Evening star., 1920-05-20
COUP D'ETAT PLOT
RUM0RED IN ROME;
NATION WARNED
GugIieImo Ferrero Declares
Civil War Has Begun.
Cites General Conditions.

| By the Associated Press.
| LONDON, May 20.-Rumor of a sup
posed plot for a coup d'etat in Italy were
current in Rome Wednesday night. ac-
cording to a Milan dispatch to the Lon
don Times. 1t is said Gen. Giuseppe
| Peppino) Garibaldi had attended
meeting Of the ''groupe de Renouvelle-
ment." at which It was decided to seize
public buildings Thursday.
| The story Is vague but the Times
correspondent adds: "Some truth is ap-
parently attached to 1t. as police and
royal guards occupied public buildings
Wednesday night as precaution
against possible attack. and it is
known Gen. Garibaldi has been nego-
tiating with Signor Gasparetti. leader
of the group"
A similar story Is printed by the
| Daily Mail but this newspaper also
quotes statement from Rome declar-
J ing the rumor is unfounded.
"Civn War On Says Ferrero.
BY c-h'" tn The star "nd Chicago
| Dai'~ News. Copyright. 1920.
| PnME. May e0.-"Civil war has be-
gun
| S,ch is Cuglelmo Ferrero's warning
| to his colrtrvman in Ion" newspaper
| article. from which the following pas
So ~As are token:
He is blind VINO does NOT not'ca IT,
| In the nineteenth century revolutions
were accomplished by few thousand
! insurgents who assailed the government
| in its capital and the outcome or the
bat tile was decided in three or four davs.
when either the government fell or the
revolution failed. Today these internal
battles last for months and spread out in
an infinite number of bloody skirmishes
| in hundreds of cities and thousands OF
villages. 4 battle Of this sort has been
| going on in Italy for some months. ana
| one day it will have a definite result
either the government and the mon
archy or the revolution will be con-
! quered.
Scarlet Banners Fly.
I'VE see today scarlet banners fly
ling all over Italy. The immense
| tumult is dangerous. especially be-
cause no great idea on either side
inourishes it. In the bowels of this
boiling chaos there are only dying or
dead doctrines and the fear, covetous-
ness and rancor of the governing
classes who are threatened in their
power. their goods and their existence
| and who seem stricken by numbness.
They pay no attention to anything.
They neither study the present nor
prepare for the future. They do not
wish to think. and while public men
discuss the overthrowinG of the
throne and the abolition of parlia-
| tment and property they cannot even
idecide whether to support or over
| throw the Nitti ministry
, Cites Italy's Danger.
Meanwhile multitudes shrek. lose
! their heads. strike, throw stones at
the police, acclaim Lenin and Russia
and undertake in the streets the arts
SO well learned in the trenches. Italy
runs the danger of falling into chronic
anarchy or beneath the yoke of an
lignoble despot if she does not make
desperate effort toward safety.
"One institution must again make
itself felt as the organ of the uni
versal will and universal interest.
ending the dicta torship of ignorance.
or blindness and of cunning. which
has lasted too long under the pretext
of war. This institution is the par
lament. Outside of this principle of
authority there is only force. Italy is
about to reach a terrible pass. Let
every deputy think of his grave re-
sponsibility at such a time"