The New York herald., 1921-02-27

pay for them AS a consequence the
congress went off quietly. Signor Bonn
bacci, the Socialist leader, who is sup
posed to hold sway over his followers
by the fascination of a magnificent full
beard, was warned that his punishment
would be quick shave.
The Fascist insist in their punish
ments that it shall be the leaders and
their families who shall suffer. They
say that the leaders always shirk their
responsibility when trouble comes and
the only way to break anarchy is by en-
forcing responsibility on those leaders.
The result has been surprising, and the
Italian anarchist leaders are beginning
to find out that they cannot escape pun
ishment.
or course, this rigorous method of
restoring order is not done without
bloodshed now and then. But all the
Fascista are e:.-soldiers, who behave
toward anarchy as they did toward the
enemy on the Grappa and the Carso.
Every Fascist centre has its own ar
senal motor transport and commits
sariat. In every village in Italy there
is representative in touch with the
group centre. AT the first evidence of
trouble he sends messenger to the
centre, and within a few hours conveys
of Fascist have arrived and taken ove-
the positions 1t is noted that the Pre-
feet or other Government representative
seldom reports TO the Ministry of the
Interior until the situation is returned
to the normal and he is in a position to
resume his ordinary routine.
The movement of the Fascist is an
extraordinary one, justified perhaps by
the position in which Italy found herself
last fall when the anarchist mob was
threatening to destroy the whole social
structure. Premier Giolitti is a man
who believes that If you give a dog
enough rope he will hang himself. He
refused to turn the artillery against the
Socialists when they seized the factories.
saying Its just as well that they
should find out for themselves the diff
cultes Of factory owner" And very
soon the workers had learned for them
selves the difficulties of credits, raw
material and other questions and were
only too keen to hand the factories back
to the owners In the same way, al
though he invited DAnnunzio to leave
Fiume quietly, the Premier was prob
ably glad he refused and stayed until he
was finally turned out For DAnnun-
zio back in Italy before it was shown
that he was disobeying the authority Of
the Crown would have been as a mar
with his temperament would have pos
sibly created great trouble for Italy in
other quarters as. for instance. Malta.
In this question Giolitti knew that the
Socialists by their excesses would ruin
their own cause. The result was the
Fascist held the whip 70 COW them with.
Giolitti saw the salvation of the situa-
ton in the revulsion of feeling among
the population. He, therefore, gave the
Fascist a more or less free hand.
1t remains to be seen, however, how
the movement will develop or be con-
trolled. There are not signs wanting
to show that while to-day it is nom
political, certain elements threaten to
consolidate the movement into a party
move and through the Fascist form a
great national party. This would prob
ably ruin the whole movement, since
Italy has never maintained a national
party except under conditions similar to
those which imposed the necessity OF
forming the Fascist, namely, ma
tional necessity And the organization
is bound to lose its force and strength
when the necessity for it passes.