Evening star., 1924-04-22

The significance of the result of
the parliamentary election in Italy is
! that it puts the seal of constitu-
| tionality upon the Fascist movement
and the dictatorship of Mussolini. in
the opinion of the American press.
The majority of the editors regard
| it as the best solution of Italy's
problem for the present, but they are
somewhat doubtful as to the wisdom
of the act for the future.
AS the Duluth Herald sees it,
"Fascism is unlawful, unconstitu-
| tional, desperately dangerous, and it
| is a temporary expedient that could
be warranted only by some such
| exigency, so grave that il could be
met in no other way; furthermore,
| If selfish ambition ever submerges
patriotism-as it almost invaria bly,
does-Mussolini and Italy will rue
the day they let an informal band
set aside all law and constitutional
government, even for a moment of
need" The Fascist victory, according
| to the Richmond News-Leader, prob :
| ably means a further period O..
accord with Spain and further as
sertion of Italian dominance in the
Medit terranean," but, sooner or later,
| Mussolini's forces will get out of
hand; in that event, he may not be
| able to halt political disinteg egration
| in Italy" however. for the present,
the world is perhaps better served
by his minority rule than by any
other system practicable in Italy"
There is, after all, the New Orleans
Times-Picayune holds, such a thing
as a people becoming so weary of
| stumbling futilely in misdirected con-
stitutiona1 means that they gladly
follow a leader. who boldly cuts
across lots"
For the italian Fascist "symbolizes
first and foremost a determined op-
position to communism and radical
socialism," continues the Grand
Rapids Herald. which feels 1.-The rest
of Europe and the world at large
may profit by following the ex-
ample of Italy, at least in her dis
avowal of radicalism and the Fas-
cistrs devotion to efficiency in gov
ernment." To which the Springfe eld
News adds, Fascist seems to have
been the political tonic that the
Italians needed most to raise them
out of obscurity and place them back
in the family of nations" Although
regarding it as the only effective
remedy so far discovered, the New
York Evening Post feels "it may not
prove an. unmixed blessing for the
rest OF the world" because "a re-
surgent Italy bidding for power and
aggrandizement in the Balkans, in
the near east, in the entire Mediter-
ranean area, will give several i'm
portant foreign offices something to
think about" Referring to the law
framed by Mussolini which assigns
two-thirds of the membership of the
chamber to the party which secures
plurality in the popular poll, the
New York Times maintains that
outside OF Italy the victory of the
Fascist will have it's bearing on the
question of proportional representa-
| ton, which for nearly a generation
| before the war was making con-
quests"
The Boston Transcript suggests
| that although there have been many
attempts in constitutional countries
| rules with dictatorial practice, they
have not been successful, not always
| because representative government
| was any better than dictatorial, but
because the first system gives con-
| tinuity and the second does not"
| And how we'll the ends of popular
government are to be served by such
a procedure "is uncertain" in the
| opinion of the Springfield Union,
| which refers to the government In
Italy before Mussolini's coming into
] power, as a succession Of weak, be-