Evening star., 1924-12-24

When Signor Mussolini, the Fascist
premier OF Italy, proposed. a few
days ago, to dissolve parliament and
appeal to the nation for vindication
Of the Fascist government, he diu so
in the face of recent overwhelming
vote of confidence by that parliament,
and also Of an election OF that par
lament by the people, which gave
the Fascist 4,6s3,6e0 votes out of a
total of 7,62S,s59: that was 6o.2o per
cent Of the popular vote. In addition
several OF the candidates OF other
parties who were elected had declared
themselves supporters of the govern
ment.
Furthermore, the national and pa
triotic sentiment of the country was
manifested by the fact that 'S per
cent of the registered voters particl-
pated in the election. as contrasteo
with only 50 per cent who had voted
in the 1919 election, preceding the
coming of the Fascist. 1t may also
be contrasted with the apathy OF
Americans. of whom only about oV
per cent of the eligibles show sum
cient interest to vote in our presi-
Dental elections.
Tbe name fascist" is derived from
the old Roman symbol, fasce'
''bundle Of sticks tied together. IL
stands for a united Italy, the units
tied together. Formerly and today
anono other parties. Italian spirit
stood for city against city. district
against district-"state rights" rather
than nationalism.
The spirit of Garibaldi crying Tor
unified Italy was dormant. MUS
solini has revived and stimulated IT,
almost into a religious fervor.
Italy, Italy awakened! Italy as one
a, the great pow ers! Not Italy for
Fsscismo. but Fascisti for ltaiy ana
the king, The communists ana the
socialists-the bolshevists who had
boasted that they would Russianize
ItaIv-and above all the traitorous
,,Itra-nacifsts, who had stabbed the
valiant army from the rear, in the
midst Of it's heroic and gloriously
SUCCESSFUL campaigns for victory over
tbe German Austrian invasion. ano
who. under the administrations OF
Giollotti and Nitti had shamed the
soldiers for their heroism by grant
ing amnesty to all traitors IN jail,
have been rebuked by the outraged
Italian people.
): i; x X
Mussolini will go before the people
for confirmation of the constitution .
ality of his revolution" for he Will
dissoIye parliament soon after New
Year. and an election Will ne heid
in April.
There is a law, whereby whatever
party secures at the polls more seats
in parliament than any other one
marty shall be entitled not only to
such seats as are then voted to II at
the polls. but shall have not less than
two-thirds of all the seats That
gives the administration a safe work :
ing majority Of parliament insur1ns
il a free hand to carry out the poll
cies of its party. Under the law. the
Fascist were sure Of 356 seats. leav-
ing to all the other parties combined
onIy. 179 seats. The opposition has
criticized the Fascist as ruling with
out the popular support, by virtue of
that law Mussolini has now pro-
posed a bill repeating that advantage
and giving only such seats as are &C
tually elected by the people.
At last Aprifs election all parties,
except the Fascist, sent orators
abroad over the country with appeals
to local or party prejudices; the
Fascist depended upon posters set
ting forth facts Of the accomplish
ments OF the Fascisti-Mussolini ad-
ministration.
These posters could not tell one
story in the north different from
what was told in the south. 1t is
claimed that the previous admins
trations of Giollotti, Orlando. Nitti and
Facta had undertaken to bolster up
the disturbed finances of the coun-
try and camoufiage the cost of living
by such false economic measures as
buying foreign grain at the market
price and confiscating italian grain at
less than the cost of production and
selling bread at less than cost. The
result was the discouragement Of
home production. of food and the