Evening star., 1923-12-25
nv THE NARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY.

u
France. minister of education tpus-
lie Instruction., who combines In his
person the powers and duties OF a
minister of fine arts. is, from hence
forth, to have the new cabinet once
/ of minister Of literature added TO his
| nulttfarious activities. That Is TO
say, 1t is proposed to create special
division OF literature in his state de-
partment of education. and of hne
arts. which, under the Immediate di-
! rectlon of an undersecretary Of state
for literature, shall devote Itself to
literary affairs.
It Is contended that literature Is
! one of the assets of the nation, rem
dering to the latter incalculable serv-
Ice on the one nd. while IL Is also
guilty of abuses which are RESPONSE
, Bile. on the other hand, for much harm
and should not be allowed to proceed
unchecked. Moreover, the new de-
partment is to make a point of seeing
that literature receives those mate
rial advantages and rewards in the
shape of pensions, order of knight
/, hood, small sinecure Offices, etc, TO
which II Is entitled, and which are
save through humiliating appeals to
purely political influence.
4x
Ex-Premier Giolliti, now in his
eighty-fifth year, is coming to the
fore once more as the most enthu-
staatic and stanch supporter Of Mus
solini, carrying the entire liberal
party. with all its branches, in his
train. Indeed, his attitude and that
Of his followers assure Mussolinis
tenure Of office as virtual dictator of
the nation, but henceforth with the
approval and consent OF an over
, whelminR parliamentary majority.
for a long time to come. 1t seems that
Plus XI, on being asked the other
!. day how long he thought that the
Mussolini government would last, an
! as Mussolini himself predicted, out
at least twenty years"
"And who will como after?" cues
toned the inquirer.
Why Giolitti. Of f,,S course. a,,nE,s Iepiien u
his eye, having in mind the perennial
youth and astounding mental activity
of the Grand Old Man of Italy.
of Mussolini. has undertaken the
ohairmanship of the special parlia-
mentary commission to tackle the
thorny problem of legislative votes
for women. IL mas Deen OcCiueo si9,
the feminine suffrage in Italy will
be of q somewhat restricted charac-
ter and accorded to women decorated
for war service. also to mothers VINO
have lost son at the 'front.' out
not to war widows, as such, since
they have, in many cases, contracted
Illegal unions SO as to avoid the 1858
of their pension by remarrlage. IN
no case will the suffrage be accordea
to any woman under thirty. or who
does not possess the necessary edu-
cationa qualifications. and then only
IL she makes special demand los
franchise; Indeed; both Mnssoiiai ana no
old Father Gioiitt, ~ hase fs9naIa ma1s vo,srp up
shall be limited to women VINO nave
deserved of their country, ana VINO
have shown that they have a reaI
stake and a patriotic interest In its
future.
When Gen. Primo di Rivera ac-
complished his coup d'etat in the
early part of last September. and.
with the consent of King Alfonso,
established a military dictatorate
under his own presidency, he made 1t
clear that the dictatorate was merely
q temporary measure which he ex-
pected to last about three months,
In order to enable him to extirpate
y
civilian government, liberal as well
as conservative. had striven, with
more or less honesty or purpose. to
abolish. frustrated In their efforts by
the political intrigues Of the cortes.
That was the excuse of his coup
detat Of Is September. The king.
and for the matter Of that, every one
else. had become convinced of the ut
! ter hopelessness Of suppressing the
various abuses by means Of legisla-
tive action. and that 1t was only by
, means Of dictatorate that the ad-
ministration of the country could ba
radically purged from the intolerabie
evils which were sitting the develop
ment and obstructing the progress OF
the nation.
Military pronunciamentoes usually
fail. That Of Primo di Rivera, like
that of Mussolini in Italy. has had the
| virtue Of success. Now the three
| months mentioned BY the general "a
| the duration OF the dictatorate Is
| rapidly drawing TO . close. and II is
quite clear 70 him, to the king and to
] the nstion that It viii have TO be