Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-29
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

valry of arms or commerce. Goliath was
bigger than David, yet see what hap
pened!
But to that idea Mussolini retorts:
THE theory that quality can re-
place quantity is false. and 1 fought 1t
Immediately it was advanced to justify
the falling birthrate of Italy. False and
stupid is the theory that a smaller
population means greater prosperity.
Our 100000 Italians of today live
far better than the 27000000 living
in 1871, and 100000 in 1916"
His assertion that the present gen.
Grafton is more comfortable than the
people of a century ago. or even half
century ago, is correct, but that in
crease of comfort is by no means due to
the greater numbers; it is due solely
to modern Improvements of civiliza-
tion-to labor-saving machinery, TO
plumbing in the homes. to manufac-
lures in place of homemade produce
ton of necessities and Injuries. and,
above all, to improvements in trans
portation. so that today the poorest
man in Italy or America is in contact
with the commercial resources of the
whole world.
Manufacturing industry gives en-
ployment and wages to nearly two
thirds of the people of every advanced
nation, and all such wage earners are
customers. not competitors. of agri-
cultural producers. Why should not
both urban and rural population enjoy
more comforts. therefore. than they
could decades ago when all men were
tillers of the soil. and few had other in
comes, and the economies of mass pro-
duction were unknown?
X x *
In another statement he does ex-
press truth that is not peculiar to
Italy. nor even to the United States.
He says:
1T is true, instead. that the well-to-
do are the least prolific. 1t is an ego
that the families with the fewer chill
dren are those which have the most
use for them
There is no higher authority on such
a subject in America than DR.. Hrdlicka
of the Smithsonian Institution. and he
states that everywhere the least pro-
life class is that which uses its brains
rather than its muscles in daily occupa-
ton. There are some exceptions. but
that is the biological rule. 1t explains
why the agriculturiStS who become
physically hardy in the open-air work
have larger families than the urban
people, especially such as the pro-
fesSional classes.
In the Outlook Magazine Of Novem-
Der Is. 1927, there was published an in
terview with Signor Mussolini by the
present writer, in which II Duce said,
in part;
THE great wealth of the nation Is
the vigorous florescence of the Italian
family. which recognizes that in the
multiplication of its sons lies the
expansion
The significance of that expression.
world expansion" betrays more OF
Mussolinis motives behind his en-
coura cement of production of cannon
fodder" than perhaps he intended to
express so openly
I asked, Can Italians afford large
familieS?"
1T is significant" he answered. that
the provinces in which birth control
has made any marked progress at all
are those from which temporary emf
grafton to foreign nations is most in
tense, hence those which are most ex-
posed to foreign customs. have
cited in an official order Of the day
all Italian families having more than
10 children. There are 1880 such
families-a glorious testimony TO 1tal-
ian fecundity. Out of every 10000 FAM
lilies. 2l.36 are of this type. And the
provinces richest in children are the
Venetian, which are the wealthiest IN
Italy"
That does not exactly agree with his
later citation that 1.-The well-to-do are
the least prolific"
In that interview of year ago APP
peared this paragraph OF Mussollnls
up:
"A people may die of exhaustion. but
not through richness of men; through
sterility, not fecundity. The most for
midable of all raw materials is man
power. 1t alone can assure to nation
the road to power and to the conquest
of the future"
What conquest of the future" does
he mean?
Not long ago II Duce was quoted as
predicting another great war between
1885 and 1880 Italy is the only great
power which has not signed the KEEL
logg-Briand multilateral treaty. agree
ing never again to recognize war as
legitimate means OF settling interna-
tional differences War is outlawed in
or will be when the treaty
receives the assured confirmation by
the several governments. But Italy
looks to prolificacy as its only reliance:
1t alone can assure to nation the
road to power and to the conquest OF
the future" Babies born in 1929 will
be of military age by l949. But no.
body knows how blue" he must have
felt when he wrote In his recent ar
ticle, syndicated all over the domain
The first six months of this year
showed births to be 1000 less than
for the same period last year." and he
ends his article with:
IF we do not go against the stream
that the Fascist revolution
has done will be perfectly useless. be-
cause at certain moment the fields.
the schools, the barracks. ships, fac
tories will be without men,"
icoryriSht. 1928. by Paul V. collinsJ