che si propone persino di fa re anche un giro di propaganda ! attraverso le principali città del l'Unione, per tentare di ridurre gli oppositori colla forza dell'elo quenza. Nel Senato e nella Camera si dovrà svolgere anche la mozione {riguardante l'ltalia. Che cosa ri solveranno in proposito i due ra mi del Parlamento? La quistione dell'Adriatico e segnatamente quella di Fiume, sono state am piamente discusse dalla più au torevole stampa americana, fran cese ed inglese, e recentemente due opuscoli vennero spediti a tutti i membri del Congresso e della Camera Alta; uno redatto per cura degli italiani di Filadel fia, che riportava un articolo del Prof. Herron, intimo di Wilson e un'energica protesta dell'Histo rical Society di New York City, i argomenti formidabili a favore del punto di vista italiano. L'altro, riprodotto qui appres so nel testo inglese, stampato per cura del Dr. Leopoldo Vaccaro di Wilmington, con prefazione del l'ex Governatore del Delaware, Charles R. Miller, venne, a suo | tempo, integraljneiTte riportato dai tre giornali locali: l'Evening News, l'Evening Journal e l'Eve ry Evening. Vi sono inoltre le mozioni di di diversi senatori, le quali tutte indistintamente raccomandano che, in vista dell'enorme contri buto portato dall'ltalia alla guer ra mondiale, le vengano assicu rate le sue legittime aspirazioni. Il materiale per la discussio ne, come si vede, è abbondantis simo e noi ci auguriamo che, nei prossimi duelli oratori, i sofismi di Wilson e del partito che lo ap poggia non prevarranno. Specie l'opuscolo del Dr. Vac caio è una disamina acuta e mi nutissima della quistione, che jion lascia la più piccola lacuna. Abbiamo voluto pubblicarlo in inglese per due motivi soprattut- I to ; prima perchè non perda nulla della sua efficacia; secondaria mente perchè quando Americani (ignoranti e malintenzionati vor ranno, in qualche maniera, me nomare i sacri diritti della nostra patria con il problema adria tico, i nostri lettori potranno metter loro sotto il gnigno una ; copia del nostro giornale. Noi attendiamo il risultato con calma e fiducia, ma se anche i rappresentanti del popolo ameri cano dovessero negarci quella giustizia alla quale abbiamo di ritto in virtù degli enormi sacri fici sostenuti, sarà sempre il po polo d'ltalia, se non oserà il Go verno, a dire l'ultima parola. LA LIBERA PAROLA. -* » » —- PHILADELPHIA, PA., 12 LUGLIO, 1919 Fa quel che devi, avvenga che può'. Abbonamento Annuo $ 2.00 Una Copia 3 Soldi Telegrammi d'augurio Non appena il telegrafo ci co municò la notizia che l'on. Nitti, nominato presidente dei ministri, era stato incaricato di formare il gabinetto, il Dr. Vincenzo Buf fa di New York, ex Venerabile Supremo dell'Ordine Figli d'lta lia in America, così gli telegrafa va gli augurii: "Congratulazioni, augurii con seguimento diritti italiani." A questo telegramma imme diatamente S. E. Nitti risponde va: "Con animo grato ricambio cortese saluto." THE CLAIMS OF ITALY . by Dr. Leopold Vaccaro ===H with preface by former Gov. Charles R. Miller of Delaware Introduction I The Hon. L. Heisler Ball, of Dela | ware, has introduced a joint resolu tion in the United States Senate de claring that it is the sense of the American Congress that justice should , be done to Italy in the matter of j Fiume because of her great assistance j to the Allies. I This resolution expresses what ! should be the sentiment of every fair \ minded American. ! In the great conflict, although her sacrifices were enormous, Italy did not hesitate. Her devotion to the cause of \ the Allies was unflinching. Having been true to her pledges and faithful in the discharge of her obli j (rations, Italy is entitled to that which she demands. As the great issue before the Peace Conference has not been justly or ac curately presented to the American public, those who will study the ad mirable analysis of the Italian situa tion, as presented by Dr. Leopold Vae caro, will obtain a clear knowledge of this important question. The presentation submitted by Dr. Vaccaro should be of material assist ance to the members of Congress in determining that which is a just and equitable solutioii of the right of tht Italian nation. CHARLES R. MILLER. Reprinted from the Wilmington papers: "Evening News," of May Hth; "Evening Journal," of May Utith, and "Every Evening," of May 29th, 1919. Italy's situation So much has been written in thft last few days about Italy's situation, j | that it is difficult for people without j j a thorough knowledge of the question I to understand what the real situation | is. Even among the conflicting pros I and cons, very often confusion is arti ! ficially created in the matter in order to spread an unjust and undeserved prejudice against Italy. For these reasons it is perhaps worth while to epitomize the main points of the whole question. London secret treaty * It is assumed that Italy cannot base her claims on the London Treaty be cause the secrecy of the treaty must render it null and void. But there is not yet an international law against secret treaties; that law is only President Wilson's words, which do not constitute laws for the universe. It could be noted that even if this law existed, no law can ever have a retroactive effect; and the Treaty of London was signed more than two years before the proclama tion of this law by President Wilson. It could be stated that the London Treaty was not signed by America, but only by the European nations which, being then at war, were inter ested in it, and therefore the Ameri can President has no right to inter fere with it, forcing the signatories to make of it, in a German way, a scrap of paper. It could be remem bered that the Treaty was necessarily secret, because it was impossible to communicate to the world, and thus to the enemy, the intentions of the Al lies. It was also impossible to com municate it to the Jugo-Slavs, be cause they were fighting for the en emy's cause; and the lands with which the Treaty deals were then considered, by all the Allies, to be Italian; and Mr. Wilson was not there to pretend that they were Jugoslav. But there are still better reasons: it is impossible to condemn a treaty merely because it is secret. It is the provisions of the treaty that must be taken into consideration. If the pro visions are moral and just, even the adversaries of secret treaties must ac cept it. And nothing in Italy's claims is against the principles already ap plied to England and France, and, it is possible to say, to America itself. And this is still stronger: In con sequence of that treaty Italy entered the war. She has done fully what the Treaty asked from her, in blood, money, and sacrifices. Is it possible to conceive that the Treaty must have had force regarding Italy's obliga tions and can be nullified in that part which conc«rns Italy's compensations? The Adriatic Coast. It is not necessary to affirm again the Italianity of the Adriatic Coast; those lands are Italian by ethnology, "by geography, by tradition, by history, by religion, by art, by literature, by character. They would also be Italian by ethnography, but for the violent denationalization carried on by Aus tria. In fact, those lands are more Italian than Alsace-Lorraine is French. Nobody thinks of a plebiscite or arbitration for Alsace-Lorraine, and , the legitimate refusal of Italy to sub mit her identical claims to a plebiscite or an arbitration is represented as an act of imperialism and oppression. If no contrary plebiscite could take away Alsace-Lorraine from France, so no contrary plebiscite could take away the Adriatic lands from Italy. In ■both cases the possible majority of contrary votes could only be a conse- J quence of violence, and violence is not Right! Arbitration is possible only when right is doubtful; but when all the rights are on one side and none on the other, the latter has all to gain, the former all to lose, from arbitra tion. It is especially true in this case; the arbitrar should have been Presi dent Wilson, but everybody can see how prejudiced he is against Italians, only by looking at page 212-14 of his History of the American People, Vol. Fiume Fiume is denied to Italy for two main reasons: 1. Fiume is necessary to the peoples of its hinterland as an outlet on the Adriatic. It is very hard to under stand why the peoples of the hinter land, in order to use the seaport of Fiume, must possess it. This is a new and dangerous theory. Switzerland has no outlet on the sea, and uses freely the port of Genoa. Must Italy yield Genoa-to Swit*erland? Trieste can be a natural outlet for German Austria in the Adriatic. Must Italy give back Trieste to Austria? Why can not the countries of Fiume's hinter land use Fiume seaport, should it ba assigned to Italy? Why must it go to Jugo-Slavia, not being Jugo-Slav, and not to Hungary, for instance, not be ing Hungarian, but being necessary for Hungary's outlet on the Adriatic? In this argument it has been forgotten that Fiume is Italian, and justice de mands that it must not be given to Jugo-Slavia or Hungary or anybody else, but to Italy. Italy's democracy and sentiment of freedom are the best guarantees that Fiume will really and freely be used by all nations concern ed. i And it is not true that without Fiume the Jugo-Slavs have no outlet on the Adriatic. This false statement is apt to create a wrong impression of the justice of Italy. Notwithstanding the Itnlianity of the eastern coast of the Adriatic, Italy has sacrificed a great deal in order to give to Jugo slavia what it really needs, and more. Outside of Fiume, not less than fiv# ports are left to Croatia south of that port, from Bucari to Carlopago; and if, as it now seems certain, Croatia will be a part of Jugo-Slnvia, Jugo-Slavia will have these five harbors in addi tion to more than two-thirds of the Dalmatian coast, with at least four more ports. . 2. Fiume is not included in the Lon don Treaty. That is true, but it is i very difficult to see how this can be a good reason for refusing Italian Fiume to Italy. During the war every body knew that among the aims of the war was the restitution of Alsace- Lorraine to France; nobody knew that : France was going to pet the Saar Val ley; and it is va»y hard to persuade Italians that it is right to give by a quite new agreement the German Saar Valley to Fraifce, and that it is not right to give by a quite new agreement the Italian Fiume to Italy. Moreover, if Italy did not ask for i Fiume, it was Fiume which, even be- I fore the arrival of the Italian troops, decided to join Italy. What could Italy do? Suppose America in this case: what should America do ? Simplv accept the plebiscite an'd de fend her own city against any foreign I interference. It is also said that Italy cannot ilaim what the London Treaty grants lor and at the same time claim Fiume, ivhich is not granted to her by that Treaty. Anybody who looks serenely at these things will be unable to discover a contradiction in this. Independently of the London Treaty, Italy asks what is her own on the same basis that France claims Alsace-Lorraine; for Fiume the general, just claim ig enforced by a spontaneous plebiscite. Where is the contradiction? The Islands and the Dalma tian Coast. Italy could claim, as hinted before, almost the whole of the Adriatic east ern coast, refusing to recognize it* violent denationalization, but, showing all possible moderation, has consented to leave Jugo-Slavia more than two thirds of the Dalmation coast. Bu she is entitled to have all the island! granted to her by the Treaty of Ixm don, not only because they are inhab ited by Italian population, but also be cause they could be a good defense foi her in case of war. In peace-timi no danger to the Jugo-Rlavs can com< from tjiese islands, but in war-tim( they would be a great danger anc menace for Italy, should they go t< the Jugo-Slavs. And Italy has realiz ed too much this menace from th« Austrians in this war to consent the same menace to survive in a possible future war with the same people. The Aegean Islands. Not satisfied with trying to deny Italy what is contemplated by the Treaty of London, Mr. Wilson would be delighted to deprive Italy of th« Dodecaneso Islands, in the Aegean archipelago, claimed by Greece. It could be asked why Greece did not claim those islands when they were kept by Turks, and claims them now that they have been for seven years un. der the liberal regime of Italy. But the important point is another one. Those islands are mentioned in the Treaty of London only in an incident al way, because they were ceded by Turkey to Italy, under certain condi tions, by the Lausanne Treaty, Octo ber, 1912. If Mr. Wilson is entitled to revise the treaties existing before the war in the name of nationalities, we hope that he will not stop at 1912, but, going back, we can hope that in ap plying the-came principles, he is going to ask England and France to give hack to Italy at least Malta and Cor sica! Italy's Imperialism Italy's imperialism is an old story. In order to join the Allies and have back her lands and her sons sufferings under Austria, of which Jugo-Slavs were a willing part, Italy refused Trentino, Triest free-port, Savoy and Nice, Corsica nnd Tunis, offered to her by the Central Empires, without any risk, with the only condition that she remain neutral. A real empire, one hundred times bigger than the lit tle territory claimed by her as her own on the eastern shore of the Adriatic, which the Jugo-Slavs, beaten by Italy in war, try, with the strange cpmplic- I ity of Mr. Wilson, to steal from Italy nt the peace table. It is very difficult for the Italians to understand why I England is not imperialistic in claim- j : ing the German colonies and the sea ; power, why France is not imperialis tic in asking for Alsace-Lorraine, for the Saar Valley and tlft left bank of the Rhine, why Jugo-Slavia is not im perialistic wishing not only Bosnia and Herzegovina, not only Croatia and ; Montenegro, and it is doubtful if they : | are anxious to join her, but to steal also Italian lands and harbors, and j why Italy alone is represented as im- I j perialistic when she asks for the little j that is her own by every possible rea ! son, notwithstanding the denationali zation violently attempted by Austria [ and her faithful servants, j Of course, in the lands she claims Italy will have some foreign people | under her. This is a consequence of ' the natural infiltrations along the boundary lines and, in this case, of the artificial superposition of Slavs to the Italians forced by Austria. But Mr. I Orlando has clearly demonstrated that no nation, under the contemplated ar rangements, will have so little per ! cent, of foreign subjects as Italy, even if she could have everything she is ! entitled to. Austria's collapse. A very strange theory is announced j when Mr. Wilson states that Austria's ! complete collapse was not anticipated, j j and the new state of things created \ j by that collapse is a good reason for j the Allies to escape the obligations contracted under the London Treaty. ! It is very easy to sec the absurdity of this statement at first sight. Had Italy scored half a victory, and left ! Austria crippled but living, she could j | ask what the treaty promised her; I having won a complete and decisive victory, she must have less. In other i words, Italy must be punished because : her victory was too complete. Mr. Wilson this, way is treating I very badly, not only Italy, but Eng ! land and France. It seems that he | wants to tell the world that England . ; and France are jealous of the great victory of Italy, or that England and i France were in bad faith when they signed the Treaty, hoping that Italy ; was not able to win, in order that i they could give her as little as pos | sible of what they had promised. But nobody can think that a treaty signed by England and France could be a "scrap of paper;" nobody asks; J Wilson to join in the Treaty of Lon- | ! don; he can remain simply what he is: ' | quite a stranger to it. j As a matter of fact, it is very diffi j cult to see why Mr. Wilson must have the final word in the settlement .of things between Italy and Austria. He has not signed the Treaty of Lon- ; don; only one American regiment Mr. i Wilson allowed to Italy in the last de cisive drive, and that regiment had not even a good chance to fight. America has given to Italy quantities j of material, and Italy is very grateful | for it; but Italy has paid or must pay | fully for it with great sacrifices, be cause she has always paid more than ' the value of the American dollar, and for a long time paid almost double its value! The fourteen points. It is often assumed that some of j Italy's claims can't be recognized, be- : cause they are not in full accord with I Mr. Wilson's fourteen points. It could j easily be answered that these famous I fourteen points are not an interna tional treaty, and if there is a ten dency to disavow the treaties, it is hard to understand why the personal ! utterances of a single man must be considered by all the world as a Sancta i Sanctorum which nobody should at- { tempt to alter. But these famous J fourteen points have been violated so many times in order to serve the in terests of America, of France, of Eng land, that it is quite reasonable that Italy should feel they could be violat ed once more for the cause of justice in her own interest. One of the most important points of the fourteen deals with the right of self-determination; and any attempt at self-determination ; is excluded when any one among the Allies but Italy wants a piece of terri tory, and every self-determination is refused when an Italian city like | Fiume asks by a plebiscite, taken | when Italy was not there, to join her mother country, Italy. More than that, Germany suiren i dered under the express condition' ; that she had to be guaranteed by the fourteen points, but Austria ciearly refused to do so—she surrendered to i Italy unconditionally. Now, this is the strange and unjust situation. The fourteen points were many times over looked in favor of England and France, notwithstanding the fact that Germany surrendered only under the acceptance of them; and they should | be now applied against Italy in spite i of the fact that they were excluded from the conditions of Austria's sur- | render! The security of Italy and the League of Nations. Mr. Wilson affirms that the boun daries he intends to assign to Italy will be sufficient to protect Italy against future aggressions. Nobody knew of Mr. Wilson's competence in military matters; but everybody knows that not a single American general has gone to Italy to study at | first hand her difficult military prob lem, nor a single American statesman, not even the omnipotent Mr. House, who has been so long in Europe, has gone on the spot to study the national and racial pioblem of the Adriatic. General Diaz and Admiral Thaon di Revel should have heen entitled a little more than Mr. Wilson to say some thing .about the military defense of Italy. Has Foch had too much to say about the French frontier of the Rhine? However, what is quite typical in all this question is that Mr. Wilson af firms that Italy will be quite safe be cause of the League of Nations, and therefore will not need any natural de fense for her future security. Let us be candid: The League of Nations is a thing of which everybody speaks with great respect, but in which nobody believes; not England, who asked for sea power and refused to consent to the reduction of her fleet; j nor France, who asked for at least the neutralization of the left bank of the Rhine, and now is asking for a mili tary alliance with America and Eng land; not even America, who wanted to be safeguarded by the Monroe Doc trine. and is thinking seriously of in creasing her military strength on land and on sea. It is hard to understand why Italy alone should be obliged to | believe in it and rely upon it! It is ■ quite natural that, independent of any • other reasons, Italy should prefer to ; have the territory she thinks for her security and to look at things from I the identical point of view as France, England and America; it is well to ' have laws, judges and policemen, but j very much better to have our homes closed; it is good to have a League of Nations, but very much better to have j the doors of our country closed 1 Are Jugo-slavs enemies? ! The whole of Mr. Wilson's state ment is founded on a wrong belief, He says that the Jugo-Slavs are not enemies. But this judgment should be left to Italy. They are not Ameri can enemies now, because Mr. Wilson recognized them two months ago, but they have been and they are still Italy's enemies, and the defense against them interests Italy alone. Some time ago Mr. Wilson was ask ed by Premier Orlando to settle the ' Adriatic question, and he answered j that he had not the time to study it. J How it has been possible for him to 1 recognize the Jugo-Slavs, not knowing the question, is a mystery that not j even Mr. Wilson can solve. It is a 1 mystery of the same kind as this other one: How was it possible for Mr. Wil- I .son to publish so decisive a statement over the most complicated question at the peace table if he had not studied it up to a few days before? But Italy knows what ferocious •enemies Croatians and Jugo-Slavs, the most faithful servants of the Haps burgs, have been to her; more ancient, more continually ferocious, without possible comparison, than the Ger mans have been to France. And Mr. Wilson, who is right in giving France j every possible defense against Ger many, dares to ask the Italians to consider Jugo-Slavs and Croatians as friends. Is Mr. Wilson willing to for get the deplorable demonstrations of :Jugo-Slav hate against the Italians which were the immediate consequence | of his hurried recognition of Jugo slavia? In order to put Italy in an unfavor able light and Jugo-Slavia in a good light, there is a tendency to confound ; Serbians with Croatians, and the Jugo-Slavs are trying to represent the arguments Italy brings against Jugo- Slavs as directed toward Serbians. This is a poor artifice. Italy knows what Serbia has suffered, because Italy herself has suffered as much. But Italy does not intend to be the victim of a trick. Croatians and Jugo-Slavs fought to the last against Italy and the Allies. When Austria saw that the final blow was coming, she turned everything over to the Jugo-Slavs, trying in this way to deceive Italy and the Allies. Croatians and Jugo-Slavs, seeing that the trick was unsuccessful, gave them selves to Serbia, in order to be shield ed by her and to share her merits and camouflage their crimes. Of course Serbia, notwithstanding the fact she has got three or four times as much territory as she had before the war, taking with her the Jugo-Slavs, tries to have through them more advan tages if possible. But Serbians are Serbians and still Allies. Italy has for them the same feeling of friend ship now as in 1916, when she saved them. Jugo-Slavs and the Croatians are Jugo-Slavs and Croations; that ia to say, they are enemies, and if they ■ ucceed in deceiving Mr. Wilosn by their trick, Italy cannot be deceived, and knows very clearly that they have been, still are and will be her enemies. Of course, if Serbia is going to sup port the Jugo-Slavs in their unjust claims, Italy will be sorry, but she is hound to defend her own lands and sons, even against her. Italy's and Japan's case. Japan has been given control over ■10,000,000 Chinese by the Peace Con ference. How can Mr. Wilson con sistently refuse to Italy territories dis ; tinctly Italian? Public opinion. Notwithstanding the clash of opin ions it is very easy to feel that the majority of the American press fully recognizes the justice of Italy's claims; even those of the newspapers I which are supporting the President now feel that they are doing so for ab solutely other reasons than the justice of Italy's cause. Some are backing the President only for the sake of America's prestige; the President has been obliged to yield to the strongest nations, England and France, on al most every point; in order not to come back to America a defeated man he must win somewhere. It is really a misfortune for American generosity and her sense of right that the Presi dent has tried to find this somewhere in Italy, the weakest of the big three in Europe! In England and in France the great majority of the newspapers recognize the just claims of Italy, and show clearly that they can't understand how it is possible that the same principles should be applied to the Allies in so different ways as to concede every thing to the powerful and to deny the rightful claims to the weaker. Worse than that: that they should be applied with the idea of favoring the enemy and leave a faithful ally, who-has sac rificed everything, fighting to the last, side by side, with the nations she con sidered the most loyal and righteous, in the worst conditions of economy and of safety. It is useless to say that in Italy the population and the press unanimously feel the wrong and injustice of Mr. Wilson's statement. But in France and in England some of _ the extreme socialists have ac claimed the President, approving un reservedl" what he has done. No wonder! But the wonder is that the part of the American press which ap proves, or pretends to approve, the President, is quoting complacently the approval of those socialists as very important for the final issue of the question. It seems impossible that they are unable to see the approval of that extreme party is the worst con demnation for Mr. Wilson; they hope to precipitate revolution as a conse quence of the unrest created by him; political unrest added to the economi cal unrest consequent to the war. Did Mr. Wilson go to Europe with the se cret idea of starting revolution in the Allied countries? Does he not know that in this moment revolution means Bolshevism? What would America do if somebody should come to America from Europe to start a revolution herp? But another thing should advise Mr. Wilson that he is, in good faith, act ing in the interest of the enemy: the joy is in Germany and Austria by his statement against Italy! Italy's representatives. Mr. Wilson has tried to convince the world that Premier Orlando and Min ister Sonnino represent only their own opinion, and not the opinion of the Italian population. Mr. Orlando has clearly and serenely answered the of fense to Italy's free and democratic institutions. Every one who is ac quainted with them knows also that they are at least as liberal and demo cratic as America's. But Mr. Wilson didn't think, on the contrary, that any doubt could arise as to whether he voiced his own personal opinion or the opinion of America when he published his statement on the Adria tic question. As a matter of fact, the Senate has not had the least part in that statement, and the American peo ple, last November, clearly told Mr. Wilson that they did not entirely share his views. Italy feels that, and for this reason, while unconditionally supporting her leaders, she professes clearly her long-time friendship for America and her surprise for the un just and unjustified personal act of the President. To Compel Italy to Yield. - It is extraordinary how simply and plainly some American newspapers ex plained how easy it would nave been to compel Italy to yield her claims. Leave Italy alone in complete isola tion, her supply of coal, raw material and food cut off. Starve her! It is strange that these newspapers do not see the awful side of the thing. The Allies would feed Germany and the other enemies accused of so many dreadful crimes; they would feed the Bolsheviki in order to placate them; and these newspapers are threatening to starve and strangle Italy, to whom the greatest part of the victory must be credited, because Italy, having ful filted her obligations, asks the Allies to do their duty and to be loyal to her. In very clear and proper terms this cannot be called anything but blackmailing. Is it possible that America and the Allies are going to dishonor themselves in order to back Mr. Wilson's personal decisions? Honest people refuse to believe it!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers