s fraught with financial
and economic consequences which have not yet been realized by the
unfortunate people who must endure them. Italy at the close of
hostilities was burdened with a foreign debt of twenty milliards of
lire, an internal debt of fifty millards, and a paper circulation four
times more than what it was in pre-war days.[228] Raw materials were
exhausted, traffic and production were stagnant, navigation had almost
ceased, and the expenditure of the state had risen to eleven milliards
a year.[229]

According to the figures published by the Statistical Society of Berne,
the general rise in prices attributed to the war hit Italy much harder
than any of her allies.[230] The consequences of this and other
perturbations were sinister and immediate. The nation, bereft of what it
had been taught to regard as its right, humiliated in the persons of its
chiefs, subjected to foreign guidance, insufficiently clad, underfed,
and with no tangible grounds for expecting speedy improvement, was
seething with discontent. Frequent strikes merely aggravated the general
suffering, which finally led to riots, risings, and the shedding of
blood. The economic, political, and moral crisis was unprecedented. The
men who drew Italy into the war were held up to public opprobrium
because in the imagination of the people the victory had cost them more
and brought them in less than neutrality would have done. One of the
principal orators of the Opposition, in a trenchant discourse in the
Italian Parliament, said, "The Salandra-Sonnino Cabinet led Italy into
the war blindfolded."[231]

After the return of the Italian delegation to Paris various fresh
combinations were devised for the purpose of grappling with the Adriatic
problem. One commended itself to the Italians as a possible basis for
discussion. In principle it was accepted. A declaration to this effect
was made by Signor Orlando and taken cognizance of by M. Clemenceau, who
undertook to lay the matter before Mr. Wilson, the sole arbitrator in
Italian affairs. He played the part of Fate throughout. Days went by
after this without bringing any token that the Triumvirate was
interested in the Adriatic. At last the Italian Premier reminded his
French colleague that the latest proposal had been accepted in
principle, and the Italian plenipotentiaries were awaiting Mr. Wilson's
pleasure in the matter. Accordingly, M. Clemenceau undertook to broach
the matter to the American statesma