Evening star., 1925-08-09
PROBLEM OF EXISTENCE
is CONFRONTING ITALY
Strategi gic Position Is Poor and Territory
Is Lacking for Expansion to Care
for Increasing Population.

crossed the seas to America, not only
finding employment for themselves
and support for their families. but
sending back to Italy many millions
OF dollars, which were a precious Item
In national economy. But our new
immigration law has automatically
checked this, leaving to Italians only
South America and Europe as outlets.
Moreover, il the ravages of the " orid
War for the moment 5i-red European
opportunities to Italian labor, the
work of reconstruction Is well-nigh
complete and this outlet is rapidly
tending to vanish.
Now, then, one touches upon what
was the fundamental argument Of
Count Cippico; for France, for Great
| Britain. as for the United States,
peace is the single desideratum. All
three have within themselves, under
their own flags, all the essentials, not
alone for continued prosperous exist
ence, but for healthy growth. Speak
ing territorially and strategically, all
three are saJiated powers. whose sin
| gle concern is to hold and develop
those regions which are under their
control and within the limits of their
national sovereignty. For a period
which rs well-niEh indefinite, all three
can grow without filling the limits
| disclosed on the cotemporary maps.
Must Expand or Contract.
| Italy, on the other hand must ex-
! pand or contract. but she can only ex-
| pand by trenching upon the bounda-
! rieS of some other country, and to con-
! tract, to limit her population, means
to sink inescapably to the rank of a
second-class power with respect OF all
| other European great powers, with
| the single exception of Germany,
since all of them have the opportu-
| nity for almost limitless expansion
within themselves.
Peace, any system of peace which
has yet been devised, the League Of
Nations for example, rests inevitably
| upon the status quo. It's foundation
must be the mutual agreement of all
| nations to recognize the rights of all
| others, and the first of these rights
| is patiently, territorial integrity. What
is asked of Italy, then, is that she now
| and forever agree to live within her
! hopelessly inadequate boundaries, re-
| signing all hope not alone to acquire
regions suitable for the settlement of
| her surplus population, but also TO
escape in some fashion from the situa
| tion created by the British ownership
| of Suez Cyprus, Malta and Gibraltar,
| the keys of the seas in which Italy
| floats.
Argues for Relief.
In justice to Count Cippico. one
must point out that he did not as
| sumo any bellicose tone. He did not
| say that Italy would never cease to
| strive against this present condition
| by the avenue of war preparations.
| What he did do was to point out with
great clarity and emphasis that the
condition itself was intolerable. and
| that for such situations In history war
| had hitherto been the sole method OF
| change. Like Nitti an Italian Of far
different political associations, Count
| Cippico argued for remedies which
were pacific but consisted quite OBJ
viously in various forms Of inter
nationalism.
| The freedom of the seas" the dis
| appearance of which from the con-
! ditions of peace in 1919 he rather
| humorously lamented. would mean
for Italy some form Of international
! ownership replacing British at Gi-
| braltar and Suez, some form of inter
national control replacing national in
| the vast field of raw materials. In
a word, what Italy seeks is some es-
cape from the fatal situation in which
she finds herself both with respect
I to the freedom of the seas and the
| opportunity to obtain those raw ma
terials and food supplies which are
essential to her existence, some way
| of assuring to herself. beyond the con-
troll of any other nation, the primary
requisites of national existence.
Deserves Close Study.
Count Cippicos whole statement
deserves the closest American study,
because 1t illuminates the darkest
corner in American understanding of
the real question of peace. With US
the debate between peace and war is
mainly abstract We think of peace
as the condition in which we live in a
country not only self supporting but
capable of continuing so indefinitely,
a condition in which we are not only
the masters of our own strategic
necessities, but strong enough to com
pei other countries to accept unhesi-
tatingly such policies as the Monroe
Doctrine. We do not economically
depend upon the world. but in a much
larger degree than ever before the
world depends upon us.
Contrast with our situation that of
Italy, whose millions might be con-
demned to starvation, whose factories
would close from lack of raw mate
rials, whose whole national life would
be paralyZed if, for example, as
consequence of some international
dispute, Britain should close the
Straits of Gibraltar and the gateway
of the SueZ to Italian commerce, or if
war with France should loosen sub
marine warfare from Tripoli to the
Riff. For our still growing popula-
ton there is opportunity for work
within our own boundaries, while the
vast regions of the Canadian north
west are still empty. whereas at home
the opportunity for work in Italy
daily diminishes and abroad the re
strictions upon immigration grow
steadily.
Peace Might Be Fatal.
Peace on such terms might easily
be even more fatal than war for any
country. To accept such conditions
might mean surrendering not alone in
ternational importance, but domestic
prosperity. War, whatever its tempo
rary privations, miseries and destruc-
tions, might be less permanently evil,
If it enables a people to escape from
such a condition. than permanent
peace and its commitments.
More than all else, too. 1t was the
conviction that the world, the great
powers-England, France and Rus
sia-were drawing net around Ger
many to keep her in a situation
infinitely less intolerable than that of
Italv. economically if not politically,
people to the World War. II is the
outstanding danger in the Japanese
situation today. 1t is the circum-
stances which more than all else
contributes to making the German
attitude in the far future problemati-
cal, now that Germany, with only a
slightly smaller population than in
1914, is deprived of her colonies, shorn
of most of her iron and much of her
coal and surrounded by nations whose
economic as well as political interests