The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-13

expert of practical politicians, a lead
 CT who during the war could not win the confidence of the great majority
 of thoughtful and patriotic Italians and yet was considered by such ma jority the inevitable successor of Or lando should the latter fall-these are attributes and contrasts in the life of Francis Xavier Nitti which must be considered in watching the political career of the new Premier and in gauging the Italian situation as 1t unfolds under his leadership.
 Despite the brief time during which
 he has now held power there have
 been repeated opportunities in and
 out of Parliament to observe his singularly shrewd combination of the good qualities of the capable man of
 action with the doubtful ones of the practical politician. His Cabinet,
 formed at a highly critical moment when the opposition was widespread
 and bitter against him, is a charac-
 teristic combination of variegated ele- ments-Liberals, Giolittians, Clericals,
 political business men and even soms
 stray sheep from the opposing Sa-
 landrian League of National Defence.
 Easing his Parliamentary strength
 largely on the Left, he nevertheless
 assigned the important portofolio of
 Foreign Affairs to one of the leaders
 of the Right, ex-Ambassa dor Tittoni,
 whom he also appointed head of the
 Italian delegation at the Peace Con-
 ference in Paris. It remains to be
 seen whether this striking exception
 was resorted to in order to weaken
 the opposition of the Nationalists and
 other numerous constituents who
 might claim that the Nitti Cabinet
 ,I IN Adriatic, or whether the object was
 to draw a sharp line between the for
 eign and domestic policies of his
 Ministry to function as a sort of per sona1 water-tight compartment in
 case of the wreck of the former
 Some justification for this latter
 picion may be found in Nittis appar-
 ent-almost studied-aioofness from
 the discussion of foreign policies and
 in his constantly announced personal
 concentration on domestic prob
 lens.
 Certain 1t Is that whether he be-
 lieves or not in making Adriatic con-
 sessions. Nitti firmly believes that
 the supreme and overshadowinS
 problems of Italy are today eco-
 homie ones. But here again his poIitf-
 cal reputation raises a doubt whether
 the internal reforms he has prom
 lsed or introduced are the fruit of seasoned and patriotic convictions or whether they are aimed a least in
 part to strengthen his not too secure political position by popular panaceas and improvident promises. For Nittfs ambition is proverbial in Italy, and this is a quality or a fault which the Italians greatly fear in their public men.
 cf sider that at such a critical time
 power should pass into the hands of
 a somewhat debatable leader. The
 fact is that today Italy Is still sad
 dled, with an old and discredited Gio-
 littian Parliamentary majority az the
 chief source of supply for any Min
 isterial combination obtainable by
 constitutional methods, and that this
 condition will continue until the
 much delayed general elections are
 held. The present Chamber being
 largely holdover from the Gio1itti
 regime. the only Ministerial combina-
 lions which can emerge out of 1t
 Giontti Cabinet, an Orlando Cab
 inet, or a Nitti Cabinet; the advent
 of the first would still bring forth a
 popular uprising, the Orlando com
 bination has been voted out of power,
 so that a Nitti Cabinet was inevit- able Salandra might perhaps have had a chance if he could have met his numerous enemies with more CO.,
 herently organized supporters.
 One of Nittfs first acts as Premier has been to abolish the censorship, in Parliament he has promised q wide amnesty, more rapid demobili- zation and the reform of the elector- al system-all urgently demanded by the n ha nd al though the Regular Socialists lined up against him on the recent vote of confidence, yet there appears to bo some friendly understanding. or at least a tacit working truce, between them and the new Premier. His as surances of non-intervention in Soviet Russia and Soviet Hungary was un- doubtedly sop to the extreme radi cals.and though it's not to be suppos- | ed Nitti approved abetted the re- cent food riots led by the radicals in Florence and other cities. yet there was a certain orderliness in the dis order and such an unusual delay in sending out troops to suppress the tumults that som etning of a tacit un- dersta nding cannot be absolutely ex- cluded. For Nitu is pre-eminent1y a realist in politics. and in the face of l the shocking food conditions In Italy l and the difficulties of reaching the profiteers partly responsible for such conditions, the Italian Premier may have thought such relatively orderly riots an effective object lesson to pre- vent more serious outbreaks. It is true that much property was dam aged, and that some people (especial | ly when the rowdies joined the mass | es were hurt), yet the rioting, es- pecially in Florence, as a reliable To- | cal observer describes 1t, "evidenced nowhere a program of communistic reorganization of society" but gave | the impression that the Tuscan cap | :tal was 'flasked rather than sack | ed.'' the streets being lively with l "good7natured, happy people, delight | ed to be finally able to go home | peacefully with a flask of Chtanti' obtained at the attractive price of l two lire.
 It has been repeatedly said that the l N1tti Cabinet is anti-French; here 1 n,sain Nitti has only himself to blame | # there are people who scout the sim | ~orf<v nP hfa of1efal Aanfa1a of fhfa