Evening star., 1941-04-12
Ninth OF d Series.J
By JOHN r. WHITAKER,


Chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent,
BEYOND THE ITALIAN FROM
TIER-The Prussians are the only
people in modern history who have
made war pay. That was true when
Bismarck was uniting the empire
and it is true under Hitler. The
investment in tanks and Stukas
has brought bonanza yield in
Austrian iron, Czech Ignite and
Rumanian oil as we'll as in the
foodStuffS, raw materials, equip
ment and rolling stock looted from
Norway, the Low Countries and
France.
The italians by contrast have a
genius for productive conquest.
Mussolini has been a collector of
deserts and headaches. AS a journal
ist turned politician the Fascist
dictator has a passion for power
politics and an adherence of eco
nomics. He has moved Italy in
creasingly toward bankruptcy with
every new conquest and though the
annexation of Ethiopia proved graft
flying to Italian self-esteem, the
country simply could not afford it..
Defeat would have cost less than a
brief five-year victory, which Brit
ian's imperial troops have now
snatched away.
Various figures-none of them
trustworthy-have been cited by the
FasciStS for the initial outlay. Ger
tainly the military operation cost
not less than 1000. .000, 900 lire. But
the conquest of Ethiopia was but a
fraction of the total expenditure.
Count Thaon di Revel. the Italian
Finance Minister, estimated that in
five years Italy spent $4,000, 900 900
lire on Ethiopia. He was not specific,
but I think this global figure in
cluded the 7,000,0O0,000 lire for the
war itself.
British Reap Profits.
If that is so Italy has spent some
two and quarter billion dollars
or the equivalent of four annual
budgets on one of the biggest dud
investments since the pricking Of
the insult bubble The British will
be grateful for the $168, 900 900 that
went into roads and they will con-
serve something of the $3.50, 900 900
invested in private firms, bus lines,
airports and harbor facilities. As for
the Italians there was no return
whatever on the investment.
Last year, as in the first year of
the conquest, Ethiopia imported
from Italy roughly 10 times its total
exports. The dream of mineral re-
sources proved propaganda myth.
Even Gen. Teruzzi, the acting
Minister of Colonies, admitted that
the effort to find minerals was only
partially successful" and he held
out the hope of coffee, cotton, lum-
ber, wheat, livestock and hides in
stead of gold, nickel, platinum, cop
per and petroleum. But the trade
figures show that not even these
were sent to the motherland.
Mussolini talked of moving down
million italian in vast home
stead project No more than 200
families had gone down before Mus
solini's precipitate entry into Hitler's
war made the loss of the empire
inevitable. In short, for an expendi-
ture equal to four annual budgets,
Italy got nothing except the title
of Emperor" for King Victor EN-
manuel.
Invasion of Spain Costly.
The invasion of Spain proved an
equally costly adventure. The
Italians have recently published the
bill rendered Gen. Francisco Franco.
This shows a direct expenditure in
planes, armaments and material of
$500, 100000 lire. (The lira is
quoted at approximately centS)
Thus nearly $400, 100000 was spent
in Spain beyond the cost of trans
porting, feeding and paying the
volunteers" who were herded to-
gether like convicts and shipped
away under the impression that they
were going to Ethiopia instead OF
Spain. The value of labor in Italy
as in Russia is purely arbitrary, but
to $500 000,00 lire something ought
to be added for what these soldiers
might have done in some productive
capacity.
Whatever the total of the invest
ment, the return was almost nil
Efforts at Italian economic pene-
tration have failed before Spanish
stubbornness, German competition
and the outbreak of war which
brought the British blockade. The
mercury monopoly belonged to Italy
already, and her efforts to contro
Rio Tinto and other mines failed
Italy hoped for virtual control Of
high grade olive oil and insisted
that Gen. Franco should ship hi