Evening star., 1934-10-29
Il DUCE LAUNCHES
M|L|TARYPROGRAM
Sets Into Motion Machinery
to Train Male italians
of 8 to 80.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
ROME. october 29.-The last echo
Of disarmament talk died out here
today when Premier Mussolini, re-
splendent in the uniform of a Fascist
warrior, set in motion machinery to
make Italy "militaristic" nation.
Every male Italian between the ages
OF 8 and SO will be trained in the
use of arms under the supervision of
an inspectorate of pre- and post mill
tary service which he lnaugurated this
| afternoon.
Back to the glory of the Caesars"
and "a revival of Sparta" are phrases
the press has used to describe the
Italy Mussolini intends to forge. Dis
armament, which only a few months
ago filled columns in the Blackshirt
| newspapers, found no mention today.
Premier Is Cheered.
Enthusiastic cheers greeted the
premier when he appeared at the
| posed mostly of men and boys who
now will be called upon to take up
arms. was gathered outside.
Ranking in Importance next to the
| army, navy and air ministries, the
| department inaugurated today will be
the Fascist governments fourth ma
jor military dependency. 1t will be
under Mussolini's personal supervision,
as are the ministries.
Its duties will be to put into force
the cabinet decree Of September 18,
| which called for institution of COM
pulsory military training extending
over almost half the life-span of the
average individual
Acting as liaison and supervisory
body, it will check and coordinate the
activities of the various departments
and organizations called upon to CO.
operate in training citizenry. These
are the military and navy ministries,
the department of education and Ger
tain Of the Fascist party units.
Upon attaining their 9th year,
italian boys henceforth must enter
the Fascist Balilla organization to
receive what Is called "pre-military"
instruction. They will be trained with
miniature but nevertheless serviceable
rifles.
| At IA they will advance into the
Avanguardisti, where this training will
become more intense and where they
also will be instructed in the use of
machine guns and field artillery.
Upon turning their 18th year they
will join the Young Fascists of Com
bat for final instruction preliminary
10 regular service, and at 2l they will
be called to the colors for an enroll
ment Of a year and half.
After they have completed this serv-
ice they will have to engage in post
military practice for 10 more years
Every Sunday and holiday they will
be obliged to report for drill. and
once each year they will be sent to a
military camp for a period Of two
| weeks
| Paralleling the above training,
schools and colleges will set up stu
dent military bodies, and courses in
military culture will become an obl.ga-
tory part of the school curriculum.
Statesmen to Pay Visits.
Meanwhile Mussolini is looking for.
ward to a busy political November
Four visits from noted statesmen are
scheduled and another is in the offing
The assured visitors are Juliu.
Goemboes, premier of Hungary; Pierre
Laval, foreign minister of France
Edouard Benes, foreign minister oi
CZechoslovakia. and Kurt Schusch-
nigg, chancellor Of Austria. The prob
able visitor is Nicolas Titulescu, for.
eign minister Of Rumania.
Goemboes wants to enlarge and ex.
tend the Italo- o-Austro- Hungarian pact
d Rome so as to increase the CONNER.
.ial exchanges between Italy anc
Hungary.
Laval is to carry on the work begur
by his assassinated predecessor, Bar.
thou-the Italo-French rapproche-
ment. Official Italy places many
hopes in Laval, since she regards hin
as friend.
Benes' visit is logical consequence
of Lavals trip to Rome. Since France
and Czechoslovakia are close allies, II
is natural that France would like tt
see her allies become friends Of hel
new friend, Italy. Besides, Czecho-
slovakia has matters Of her own tc
discuss with Italy. There is primarily
the independence of Austria. in which
Czechoslovakia is greatly interested, ar
interest not much less vital than thai
of Italy.
Chancellor Schuschnigg will come
here to complete the conversations ht
had with Mussolini in Florence
August 81. He particularly wants tc
talk commerce. Austria's foreign
trade has bettered since Mussolini
Dollfuss and Goemboes concluded
their trade treaties. But there Is still
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