Licking Valley courier., 1922-11-16

Not to compromise itself In either direction, the
first Facta government there did nothing but utter
feeble admonitions against subverslons of law
and make vague, incoherent threats of discpln-
Ing offenders whoever they might be. But by no
such safe middle course however, could the gov
ernment solve the problem Of paclhcation."
The government announced late In July deficit
In the national budget Of six billion lire 1t was
desperately trying to draw the attention Of the
chamber to a financial program that was to be
based largely on faith, hope and charity when
band of irresponsible youngsters, wearing black
shirts and calling themselves Fascist, amused
themselves In Cremona one afternoon by citing
fire to the homes of two socialist deputies.
An uproar ensued In the chamber led by social
lists and supported by the democratic factions in
the center. The burning OF the abodes of the two
socialist deputies was a verltable outrage. What
was the government going to do about it2 The
government decided the time had come to act. 1t
therefore announced that It would investigate the
Cremona scandal and punish the culprlts as soon
as they could be apprehended Then the popular
party, from the center of the chamber. unexpect-
edly and without warning, out Of whim purely
political In motive and totally unrelated TO the
Issue Of the hour, swept to the support Of the
socialists on an order Of the day and left the
Facta ministry without majority in the ch lmber.
The ministry collapsed automatically
For about nine days Italy had to get along with
out ministry 1t got along surprisingly we'll
The king called upon Orlando to form a new cabi
net. He failed
De Nava and Bonomi and Media in succession
endeavored to procure a more or less similar So
luton, but they In turn had no better success
than Orlando.
The bankruptcy Of italian craftsmanship as
sumed the character Of a national scandal The
king recalled Orlando and again he failed
The king finally called into consultation, for an
exchange Of views, the socialist leader Turati
The conference Of July 20 was acclaimed by the
italian press as historic" II lasted forty min
utes. Turatl, however, merely utilized his inter.
view with the king as an exceptionally dramatic
moment in which to hurl the socialist ultlmatum.
Either immediate steps should he taken to form
a government that would crush Fasclsmo or the
socialists would call the general strike. The king
declined to bulge.
On the following day August 1, the Labor allL
ance at Genoa Issued the call to general strike
In the face OF this national danger, the parllamen
tary factions were frightened into consolidation
the popular party deserted the socialists and
Facta was recalled to power Before the day was
over Facta had formed n second ministry with a
few changes in personnel but with no change
whatever in political complexion. II was the
same government that had been overthrown with
the same "puntarella" to the right. Turau had
played his trump card and had lost
The scene of conflict now passed from para.
ment to the country Fosclsmo received the order
TO march The marvellous potency OF an armed
bourgeolse revealed Itself at once. Fascist
armed organized and led encamped IN the squares
.and principal streets Of the hlg cities.
4 For such an organized demonstration Of hos
tllty the Italian proetarat was utterly unnre
pared Tie call to strike Itself had taken m,
proletariat by surprise The response Of tn,