Evening star., 1936-08-16
UNOFFICIAL ROME ADMITS
BIAS In SPANS CIVIL WAR
Mussolini Reported Eager to Possess
Balearic Islands i'm Return for
Aid Given Rebels.

OF Spain, which ceased a long time
ago to be a naval power.
The Italians feel that they have
now unquestionable control over the
Eastern Mediterranean. They think
that Britain's reluctance to enter an
open conflict last Fall and last Spring
definitely established the fact that
she can no longer lay claim to su-
premacy in that part Of the Mediter-
ranean.
Hopes to Restore Empire.
But it is not mere speculation to
say that II Duce still hopes to re-
establish the Roman Empire. He
wants the whole nation to thrill with
the blessing of being an Italian citi-
zen. He wants the people of Italy to
say, with the same arrogant pride
as their forefathers 1900 years ago,
"Civis Romanus sum Il am a Roman
citizen)." An unimpeachable source
told me that Mussolini has done his
utmost in recent years to prevent the
Italians emigrating to South America,
| because cit is unworthy of them to
become the servants of other people"
And if he has not encouraged tourists
until recently, when he needed for
eign currency desperately, it was for
the same proud reason: This is not
nation of mandolin players and hotel
keepers, as foreigners have been led to
believe in the past"
If I seem to mention trivial ex-
amples, it is to show how desperately
Roman" II Duce is. And he believes
that the Mediterranean must once
again be known as Mare Nostrum, its
lanes dominated by Italy.
From the strategic viewpoint, Glib
raltar becomes useless the day another
power than Spain has the control of
the Balearic Islands. And If Gen.
Franco has indeed promised to swap
those islands for an effective help to
take over the government of Spain,
there is no doubt that the suggestion
must have appealed tremendously to
II Duce.
Hitler Knows Outlook.
OF course, II Duce is no longer q
lone wolf: he has Hitler as his running
mate. Not a single move is being
made these days on the diplomatic
checker board of Europe without pre-
vious consultation and a full agree
ment between the two dictators. That
Mussolini has informed the Reichs-
fuehrer of the great possibilities the
support of the junta might offer Italy
seems beyond doubt 1t is not only be-
cause of the fear that bolshevism might
spread in Western Europe that the
German government has decided to
send battleships, destroyers and cruis-
ers 40 Spain. It is not only because
of the few thousand Italian citizens
in the Iberian peninsula that some is
Italian men-of-war are in Spanish
waters. And, what is more important,
it is not because of the danger to the
British and other citizens that the
British admiralty has sent no less than
so war vessels to Spanish ports and
to Gibraltar.
There is not man in Rome who
has the slightest doubt that Hitler will
stand by Mussolini in anything he
might decide to do in the Mediter-
ranean. The two dictators may not
like each other, but they need each
others support. They are true to
each other because the present con-
ditions of the world demand that they
should be so for their self-preServation
They believe in using the force of
arms to reach their aims. Hitler has
set his forth, methodically, in the
German manner, in Moin Kampf
Mussolini has only one all-embracing
idea; the establishment of the
Roman empire in his lifetime. To re-
alize that he takes advantage, without
a well-established plan, of every cir
cunstance. The Italian government
does not want another international
mbroglio-unless 1t promotes Italian
interests.
(Copyright. 1850