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Show ISLiD RESENTS HE OF iTALY Sardinia Peasants Stirred to Unrest by Neglect of Roman Executives ROME. Auk. 18 (f'orrespondence of AssbCliated Press.) The spirit of un rest h.'s penetr.ttid -ince tip' war even to such old world and out of the way spots as ihe Island of Sardinia. Anion; these picturesque peasants, many of whom CI nnot read or write, thouch the;, i:.' (.fun peonle of d iRnl Tied man ners and strong character, public opinion opin-ion is diffused by word ol mouth an I a stron: part) has rir n lately who. motto is "SardtnlB alone." wh.i thln that ihe Island, which Is the second largest in ;he Mediterranean would be i lore pi, peroiis if i governed itself and had liillc or roihlng to do With Italy. In ancient dayfl Sardinia was die of th' greVll ,','ranarl-.' o Hi world, sup plying first Qarthage and later Rome with Immense quantities of prain. Nov a ktTsTS proportion Of the island i- nr. cultivated and nbout one-fifth is Covered Cov-ered ,wlh forests, chiefly consisting of beun-oaks and cork trees. The most rslusble exports however, are from the mines of lead, zinc, antimony, copper, silver, lignite and anthracite, which if onlj throughl ii'" lonrd would be n source of preat riches. The Sardinians are a splendid fight in race and not only during Ihe late world-conflict but throughout the Na-poleohlc Na-poleohlc wars an i the middle ages pro-vided pro-vided some of the staunches( soldiers in Europe. T)ie Sardinians have al-wavs al-wavs considered thejr island the Cin-flerclla Cin-flerclla of I'nlted Italy. Thty say that they have been alternately neglected and taken advantage of by the central government, education has been disre-garded, disre-garded, the malarious state of the! country has been ignored, few roads or railways have been provided in cr der to develop itr. resources, while gov e rumen! money has never been forth coming for ls needs. The peasants of Sardinia declare I tl'.nt this is the moment when Surdi nia might start on the road to regener-' atien snd reconstruction, moral, com-; com-; mercial and economic but if it is, as of Id. abandoned to apathy and want of initiative ruin is certain A deep spir lit of discontent and irritation Is prevalent. pre-valent. The Sardinians call theni 'elves "ihe Irish of the Mediterranean'' and a large party is being formed of those who desire to work out their own salvation and at least for a certain time lo be entirely independent of the mother country, which they aocuso of having treated them more like the typical typi-cal Jtepmother. They ask lo be allowed al-lowed lo take their destiny in their own hands. |