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Show oo WHY ITALY ENTERS THE WAR. Ominous reports come out of Italy Count von Buelow, acting for Germany, Ger-many, has failed to bring Austria and Italy to an agreement. Italy, to preserve an attitude of neutrality, has demanded that Austria cede back the old Italian provinces bordering on the Adriatic which were carved out of tho side of Italy. Germany urged Austria Aus-tria to comply, but Francis Joseph could not see why his empire should be dismembered and so declined. Today rumors are many, and there is open talk that Italy will enter the war on the side of the allies, in fact von Buelow le quoted as saying that evidently the Italians all along have been carrying on diplomatic ex changes in order to obtain time in which to better prepare to attack Austria. Aus-tria. For three months contractors have been rushing war horses out of OgdeD for the Italian government and nearly all the animals have been forwarded by express One of the represent lives of the Italian government While in Ogden openly stated that his coun trv would be engaged in the ffl struggle before the end ot spring, and it looks as though his prediction is about to he realized. One of the Austrian province which Italy has demanded is Istria. Which is described as follows: "Across the Gulf of cnicc from Italv lies the rich Austrian province of Istria, formerly Venetian 1 he Istrian peninsula, :i ,hick' lngur triangle wedged into the north Adriatic Adri-atic with Us mainland base defined b a line from Trlest in the north to Plume in the south, and with Poll B( its apex -three principal Austrian p()lf; is Tirst among all of the dual monarchv? maritime provinces. It Is an outlet necessary to the empires tradp and would indeed, be a bright prize for the Italians Istria. the ancient liistna. containing, con-taining, with its neighboring islands 1 912 square miles. Ir, an Austrian crownland, and forms part of the mod ern territorial division known as the coast districts Its coastline is well-Indented, well-Indented, but Hie shores in much of th lr extent are steep and forbidding. Mountainous rock masses cross the land from north to south culminating In Monte Maggiore. about 4.600 feet I high. "Olives and figs are cultivated in the region, and Istria's grapes and wine are famous. There is little garden, though considerable rich pasture pas-ture land, and the forests ,)f the ninsula supply the material ror a large native ship-building Industry Its fleheries are very valuable, and It has a small mineral yield, coal, alum and salt. There is little or no local manufacturing, manu-facturing, except the building of ships "it is as a shipping point, as a land of ports and strategic commercial and miiitarv naval bases however, that, Istria is mosl desirable The ship ping of i's harbors amounts to more than 7,000,000 tons annually Pola at the apex, the chief naval base of the dual monarchv. is one of the most Important sea power stations in southern south-ern Europe. Tlx- population or Istria is about 350,000, in per cent of whom are Ser-bo-Croats. and 34 per cenl Italians. In its early history. Istria was a fa mous pirate land. The Romans subjugated sub-jugated tbe freebooters here, From the late middle ages until the extinction extinc-tion of the Venetian empire in 1707. cnice ruled the greater part of the peninsula, while nl th northeastern northeast-ern portion belonged to ustria Venetian Ve-netian possession is the history of Italy's present claim The 'oss of this provinee would be a severe one to the dual monarchy's commercial ambitions ambi-tions and ambitions lor Mediterranean power " |