Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 151, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1915 — KING OF ITALY LEADS ARMY AT THE FRONT [ARTICLE]

KING OF ITALY LEADS ARMY AT THE FRONT

Action Arouses Enthusiasm in Mo.st Democratic Kingdom in the World. IS MUCH LIKE ROOSEVELT Was Blckly Child and Brought Himself to Hardy Manhood by Bpartan Methods—ls Man of Almost Universal Knowledge and Interested in Much. Rome. —Victor Emmanuel 111 is monarch of the most democratic kingdom in the world. Wizen the plain people of Italy finally forced the nation Into war for the unredeemed Italian lands of Austria, their democratic king decided to share his soldiers’ hardships. His action in taking the field and turning the scepter temporarily over to his uncle, the duke of Genoa, has been received here with the'wildest enthusiasm and the house of Savoy was never more popular than today. Their monarch Just suits Italians. He is more like an American president than a European king. Italy for the most part Is intensely republican, with a leaning to socialism. It Is greatly tinctured with American thought due to the close connection brought about by the return of emigrants from the new world. His majesty Is also republican, with a drift toward socialism. He has made three leading socialists senators and has shown in various ways his determination to solidify his people by exhibiting his tolerance of this most radical section of his subjects. He also requested that his name be included in the list of electors. He Insists that he be considered an ordinary citizen and he never misses recording his ballot at the polls after the fashion of President Wilson. In some ways the king resembles Theodore Roosevelt. He was a sickly child, like the colonel, and brought himself to a hardy manhood by Spartan methods. He is a man of almost universal knowledge, interested In everything, much like the Oyster Bay leader. He possesses great energy. His Part ip War. ' . What will the king do in the war? His part, like the kaiser’s, undoubtedly will consist in going from one part of the battle line to the other encouraging his troops. But Victor Emmanuel possesses too good sense to interfere with his general staffs In the actual flanning of the campaigns. He is a gallant horseman and this Is a source of gratification to the Italians, for their cavalry is not surpassed anywhere in the world. The Italian army officers generally bring back the important prizes in every horse show they enter. In person Victor Emmanuel is thoroughly Italian. His short, powerful figure, sweeping mustachlos and cast of countenance are of a general type often observed throughout Italy. He Is fairer than most of his people, however, and blue-eyed. “Certainly King Victor Emamnuel ia the right man in the right place —the king Italy needs in this supreme moment,” said the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio recently, after an Interview with the monarch. “It would be impossible to imagine a better informed man,” he continued. "On hearing him speak one might almost receive the impression at one moment that he was in Paris conversing with a statesman thoroughly conversant with the subject from the French viewpoint; at others in Berlin, talking with a minister of the German emperor, or in London, in Vienna or Petrograd. The Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean are so familiar to him that he might have lived there all his life. “His lucidity of mind-is astounding, and only surpassed by his unpretentious manner, which puts one completely at ease. There It amazement that this ruler, in addition to fulfilling the duties of state, could absorb so much knowledge and possess such a clear and certain perception of foreign countries, interest and men. Was Bickly Child. When the kins was a child he suffered so badly from rickets that he

could not walk upstairs and had to be carried. Rarely has a sicklier crown prince been seen. King Humbert placed him under a stern military tutor, Colonel Oslo, who put the little prince through a most rigorous course. He slept always in a cold room and took a cold hath at daybreak. Then came a frugal breakfast. Lessons followed, with special emphasis on those he disliked most. Before the morning was over the prince was In the saddle. No matter how bad the weather, he rode daily. Often he returned to the palace soaked to the skin from a violent rainstorm. He disliked music, a predilection which he retains. When he was ten years old he remarked to his piano teacher, Signora Cerasoli: "Don’t you think that 20 trumpets are more effective than that piano of yours?" In his military studies he made rapid progress. He submitted to all Colonel Oslo’s harshness without a murmur. He often relates as one of the pleasantest memories of his life, his impressions when King Humbert first entrusted to him the command of a company on foot, at the annual review of the Roman garrison. "The excitement Interfered so greatly with my. power of sight," he once said, "that the only people I recognized in the cheering crowd were my dentist and my professor of mathematics.” Then a few years later he received the command of the army corps at Naples. Frivolous and light-headed Neapolitan society looked forward to a worldly-minded prince and rejoiced; but It soon discovered its mistake. The prince, scorning pleasure, devoted himself exclusively to his profession and left his barracks only to go straight back to the Capodimonte palace, where he spent his spare time in perfecting himself in the study of military taetics. Then, on July 29, 1900, his father

was assassinated at Monza by the anarchist Bread. Tbe son stepped into the gap immediately. When the prime minister suggested that a proclamation should be addressed to the people and gave a copy to the king, Victor Emmanuel told the minister that he had already written the proclamation himself. When the body of King Humbert was brought to Rome it was found infpossible to dissuade Victor Emmanuel from passing through the whole city j on foot and following the beloved corpse even to the tomb in the Pantheon. This illustrated another trait of the king’s character, a desire to escape the guards who surround and protect him. "To get away all I hare to do is to borrow a motor cal',” he once said. "The queen and myself had a splendid day out in the country by ourselves the other day. I noticed that Ira Nelson Morris, the United States commissioner of the Panama-Pacific exposition. owned a very good Hat car. I asked him to lend it to me for a day, and the queen and I went out to Castel Porziano and had lunch there. Nobody recognized us, not even the police, who had a holiday." The king and queen lead a very simple and informal life for the most part. There is scarcely more ceremony than in the White House. The king does not spend much on his table. The Italians often complain that his wines are an Injustice to the country. What he saves on his cellar the king probably spends on charity, for he is the leader in every good cause. As an illustration of his actions in an emergency an incident of the Calabrian earthquake of 1906 may be cited. When the news of this disaster arrived, the king was holding a grand ball in his castle at Racconigi Without an instant’s hesitation he flung a cloak over his uniform, hurried off U> the scene of action and tirelessly helped in rescuing his hapless subjects. So freely did he expose himself that someone ventured to remonstrate with him. "Why run these unnecessary risks?" urged the courtier. “It is my trade," answered the king grimly.