Evening star., 1937-03-14
:sBABY RECRUITING" SPED
WITH DICTATORS' GOLD
Italy, Germany and Russia Offer Sub
sides to Lend Impetus to Drive
for rPerambulator Battalions.
BY LELAND STOWE.
.HE other day the Fascist Grand

ScuLlSll, GlCOidCo oNCl bJ |
Premier Benito Mussolini, |
solemnly considered "the need
OF more children for Italy's armies
Of the future and adopted a
comprehensive seven-point program
for increasing the population Of the
already crowded Italian peninsula.
Shortly before that Moscow dispatches
was expending more than 100000
900 rubles for the care Of expectant
mothers mothers and infants. while
dispensing 1o00O0,O0O rubles as
bounties to mothers having five or
more children.
Not long before that Berlin re-
ported marked progress in the Nazis'
subsidized drive to frighten off any
possibly aggressive-minded neighbors
Of the Third Reich by formidable and
recording legions of baby
carriages These developments CON-
bined bear witness to a definite key
policy of all the great European die
tatorships. This policy may be
summed up quite simply as "bayonets
and babies"
While civilization staggers on-or,
perhaps more accurately, sits gasping
for breath on a roadside rock-some
279,00O,000 people are being COM
manded to procreate at an ever-in-
creasing tempo to the slogan, you've
got to raise your boy to be a soldier"
Nor are the dictators content to de-
pend upon patriotism along to pro-
duce the desired reSults-lusty little
males, hale and hearty little future
gun-toters, by hundreds Of thousands.
Mussolini, Hitler and Stain seem
unanimously agreed that the motive
Of patriotism is not enough to swell
their armies of 1855 into the gi-
gantic and terrifying proportions re-
quired by that modern omnipotent
deity, the authoritarian state. AS a
consequence they have devised a
shrewder and more subtle incentive
to parenthood 1t is an economic
club; the state subsidy for future
soldiers
"More Babies" Subsidy.
The more babies" subsidy, now in
vogue in Russia, Italy and Germany,
constitutes an adroit extension Of that
old snare held out for moonstruck
youth, according to which two people
can live cheaper than one. In reality,
it merely assures good citizens Of the
dictator lands that six persons in any
given family can live quite as well as
three The "soldier-breeding" propa-
gandist says, in effect, "1t's cheaper
to get married If you don't we'll tax
the lining out Of your pocket, but II
you do we'll give those who need 1t a
wedding present of state loan. And
for those already married-lLten to
the glad tidings! Raise big family
five children or more-and the state
will reduce your taxes as they've never
| been reduced before. Beget dozen
youngsters, your tax burdens will al
| most vanish-and you'll become a ma
! tional hero and heroine besides" This
is the enticing lullaby which is crooned
| by the baby-recruiting agents of the
| Reichswehr and the Italian and Rus
| sian Armies.
| AS amazingly callouS as the plar
itself is, it is perhaps equally aston.
ishing that baby recruiting" appear.
to be meeting with considerable success!
in Germany and Is being counted on tc
succeed elsewhere. For this reason the
devices which are being used, the me.
chanics of the come-on game to in
crease the birth rate, are interesting
Will the dictators shortly regiment
millions of children into being born
as well as regimenting all their i'm
| portant actions from the moment they
see the light of day How, precisely
are they proceeding toward this ulti-
mate goal?
Mussolini's recent contribution tc
the science of population policies
pursued. Undeterred by II Duce's
proud boast that Italy possesses 8,000,-
600 bristling bayonets, the Fascist
Grand Council has just announced its
elaborate program for recruiting ba.
bies. Chief items are as follows:
U) Fathers of large families shall
be given priority in employment anc
promotion (2) State loans shall bs
given to aid couples to marry. 81
Men with families will receive higher
pay in proportion to the number o,
their children. 90 A national Bis
Families Association will be formed
(5) A state organization will be estab'
lished for "the control and promotion
of the regimes population policies.
The Fascist Grand Council solemnly
reminded all Fascists that the popu,
lation problem was in reality the prob.
lem of problems because without life
there is neither youth nor military