Evening star., 1939-01-14

And dWhut
They Do
Signoro Agresti in
u. 5. to Lecture
m Enee;en
On Foscism
By LDMUEL F. PARTON.


In the view Of this writer, Musso-
lini's two most intelligent, tactful,
gifted and plausible unoficial ENJOYS
to the American public have been
women-far more convincing than
the not inconsiderable number Of
men here on the same mission dur
ing the last 16 years. They are
Margherita Sarfatti and Signora
Olivia Rossetti Agresti.
For obvious reasons, since Premier
Mussolini has been converted to the
racial theories of Adolf Hitler, Sig
norita Sarfatti no longer brings the
Apologize Fascisma to our shores.
This now devolves on the brilliant
Signora CREST, author of the most
astute naturalization of Fascism
ever written, in the Encyclopedias
Brittanica; granddaughter of the
poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who
was exiled from Naples to London
for his fight against tyranny. She
arrives in New York, as usual, under
impeccable social auspices, for a lee
ture tour in this country. Her ar
rival is coincident with the diplo-
matte impasse in which Neville
Chamberlain does not find 1t ex.
pedient to grant Premier Musso-
lini's demands.
When she was here early in 1887,
Signora Agresti said: "Mussolini
wants nothing whatever from other
nations. He has all he wants. He
seeks no land, no colonies" Arriv-
ing in America, she again extols
Mussolini, but has not, as yet, dis
cussed Tunisia, Corsica, Nice or
Djibouti.
This writer saw Signora Agresti
on occasion, in Rome, in the days
OF her effective cooperation with
David Lubin of California, in the
establishment of the International
Institute Of Agriculture. She, bar
ring Signorita Sarfatti, is the one
person who has successfully ex-
pounded Fascism as liberal doctrine.
After her last visit this writer re-
ceived a letter from a distinguished
American woman, active in the
League of American University
women, which was, in part, as fol-
lows:
"You newspaper men have much
to answer for in your lies about Italy.
My eyes were opened by attending
lecture by Olivia Agresti. I, for one
am convinced that Italy is the land
Of real freedom They have settled
their labor problems by establishing
true industrial democracy. Poor a.
they are, the standard of living OF
their workingmen is the best in
Europe. They have freedom Of
speech. freedom of the press and
freedom of assemblage, with no dis
elimination against any person on
account of race and religion. ]
think it is time we understood and
appreciated the magnificent achieve
ments of Benito Mussolini. We
could learn lot from Italy"
Signora Agresti. incidentally 9
gifted linguist, fluently translate:
totalitarianism into liberal terminol.
ogy. Liberalism looms large in all
her cultural antecedents. Her ia.
ther, William Michael Rossetti, was
a brilliant London author and critic,
/ and it was he who introduced Walt
Whitman's hymns of democracy tc
England and to Europe. Browning
and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
were frequent visitors to her child
hood home. And now, paraphrasine
Mrs. Browning, she gives her Fascist
state the love of her lost gods
It was an absorption in the medic.
valism of the pre-Raphaelite move
ment which now makes her the en-.
voy, not only of another way OF
lite, but of another century.
(Copyright, 1o39)