Evening star., 1935-11-01
Riots i'm Rome.

Lashed into fury by bellicose out
burst from Mussolini against the "Ge-
neva coalition Of egotism and plutoc-
racy attempting in vain to bar the path
of our young ITALY," mobs in Rome on
Thursday staged day and night Of vio-
lent anti-British demonstrations Riot
GUS crowds milled around the embassy
and consulate general of the United
Kingdom, tore Prince of Wales" signs
and other emblems from shops suspected
of dealing in British goods. threatened
tea room and night club and hurled
imprecations at variety of other estab-
lishments suspected of being outposts of
perf1dious Albion. No damage to life or
property ensued from this Fascist
Halloween celebration, but it loses
nothing in significance on that account.
On the contrary, it is of definite tell
tale Importance.
Timed to coincide with the Geneva
committee meeting charged with put
ting sanctions machinery in motion, the
days events signalize to the world that
the Italians, even before they have been
subjected to the screws about to be put
upon them are alive to what is in pros
pect. Mussolini himself only thinly
wells his own concern on that score. In
the speech which precipitated the riots,
II Duce, after excoriating the League,
referred to the economic siege Of which
all civilized nations should feel SUI
premely ashamed" In the face of IAN
experiment being tried today for the
first time against the Italian nation"
the Dictator thundered that he wishes
it known that I'VE shall oppose thereto
the most implacable of resistance, our
f1rmest decision" Sanctions, he indi-
Gated, cannot and will not impede the
advance Of "our magnificent bearers of
civilization" who, with courage and
sacrifice, are continuing their operations
in Ethiopia without asking anything
from anybody"
1t was after hearing these inspiring
words from the Black Shirt chieftain
that the mob sailed forth to wreak
vengeance on all and sundry savoring of
John Bull within the Eternal City. While
1t was venting its rage, an italian
spokesman at Geneva announced that
his government "is ready to negotiate"
Peace talk there for the moment almost
browns out consideration of sanctions,
as roundly half hundred member ma
tions, with unanimity and speed unusual
for the League, prepare to put them into
force.
French Premier Laval and British
Foreign Secretary Hoare are about to
revisit Geneva. The impression persists
that they carry peace proposals in their
portfolios. Baron Aoisi, Mussolini's
spokesman, is back again, too. Behind
the scenes, in Geneva hotel rooms, where
real League business is always trans
acted, eleventh-hour ways and means
for settlement Of the Ethiopian conflict
are clearly once more under discussion.
To pave the road to it before November
IS, the provisional date for making sane
tions effective, is the goal.
If anything were needed to reveal the
Italian peoples craving to avert the
calamity with which sanctions threaten
them and the whole Fascist fabric, the
riots in Rome would supply the proof.
They are a certain forerunner Of what
II Duce can expect when the actual
pinch of economic strangulation brings
home to Italy the full weight of the
catastrophe which his imperial adventure
brought upon 1t.