Evening star., 1943-01-02
Urges Ethnic Approach
To Italian Population.

To the Editor OF The Star.
In my letter published in The Star
for December Is emphasis was placed
upon the politico-economic, as opposed
to the military, approach to the inspira-
ton of properly organized and carefully
engineered revolt against Fascism and
away from the Axis, with emphasis upon
the practical necessity of giving to the
Italian people unconditional assurance
that the program of assistance to Italy
embraces provision so that when Italy
reVOltS and shakes off NaZi domination
the United Nations will stand ready with
soul together.
In a subsequent communication
broader perspective of the Italian DO
o-economic problem, with emphasis
upon the spiritual strength and resist
ance which the Italian people derive
from the institution of the Catholic
church with its hierarchy reaching, into
the ultimate recesses of every hamlet
and family of the nation, with its roots
reaching down into the traditions de-
irving from the earliest epochs of the
Christian era, and with its encyclicals
and Christmas messages from the holy
father relnterpreting to the people year
by year the prime fundamental truths
of Christianity and godliness.
But if political inspiration can be
traced back to institutions contemporary
with Cavour and Mazzini, Dante and
Machiavelli, and even to remote be-
ginnings in the civil and canon law of
Rome; and if religious inspiration ante
dates the Medici Popes and is lost in
the remote dawn of the Christian church,
there still remains another approach,
namely, the ethnic approach to the work
of relief and rehabilitation. BY this I
mean the fitting of the work of relief
into the basic ethnic character structure
Of the italian individual and ethnic
culture pattern of the Italian people.
structure and pattern deeply embedded
in religion and politics but antedating
the Catholic church as the church ante
dates the modern state. The very
speech, the food, the language and ges-
lures, the overall capacity of the Ital-
ian spirit, the organiza ion of the Ital-
ian social fabric, the physical, INTEL
lectual and moral resources of the Ital-
ian body polite, in fact the whole dy-
manic pattern of life as 1t is lived in
Rome, Naples, Florence, Milan and
Turin, and the whole dynamic pattern
of grief and happiness of work, thrift
and devotion in Sicily. the Roman
Campagna and the mountains and val
leys of the Apennines, all OF 1t is Sc
curely anchored into an ethnic charac-
ter structure and culture pattern of very
admiration, the respect and the most
careful consideration Of those who rec
ognize the prime necessity Of correlating
political order with cultural diversity.
Some Of these ethnic factors antedate
all Italian political traditions, ante
date the whole Of medieval and early
Christian religious tradition, and draw
rich sustenance today from roots planted
deep in remotest Mediterranean an
tiquity. rich sustenance which now Is
coloring with turbulent emotions and
profound thought, with beauty and with
reason, the global present-day cultural
pattern with which every agency, every
individual, concerned with relief and
rehabilitation must effectively correlate
their undertakings-or meet with ir-
reconcilable Illustrations.
Whatever part destiny may assign to
Italy, whatever invasion may be made
of the peninsula by military force or
agency of relief. the task Of military