Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1918 — ITALY SPENDING 5 MILLIONS DAILY [ARTICLE]

ITALY SPENDING 5 MILLIONS DAILY

War Expenses Increase Each Month and Prices of > , Food Soar, r j— * . PROFITEERS GO UNCHECKED Menace to Morale of Nation Seen If Speculators Are Not Curbed Soon —Revelations of Press Cause Sensation. Rome. —The war is costing Italy $149,000,000 a month or, in round numbers, about $a,000,000 a day. In estimating the of the war the expenditure incurred during the ten months of Italy’s neutrality for war preparations as well as the money spentfduriug the 33 months of war up to the end of last February are taken into account. The estimate is only approximate, because besides the money actually spent for war expenditure payments made by the war office and the admiralty for extraordinary expenditure due to the war are included in the calculation. On the other hand the increased expenditure and the payments made by other government departments during the period from August 1, 1914, to February 28, 1918; are hot taken into account. Only the expenditure of the three ministries of War, of the navy and of muntions is added together in order to afford an Indication of how much the war is costing Italy.

Cost of Warfare Grows. The total extending over a period of two years and nine months when divided into shorter periods reveals that war expenditure is increasing. Thus, while during the first quarter of Italy’s intervention, from June to August, 1915, $97,400,000 were spent every, month, during the last quarter, from December, 1917, to February, 191 S. the average monthly expenditure increased to $282,(500,000, and it is therefore calculated that at present the war is costing Italy $10,0u0,000 a day. So far no serious attempt has been made to improve the food situation in Italy, which is gradually getting worse, not so much on account of acute shortage as to disorganized distribution and artificial increase of prices due to the speculations of middlemen and to extensive hoarding. Sensational revelations are being made in the local press about the profits of middlemen especially in respect to animal food. For instance, it has been ascertained that the lamb market has been cornered by middlemen, who are buying lambs at 12 cents a pound and selling them to retailers at over $1.(50, with the result that the market, prices of lamb have risen to almost $2 a pound.

Profiteers Unchecked. Strangely enough no action has yet been taken against the denounced middlemen while hoarding is being repressed in a half-hearted way, despite the fact that all the shops and restau r rants raided afforded convincing proof that cheese, fats and foodstuffs of every description are being hidden and sold at fancy prices. A few arrests have been made, but the measures so far adopted are inadequate to improve existing conditions. As the patience of citizens Is wellnigh exhausted, it is feared that popular dissatisfaction and resentment will lead to disorders and thus weaken national resistance at a time when the situation is apt to become serious owing to an impending offensive on the Italian front. Radical and energetic measures are therefore imperative.