Evening star., 1925-01-18

| by craftsmanship which began where
| adventure could not continue, and
prepared for what adventure could
| alone achieve.
Future LIS Uncertain.
When ask my Italian friends now
what is coming in Italy, most OF them
| say with great frankness that they
! do not know. I feel sure that most
| OF them believe that for the present
Mussolini can hold on. Recognizing
| that perhaps all of them are friends
| of the dictator in the sense of being
| supporters, L find still food for
| thought In their conviction that, de-
spite present difficulties and disturb
| ances, Mussolini still holds the ma
/ jority of his countrymen and that
| the opposition has not the strength
| which is ascribed to it in our world
| where relationships are not only in
| explicable but to degree disap-
| proved.
But this is not to say that they dc
not perceive that the present explo-
| sion is IN itself not only a disquieting
but a disappointing sign. This hope
| which they disclose a little by tndt-
rection, was that Mussolini would be
able to make the transition from die
| tatorship to orderly democracy: that
| having surmounted the perils anC
abolished the dangers which con-
| fronted Italy and called him into
| power, he would be able-and these
friends say 1t was his desire, as event:
would seem to indicate 1t was his
purpose-to restore parliamentary
| government and merge his dictator
| ship into q constitutional system
perhaps modified from the old, but
certainly no longer relying directly
upon force.
Friends Are Dfsfllusdoned.
And the fact that Mussolini hzl
been compelled again to rely upon
force is for them bitter disillusion-
ment. They do not for moment
hold Mussolini directly guilty of hav-
ing by choice reverted to force. OF
preferring 1t, of finding in new dan
gers a fresh pretext for invoking 1t
No. Rather they see in the recent
course of events the proof that Musso-
lini has been forced to confess defeat
in his effort to get away from force
And they see, finally, the inescapablt
fact that permanent reliance upor
force ineluctably leads to reaction
begets opposition, and. what Is more
disheartening, gradually clothes the
Opposition with q measure OF mora
strength of It's own.
On the whole, Mussolini has always
had a good press agent in America
He has seemed to many as the man
| who saved Italy from that immediate
peril OF bolshevism which remains
hateful to Americans beyond any
thing else In recent history. He has
been judged very considerably by the
results which Americans who have
seen Italy before and after Facismc
gained control report have beer
achieved. Even now, despite resort tc
force again, 1t is probable that a ma.
jority OF Americans still hope for his
| triumph.
Enemies Are Successful.
Yet his own fellow -countrymen, and
Europeans as we'll, see far more
clearly the dangers which hencefortt
menace him. We are little aware
here of the intensity OF the fght
which has been made upon him, OF
the character OF the attacks which
have been showered upon him. Yer
one thing must be plain, and that IL
that his enemies have been successful
in blocking his effort to carry Facismt
over from the single violent act o,
rescue which it performed in the hour
of supreme danger into some form o.
permanent usefulness-to harness 1t
If I may use the figure, as man har
nesses the floods of the river to turr
The spectacle of France in 17s
rushing to the frontiers to meet tn
oncoming Europe which brought tn,
old regime Its baggage and s<rove t,
restore what had been expelled wa
In q sense no more marvellous a spec
tacle than that OF Italy of our owl
hour suddenly rising with equal unan
Unity and similar patriotism to march
not upon the foreign enemy, not t,
the frontiers, but to Rome; not t.
save the fatherland endangered b,
alien enemies, but to rescue a coun
try sinking under the weight of do
mestic madmen and worse. That wa
Facismo at its best and greatest mo
ment, comparable, as I have said, t
risorgimento in its own great hours.
Young Mems Movement.
There was in it the expression o
hope, of faith, of youth, because /
was q young mans movement-some
thing profoundly stirring and moving
1t had absurdities, the theatricalisn
| which leaves the Northerner cole
when it does not make him hot. Yo,
cannot make the same impression
with castor oil as with cannon, ever
IL you can accomplish some of tn
same results. But in a history o
cotemporary Europe, wherein tn
story of the rise, advance and ulti
mate repulse of bolshevism Is re
counted, the Italian episode will hav
considerable place. If Italy ha
gone red" three years ago, the his
tory of Europe for several decade
might have been different, and. at tn
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