Evening star., 1941-04-03

me to leave because my general tone
was unfriendly to the axis and,
curiously enough, because I had
access to too many highly placed
Italians. I have had four audiences
with Mussolini and scores of conver-
sations with his son-in-law, Count
Ciano. know Marshals Badoglio
and GRAHAM.
But this seems a strange reason
to ask a correspondent to go away.
1t is my personal opinion that the
expulsion was ordered by the Ger
mans. I have no concrete evidence
of that, however, and it is only
surmise.
Arrest Threatened.
One month before my expulsion
the Germans were already pretty
well In control of Rome, and more
than one of them said in public
places that they would have me ar
rested on some trumped-up charge
OF espionage If the Italian authori-
ties would not expel me. 1t was
obvious that the Germans wished
to intimidate me into quitting Rome
voluntarily, since the Italians, hav-
ing had many proofs of my friend
ship for Italy were reluctant to
| oroer my expulsion. The Germans
rightly thought that I was no friend
of Nazi Germany.
Uncensored articles on the defeat
| and occupation of Italy can be val
liable to American readers if they
achieve objectivity. In that spirit I
hope to describe the extent and
manner of German inf1ltration,
why the Italians are incapable of
revolution, how Fascism as a system
destroyed the efficiency of the armed
| forces, why Mussolini, after a bril-
liant series of successes, is personally
responsible for the tragedy, what
happened in Libya, what happened
in Greece, what happened in Ethi-
opia' the actual condition of the
Italian people, why Fascism cannot
work and, finally, how the Germans
mean to exploit their new province.
The most remarkable change that
has come over Italy since the Ger
iiloll Cllliy tic dOGlJuuc
toward the United States. The Nazi
propaganda machine is deliberately
| teaching the Italians to mistrust
| and hate Americans. The news
papers now describe America as 40
per cent Jewish, President Roosevelt
as an unScrupulous dictator with
ambitions for world conquest, the
American people as soulless Prot
eStant moneygrabberS, too coWardly
to fight but opposed TO the axis out
of a feeling of inferiority in the face
Of the countries that have produced
Dante and Goethe, Wagner and
7 Verdi.
Propaganda Has Effect.
This propaganda is beginning to
have an effect because the essential
argument is the face-saving idea
that the Italians would already be
enjoying peace and victory except
for the Americans, who, though un-
| willing to fight themselves. help
England in order to prolong the war
ard enrich themselves at the ex-
pense of an exhausted Europe.
The American consulates at Ma
Piles and Palermo were closed shortly
after the Germans took control in
Rome That was significant. but
Washington retaliated by closing
two Italian consulates in America.
More important than the expulsion
OF the consular officials was the fact
| that the Germans, with deliberate
cynicism, persuaded the Italians
| that those officials were acting as
spies.
The Italian man in the street now
believes that American consular Off
cials signaled TO British warships
| and planes for bombardments at
Genoa and elsewhere, though the
officers of his government. having
taken down on phonograph discs
every word or sound heard in those
two conSulates, know that the charge
is false
This lie is all the more brutal since
the absence of any proper American
| intelligence service is often remarked
upon by grateful axis officers. It's
mere mention brings outlaws of
laughter from Italian as we'll as
German officials.
After the closing of the consulates
highly placed officer in the Italian
War Ministry said to me mockingly:
The American intelligence service
must be the best in the world be-
cause neither we nor the Germans
have ever been able TO discover an
American spy"
Early in the discussion of the
lease-lend bill the Germans per-
suaded the Italians to undertake
demonstrations against the United
States. There was a mild and not