The Wilmington morning star., 1941-01-24
y Fair Enouuh
BY WEsTBRooK pEGIrp

70 Aao" mat views and opin.
ions expressed in this ar,icI.
are those of the author .ns
may not always harmoni1s
with its position, The Editor
NEW YORK, Jan. 23,-Aftor =,
fair is fair, SO those Americans ubaa
have tossed off unkind cracks =.
Renito Mussolini should now saIuts
Benny the Bum as an ally rstbs,
than an enemy in the war and
thank the poor stumbling clown IA,
his help to date, which GEMS lila
ly to increase as time goes on. N,
to now he has performed two orA.,
services for our side: first h,
made it possible for the British /,
obtain another toehold in Euron.
after Hitler, at the cost Of a van
effort, had thrown them across 1bs
channel, and, more recently, h.
had compelled Hitler to diver
from the attack on Britain a cor.
siderable force of planes, pilots and
auxiliary personnel to have ths
buns dashing Invincibles in AL
bania and Egypt. These feats adj
up to the equivalent of an impor.
Itant military victory for Britain
for they have made it neceSsag
for Hitler to fight on another front
at a time when he might have been
permitted to concentrate every.
thing on the attack on Britain.
Now we can understand why Hi,
Ter wanted Mussolini to renal
neutral, and why the British and.
at the time, the French hoped he
would not come in on their side
anyway. Had he remained neutrs.
the Invincibles would still be /;
threat of unknown gravity in Airic;
and Albania, whereas now everp
body knows that they are the SAINT
buns who added to Caporetto an:
Adowa, that they can't fight a LID
and, as an ally, IRE a military la.
bility to Der Fuehrer.
For nearly 20 years Benny ta
Bum was building this low-comet!
army of his, but now the recor.
proves that they weren't any gou.
for anything but parades and tr
chasing unarmed savages witt
tanks and bombing planes. Thg
have answered the bell four times
and the only fight they won was
felonious assault, rather than /;
war, on Halle Selassie's baretos
boys.
Everybody else has slapped the1
silly, and even when France va
dying and Benny leaped in to taxi
part in the kill the fallen vict1
gave him a kick in the face whic.
made him quit after a few kln
meters. Had the bum entered III!
war on the side of the Allies, Hit
Ter would have romped over hin
in a few days and established hin
self all over the Mediterranean, for
obviously, the Invincibles, WI.
couldn't hold off the Greeks ar;
icouldn't even handle the British ia
from home while their main e.
fort was directed to resistance i
the British Isles, would have bee
a pushover for the avalanche who
crushed France.
To realize what an absurd Glow
|Mussolini is it is necessary onp
to observe that the English slappe'
his face, pulled his silly cap dow
over his banjo-eyes and made BIZ
run all the way home throus
croWded streets without his PAM
while the Battle of Britain wa.
raging with a ferocity unequas'
since Verdun. And this is the SAM
tramp who was talking about III
coWardly British and telling I'M
world what he was going to do
them. He is the one who had
million bayonets out of a popAs
ton of 40 million people, and uS'.
to yell about his vast flocks .
planes and suicidal pilots 1I'
when the test came. had to hoA'.
to Hitler to come down and Saw
him from sand-lot opposition.
1t is natural to laugh at Benny
flor he is sure-fire comedy, but y'
cant hate a man who harms YOU
enemy in a war, and MussollM c..
|tainly has done Hitler no goo'
More important than that, ho"eVsI.
the pa1ooka has given the Wol'
proof that dictatorship, with all u
guile and power over people is ls
necessarily the most efficient loi..
of government for a nation In peS''
or in war. ..
Nc dictatorship was more sun,
than Benny's, and the people %t',
compelled to give him eVery'uI'
over all those years-man-po%t,,,
obedience. wealth and co-opefalg.'
but when war came and the d.! Nv,
Iish varsity was engaged agalns' -,
IGermans Mussolini couldh CIV.
reach the line of scrimmage' Hlu:, =,
less gain a yard, against 'net d.
scrubs, and was forced 10 seilu
ringers lest he be chased cIea1 y
of the stadium. nh
1t may be true that this pu'' tL,,|
Ter on the Mediterranean Out
makes him stretch and Sptt nd
too, and until Benny = .
Bum is definitely fired by ~ b,
Fuehrer it will be necessary ;. " ti|
him play at being Caesar WIN oasis,|
Invincibles, which will mean Tp
going for the British than Il mi II