ns,
totaling about 425,000 men, were said to have been massed along the
Italian frontier at the beginning of the war.

CHAPTER XLIX

MOVE AGAINST GERMANY

A royal decree was issued at Rome on February 11, 1916, prohibiting
the importation into Italy or transit through Italy of all German and
Austrian merchandise, as well as the exportation of all merchandise of
German or Austrian origin through Italian ports. This was the formal
recognition of a policy that had been followed out with increasing
strictness since hostilities commenced, but which had never been
officially declared. The declaration of war by Italy against Austria
carried with it the prohibition of trading with Austro-Hungarian
subjects, and announcement had been made in the Italian press of
prosecution of persons on the charge of trading with the nation's
enemy. The coupling of the German Empire with Austria-Hungary in this
royal decree was the first formal act on the part of Italy in the way
of making it clear that all commercial relations with Germany were
suspended. This was in accordance with the general policy of
cooperation among the Allies, whose disjointed action had hitherto
seriously hampered the conduct of the war.

It was also decided by the Italian Government on February 16, 1916,
that warmer commercial relations with the allied nations should be
cultivated. In pursuance of this policy a program was mapped out
covering the following five years, during which period machinery, raw
materials, and manufactured articles destined for the development of
existing industries or the creation of new ones could be imported free
of any duty if their origin was in allied or friendly countries. In
this way it was aimed to disintegrate the commercial domination of
Germany which had been built up by the efforts of a generation. It was
felt that by this method efforts on the part of Germany and
Austria-Hungary to recapture lost Italian import trade would be
rendered futile. During this same month announcement was made
regarding the third Italian war loan. This was declared to have
reached on February 6, 1916, 3,000,000,000 lire, which, together with
former loans, showed that altogether 5,000,000,000 lire had been
contributed. Considerable satisfaction was expressed at this result.
It was conceded that in the realm of finance, in which Italy had been
considered weakest, the country had done remarkably well. Considering
that Italy not long ago was co