The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-04-01
FROM POVERTY
TO POWER in
Fifteen YEARS
Once a Scorned Radical,
MuSS0Iini Now Is Stern
Dictator.
BIZ YEA Serudce

BIZ NEA Service
ROME, April Fifteen years ago
the authorities Of northern Italy
were greatly excited over the activi-
ties of a wild young socialist agita-
tor.
He had a great following and
feared nothing. He was a radical
of the 'reddest" type. Violence was
a major item on his program Of So
cial reform.
The Italian police were not the
only ones who were aware of his
existence. Police in Switzerland and
France knew him, too; had arrested
him, indeed, for ultra radical ac-
Invites.
All In all, it was quite agreed that
this young man, by name Benito
Mussolini, was a dangerous revo-
lutionary.
Leader of Aut0cracy
That was fifteen years ago. To-
day Mussolini stands as chief pro-
tagonist of the forces Of autocracy,
leader of the foes Of liberalism
dictator of the italians, spiritual sue
cessor of the first of the Caesars,
put there by the force of his own
indomitable will.
The wild radical of pre-war days
has mounted to the seats Of the
mighty. In the rise, his cloak Of
radicalism has been sloughed off like
an outworn garment.
He is the most picturesque charac-
ter in the world today.
And there is drama in the story Of
Mussolni.
He was born in 1883 in the noun
famous district Of Romagna. His
father was a blacksmith and a
wild-eyed radical one, to boot; his
mother had been a school teacher.
The family lived in poverty.
Getting an Education
Through sacrifices on the part Of
his parents, young Mussolini at
tended such schools as were avail
able, getting about what would be
equivalent in this country to a high
school education. Then he flung
himself into the Socialist cause. But
before he could settle down in his
home town he must satisfy the rest
less urge that demanded that he
travel.
So, early in 1902, he borrowed a
small sum from a friend and set out.
BY the time he reached the Swiss
border the money was gone. He
on afoot, sleeping where he
could and getting odd jobs here and
kthere to keep from starving.
- He stayed two months in Switzer-
<Jand, studying and using his eyes,
&fripping his youthful theories of So
fial upheaval and reform mor and
more closely. He led laborers in
'&strikes and riots, for it was impos-
Visible for Mussolini to believe a thing
without acting on it; accordingly, he
oon landed in Jail, and on his re-
lease he found himself constantly
Swallowed by detectives.
Beaten by poverty, unable to get
work, he drifted back home. There
he subsisted for a time on odds and
ends of literary work. translating the
works of the German Heine, for ex-
ample, for some SIS or so, trying
unsuccessfully to secure a town
clerkship, teaching school for a time
in a country town-and always TAX
ing an active part in the doings of
the Socialists of his neighborhood.
The police logged his footsteps
continually. Disguised, he went to
France. There, too, he gained no
toriety as a radical agitator. He
led strikes, participated in riots, felt
the hands of the police on his
shoulders, and eventually was de-
ported. He took refuge in Switzer-
land.
He stayed in Switzerland seven
years. He studied constantly, doing
odd jobs to pay for his books and
lodgings, and always dipping into
the activities Of the radical element.
At length his fiery advocacy Of So
cia1ism got him into trouble again.
and the Swiss deported him. Again
he went back to Romagna.
Twice now he had left home to