The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-26

WASHINGTON. Feb. Sat Army and Navy
the generals and admirals read the news from
Libya and shake their heads over an Italian
military catastrophe-but at the Department
of Commerce the statistical experts look at
the record and say, in effect, VIVA a break
for Italy"
1t was this amazing difference of opinion thai
sent me to prodding through the records anc
checking, with the men who know.
From a military point Of view, results Of
the capture Of the whole Of Cirenaica eastern
Libya) by the British are too obvious ano
have been rehashed too much to bear re-
peating here.
In addition to her loss Of military strategic
position. a great portion of her African army
and vast wal supplies, Italy also lost almost
half of her 1,20O-mile c~oastline across the
Mediterranean. She lost Bengasi, her main
base in eastern Libya, with its beautiful har-
Dor into which she had sunk millions of dol
lars in improvements. She lost Derna, called
1.-The Pearl Of Cirenaica'' because it was one
of the few, and undoubtedly the most beauti,
full, garden spots in all Libya. She lost halt
of the arabic land in this vast colony, when
she lost the plains above Bengazi. Except for
a similar area around Tripoli, capital Of Trip.
olitania (western Libya), the colony's $50, 600
square miles are mostly barren plateau. roll
ing desert, an occasional oasis and three or
four camel trails. There are trackless wastes
of sand in Libya that would make our own
southwestern deserts seem like blooming gar
dens Of Eden.
AN ECONOMIC MILESTONE
But that isn't the reason the experts of the
Commerce Department see the loss of Libya
as a boon to Italy. This is the point: Great
Britain has, partly, at least, removed from
the Italian neck one of her weighty economic
millstones.
When a colony's exports to the mother coun.
try far exceed her imports from that country,
she's making money for the homeland. She
is supplying vital raw materials that can't
be got cheaper elsewhere and getting back
manufactured products with income from the
raw materials that put shekels into the peck
cts of the mother country workers. But take
a glance at Libya.
In the middle 1905 when the Fascists had
just begun to develop the Mediterranean Afri.
can empire they had seized from Turkey in
1911-12, they discovered that the odds were
better than six to one against their breaking
even. Libyan imports were almost 400, 000, 900
Ira "a Ira normally is about S cents), while
the country's exports were only around 61,-
900, 900 Ira.
RATIO is LOWER
After nearly five years of colonization, land
development, Improvement of transportation
facilities, and extension of military domin,
alton to the hinterlands, the i1nport-export
ratio had backslid to more than eight to one.
fThe last official figures the Commerce De-
partrnent has are for 1898, when Libya's i'm,
ports were SO, o5s, 600 Ira and her exports
only 1o8, 962, 00O). In a case like that, some,
body HAS to pay the freight and in this case
it was the Italian taxpayers, to the tune OF
about $40, 000, 900 a year.
But that wasn't all. Think of the millions
spent on colonization, subsidies and improve.
mehts. Think of the millions spent on mill
tary forces to keep the wild desert tribes in
line. When these natives were brought into
line for the first time in the 1905, it was
estimated that it had cost Italy more than a
billion dollars. is it any wonder that, no
matter what the Army thinks, the boys al
Commerce figure Italy ought to thank Great
Britain if she takes over the whole ka.
Doodle?