The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-11-04

Italy has been wasting away under
the blight of socialist dry rot. Mus
soLINI, himself once a socialist, now
the hard headed, hard hitting, untir-
ing. potent chief Of the State, pro-
poses to restore the country's health
and vigor by eradicating the disease
which has been sapping the national
life.
This means he will transfer the
Government railways, telegraphs, tel
ephones, tobacco factories and other
State monopolies, even the parcels
post and letter mail service, to the
brains, initiative and incentive of
private enterprise. 1t means he will
wipe out the subventions and other
squander that have bankrupted the
treasury and bent the public's back
double under an unsupportable load
of taxes.
The average inhabitant of Italy has
nearly one-fifth of his income taxed
out Of him either in direct taxes or
in charges laid upon him by the un-
profitable Government monopolies.
And at that the operating deficits
of the State monopolies and Of
the Government proper have become
colossal.
For the fiscal year of 1921 there
was a shortage between Government
income and Government outgo of
more than nine and a half billions
Of lire, or, expressed in our money
at normal exchange value, not far
from two billions of dollars. The
deficit in 1922 has been calculated at
four and a quarter billions of lire.
1t is estimated that If the Govern
ment should rid itself of its heavily
losing railroads, telephones and other
State utilities and business undertake
ings,, as MUssoLINI means it shall rid
itself of them, the national treasury
would be better off to the extent of
more than three billions of lire a
year.
Nor is this loss on the States So
cialist undertakings the worst of it.
With all that the railroads cost the
public in high traffic rates and all
they cost the national treasury in
stupendous losses, the Italian railway
services is VIGOROUSLY one of the
worst in Europe and has been for
years The same thing is true of the
telegraph service and the telephone
service. 1t is more or less true of
virtually every bit of work and SER
vice of all the State monopolies.
And while the whole public utility
service under the paralyzing hand of
State socialism has been going from
bad to worse, with the financial losses
piling higher and higher, there has
grown up a vast army of bureau
cratic drones. They are Of no more
value to the nation, either as produc-
tive agents or as cogs in the Govern
ment machinery, than the idle and
mendicant Italian thousands among
whom are distributed tens Of millions
of lire as labor and social insurance
and other forms of bounty.
MUssoLINI, the rugged patriot and
indefatigable worker, minces no
words in denouncing the swarms of
salary eaters that infest the So
cialistic structure of Italy. He is
going to suppress ruthlessly all the
public Offices that have been built UP
under this demoralizing reign of
State socialism. He is going to sweep
out the droves of useless civil SER
wants whom he describes in this
frank, virile language:
"All the bureaucratic parasites that
have arisen from the state OF social
ism inaugurated by Cabinets SUBJ
servient TO subsersives who wished
to transform the entire country into
a mass Of civil servants in order to
use them as a powerful electoral
machine"
This man who, beginning as the
son of village blacksmith and COM
ing to be in reality the very Govern
ment of Italy, can see the truth with
that straight vision and tell with
that honesty and force what must be
done about it, can save Italy IL any
body can, and THE NEW YORK HERALD
be1ieyes IL will be saved.