Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 193, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1915 — RICH IN ITS HISTORY [ARTICLE]

RICH IN ITS HISTORY

IBTRIAN TERRITORY HAS HAD AN IMPORTANT PAST. Battlefield of Europe Throughout the Centuries, It is Again the Center of Discord — Strict Old Communal Regulations. “Many long-slumbering memories have been quickened by the present resistless flood of war that has engulfed in its course nearly all of the historic spots in Europe, recalling to the breathless onlookers in neutral lands, in the light of the tragic significance of these places today, their romantic stories of the centuries past,” begins a bulletin lßsued by the National Geographic society, treating of what life has been in Austria’s Istrian territory, which the Italians are now attempting to invade. The statement continues:

“Istria, the wedge-shaped peninsula at the head of the Adriatic and the surrounding territory back of Trieste, not of great Importance commercially or industrially and with few connections with the world in the West, thus little known and spoken of, unrolls a stream of highly interesting reminiscences of past civilizations when brought to attention as one of today’s great battlefields. The civilisation of the peninsula is ancient, lonians from rich and cultured Miletus settled colonies there in the ninth century B. C., and in 735 B. C. the Corinthians followed them. The sunny culture of the Greeks once blossomed all along these shores, formed its artists here, bullded its temples, and at last gave way before the Celts, who arrived about the fourth century B. C. When the Romans were forced to crush the pirates of the North Adriatic, Istria fell under their domination, about 177 B. C. Following an uprising the Romans thoroughly subdued the land in 128 B. C., and in 127 B. C. 14,000 Roman colonists were settled there. “Through the Dark Ages and well into the Middle Ages Istrian land was in the vortex of the struggle between the empires of the east and west, and then between Byzantium, the German powers of the north and the rising commercial cities of Italy. By 1145 Venice had established privileged connections with most of the Istrian towns. From this time date some very Interesting records of social organizations on the peninsula. The land was organized into communes, with their chief magistrate, a small council or council of assessors, and a council of the people. The commune governments extended their work to an even greater degree than the most governed communities would think of doing today. Their regulations provided for all manner of domestic supervision. They fixed the time oh new vintage, the time'for selling new wine, the amount of bread that could be baked in one town, and administered ‘pure food’ regulations with greatest strictness.

"As today, Judges went through the markets trying the food. These judges went through the taverns and tasted the wine before the innkeepers might put it on sale. The prices of foreign goods were fixed by the authorities and the quality of these goods carefully determined before they could be put on sale. Stone measurements were cut on fountains, on the foundation stones of public buildings and on other conspicuous places. Armed men were not allowed to enter the cities, the regulation against carrying weapons being deemed Just as important then as now. However, a citizensoldier who happened to kill an onlooker during military practice was able to get Immunity from punishment. Militarism had its privileges in Istria.

“In some of the cities the making of false money was punishable with death; the bearing of false witness, where no fine was collected, was punished by the loss of the right nostril •ad publication on the stair of the town hall of the delinquent as a perjurer. The destruction of property was punished by the loss of the right hand, and a long list of illegal words, oaths and objectionable phrases was attached to the section of the code that provided the punishment of the pillory for the blasphemer. Tips were strictly forbidden; the workman was forced to accept no more than the wage prescribed. The activity of those intrusted with looking ovt for the people’s welfare stretched to every little detail of domestic life.”