Evening star., 1922-08-20
DIGEST OF FOREIGN PRESS
The Crisis.

I TCRIN-writing in La Stampa. a.
Levi della Vida says:
Since the war governments came
| to an end with the fall of the Or
! lando cabinet, in May. 1919. four min
| istries have succeeded each other in
| Italy I'm little more than three years
and none of them-except that of
Giolitti-lasted for a whole year
| IF we take this fact, eloquent in
| Itself. into consideration. and realize
the ever-increasing difficulties with
| which the new cabinets were con-
fronted. and remember that the signs
of an approaching crisis and the more
or less secret plans in connection
regularly at the beginning of the
new governments activities and tia-
ally that many of these = not all,
remained in power only : the Cos
/ Of equivocations and 'r-nsa actions
tending rather to perpen-Ate than
! dissipate the initial amt guilty ut
their constitutional all thr;, be taken
| into account without prejudice "f
party. we must admit it is no exag-
geration to say that Italy at the
| present time is not confronted with a
! government crisis. but rather with y
crisis of its institutions.
The almost optimistic skepticisn
which is the greatest virtue and at
the Italian people makes them in
clined to laugh at and unheed the
| warnings of pessimists, with the
usual words: Things will arrange
themselves II 1t be true on the one
hand that sudden solutions are very
rare. and that the shock of conflicting
| forces almost always engenders equi-
| librium, ii is none the less true. on
the other hand, that such an equili-
| brium is often worse than disorder.
and very soon new conflicts arise, if IL
does not indeed happen that maras-
mus and degeneration take the place
| Of equilibrium
The great danger nowadays.
throughout the world. but particu-
larly in Italy, is that while the out
/ side of the edifice Of institutions still
exists. the inside mas entirely crun-
bled to pieces. without anything be-
| ing built up in its stead.
! One of the chief causes of the sue
cess of the fascist in Italy consists
| in the brutal frankness with which
| they recognize the incapacity of the
constitutional government to under
stand and regulate present-day po-
litical and economical realities.
The only efficient weapon against
bolshevism consists in the suppression
| of the causes which created il and
keep ii alive. The only remedy,
against the revolution of the lower
/, classes is the revolution of the higher
classes. Revolution does not always
mean riots in public places. bloodshed
|
f1icts which for a year and half have
afflicted Italy are civil war. but not
| revolution. Revolution. in a certain
sense. took place in the unwonted
displacement OF political and social
| values caused by the war.
| The urgent problem, then. is to adj
just the state If law to a state of
fact. The institutions which no longer
correspond to the exiGiencies of reaIi-
ties must be modified II they are NOT
to crumble to pieces. leaving behind
them emptiness and anarchy. The
grave financial and economical situa
! tions can also only be remedied by
providing new methods of production
and distribution of wealth. or by new
methods of fiscal taxation. =,
"A government which had enough
| energy and intelligence to announce:
and carry out-a thorough revisioil
of legislation and administration could
bring about the pacification OF the
/ country more rapidly and surely than
any police measures. Such a pacifica-
cause a government constituted on
these lines would Immediately inspire
| the public with confidence
I The italian crisis is chiefly a crisis
! of confidence. The masses-and this
! word includes not OMIT the prole tari. =
/ classes who do not interest them
! selves directly In poIitics-have lost
faith in the capacity and the good
! win of the government.
THE confidence Of the Italian peo-
pie In their rulers must be restored,
ana In order to bring this about the
rulers must begin by deserving this
| trust. This is a simple program to,
announce. but dffficult to. put into
practice. II is the only one. however.
whith can restore lastfnGly to Italy
the fruitful prosperity Of peace and
| labor"