The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-11-07
|R|CHOF ITALY
|AREATTAcKED
Economic Experts Claim Aristo-
Gratis Retard Nations Prog
ress BY Profiteering.


come under the nscsi Law which they
havs tried 90 hard 70 avoid. A strike
based on economic Disagreement with
the men that might give them
pretsxt for . lockout 20 BE- continues
indefinitely until conditions have set
tied down. was very welcome 20 them
On the other hand. one sees the
biggest Italian steel works, which
during the war have Increased their
capitalization threefold BY applying
20 hosie investors. now pushed to the
wall by the high price OF rev mate
rial and by lack Of coal Jhey also
would prefer Q temporary lockout on
any pretext whatever. rather than 80
into, the hands Of Q receiysr. Their
resentment against Ne Giclitti gov
eminent Is intense, nrst because Of
his decree compelling profiteers 70
return 20 the state practically all
their extra profits; second. because of
his law abolishing all "bearer" stock
certificates, which makes II impossi-
BILE 10 manipulate and hide stocks;
and. finally. because of his nrm reso-
luton to cut short porfiteeying and
to allow only q responsible interest
on capital invested In industry.
APPEAL FOR PROTFCT1ON.
They appealed to him for protection
as soon as the nrst disagreement oc-
CURED and met with a nat refusal.
The situation looked seerious. indeed.
Hundreds of thousands Of men had
broken the law by taking possession
OF the factories Immediately follow
Ing the owners refusal to increase
wages about 10 per cent. Giolitti
had at that moment about 100000 men
under arms, q quite inadequate force
for dealing with 600. 900 strikers.
Without losing his proverbial
GOODNESS, he acted as q general on
the held who finds himself faced by
a stronger enemy. He could not be
siege each plant because II would
have been tantamount to dividing his
force. into small platoons, which,
while surrounding the factories.
would have been themselves besieged
and possibly attacked by the angry
civilian population In q moment OF
revolt against the use Of field guns
apd grapeshot against their relatives
and fellow citizens shut on In the
plants.
Therefore. having been assured by
the Characterization of Labor that
no sabotage was intended. he simply
left the men free to continue their
experiment Of operating the plants
without the help of technical d.
rectors and without money. relying
on the mathematical inpossibility OF
such. q condition to last more than a
few days. -
RED FLAGS WERE. HOIsTED.
Red fiags were hoisted everywhere,
He. let them fly In the breeze and
made no attempt to haul them down,
II has been said that Gioiitti is the
possessor of q sixth sense, inasmuch
as. he is reputed to "feei" the temper
Of the italian people better than any
lied on the common sense OF the
masses. and with his troops ready In
case OF real danger. willingly took the
chance that there would be no vio-
ience.
And 80 1t worked cute, as per
sch edule. The few Anarchist akita-
tors who became guilty of violence
were arrested easily enough and the
men got to work in the plants with
the utmost goodwill.
They worked as mueh N possible,
totally ignoring the eiEht-hour limit
and actually increased the output Of
the factories In some eases By ~
much - 20 per cent until they lad
to come to q standstili through lack
OF technical direction, and In some
eases for want Of raw materials.
The men have a lot Of money
accumulated by means of four lire
a month contribution per man which
has accumulated into very large
strike fund This>has been going on
since the armistice, and IN any case
they are prepared for along general
strike should such a thing occur.
MUST ALLY WITH CAPITAL.
This first experience taught the
men the necessity Of an alliance with
capital and the necessity Of order.
But IL taught the capitalists nothing
whatever. They again insisted that
Giolitti provide protection for their
interests and Giolitti told them he
would gladly protect them IL they
could show him that their demands
were legitimate. In other words. he
asked to be shown the balance sheet.
Net u single owner was able to
comply with the request, ~ the least
paying plant In Italy II even now
yieIding q clean thirty-Avc per cent
ON the Invested capital -
FLOOD OF ABUSE.
This attitude OF Giolitti, altho-
gether opposed to the big interests,
has Of course. let loose mood of
abuse against the government. And
the press Ia endeavoring to repre-
sent the country as on the verge OF
revolution and in the grip Of Boil
shevism.
Gielitti, who had bern carried into
office by a wave OF enthusinsm for
Ills cool judxessent. his ability TO deal
with diHicult situatieAs, his thorough
knowledge Of the italian people, is
| new the butt Of attacks from all
money interests who would like 10
see former Premier Nith return to
snlce and with him the resumption
OF rrpeession and proteetio. for cspi-
tat against the masses.
The socialists themselves, who were