From these figures it seems plain that Italy
faces economic ruin if her supply is cut off. But,
above all, Italy has no coal mines, all her coal
for industrial purposes, for railroads, and navi-
gation being supplied by England. In the light
of these facts her motives for acquiescing in*
England's threatening demands may be clearly
understood. Of course, a daring and far-reach-
ing policy might have safely offset all scruples
and risks by the great thought of an Italian North
Africa. Italy's net loss by emigration within the
last five years averaged almost a half million
souls annually — a number large enough within
a decade to settle the present French North
Africa with Italian colonists. This and nothing
else constitutes the plan of a future Greater Italy,



146 Germany's Isolation

cherished by all far-seeing Italians, an idea far
loftier and greater than the time-worn Italia
Irredenta, the unredeemed Italy, which is in-
habited by Italians under foreign, particularly
Austrian, rule.
That question, no less than all others, will be
automatically settled in the great accounting to
which all Europe has been subjected. And yet
Italy ought to consider that only as a friend of
Germany and Austria-Hungary she is likely to
attain the goal of her one desire. An English-
French victory would not let her rise above a
second- or even third-rate power in the Mediter-
ranean Sea, while as a member of the Triple
Alliance she may become a world power. How-
ever, great fortitude is demanded to attain great
ends.
