The historian Treitschke. writing upon that subject later. said: Old Industries also require protection against foreign competition. In this respect Italy teaches us a valuable lesson. If protective tariffs against Asiatic and African breadstuffs had been introduced in time the old Italian peasantry would have been preserved and the social conditions would have remained healthy. But Roman traders could import cheap grain from Africa without hindrance and the rural industries decayed. the rural population disappeared. and the Campagna which surrounds the capital became a vast desert. The landowners and workmen of Italy left the .agricultural fields of Italy. crowded into the cities of Italy. and became a mob living upon the products of foreign nations. and for all time measuring the degradation and fall of that illustrious citizenship.