Evening star., 1946-12-22
Premier Will Leave
Italy Jan. ; for
Consultations Here
~ the A,seeiosed Press

NV1lSuIIulIVlI uIVIV
sy the Asseeiaied Press
ROME, Dec. 21.--Premier Alcide
de Gasperi of Italy will leave for
the United States January 8, 1t
was announced today, and will take
suitcases filled with little but trou-
bic.
The ofI1cial communique said Mr..
de Gasperi would 90 to Washington
to talk "on questions OF mutual in
tereSt to the two countries, such as
resumption of normal economic re-
lations, and other important Sub
jects."
The secretariat of the Premier
who until Washington gave him a
green light for the journey had de-
MED he would make the trip-re-
fused to elaborate on the purposes
of the visit.
All the aspirin in Italy scarcely
could assuage the headaches the
tall, 65-year-old Christian Demo-
crat leader has had since the June
plebiscite produced the Italian re-
public and his shaky four-party gov
ernment. But he has survived in
Office.
Italy Escapes Disintegration.
Most observers here agree that
Mr.. de Gasperi can tell Americans
how bad things in Italy are by add
ing, "they could be much worse"
For with the survival of Mr.. de
Gasperi, a man Of the middle way
and of compromise, italy has es-
capped, temporarily at least, the so
cial, economic and political disin-
tegration that might have followed
war and Fascism.
It is easy to pick out the prob
lens on which Washington could
give help and which may well be
discussed. These are:
/. Food. Italy has just enough
wheat to last six weeks into the
new year, with 10 weeks to go after
that to the first of the harvest.
Already spaghetti and macaroni ra-
tioas, mainstays of the national
diet, have been cut in half. A 20
per cent cut in the small bread ra-
ton is in the cards. Many Italians
are hungry, and only this week dis
orders in several places occurred,
notably in Naples, where general
strike for two and a half days pro-
tested the scarcity of food, high
prices and unemployment.
Q. The currency. Although the
lira has bucked up slightly in the
last few days, todays black-market
rate was from $40 to $50 to the dol
lar, as against an of1icial rate of
225. The prewar rate was 80 to the
dollar. This depreciation has been
accompanied by steadily rising
prices which outpaced wage boosts.
Foreign Trade Would Help.
3. Raw materials. october indices
showed Italy's industrial production
ranging from % per cent of prewar
in pig iron through 56 per cent in
artificial textile fabrics, 66 per cent
in chemicals, 70 per cent in mechan-
ical goods, 88 per cent in cotton
thread and 113 per cent in electric
power. But much of this industrial
activity is ascribed to aid from
UNRRA's import program, especially
in coal, and UNRRA dies here early
in 1947.
4. Trade. If Italy could get her
foreign trade going again, she could
use the resulting credits abroad to
buy the needed raw materials for
industry. But imports for the first
10 months of this year ran to $753,-
600, 600 as against exports of emily
$i99 ,000, 900. These are figures Of
UNRRA, which points out that al
though the trade balance is sadly
out of line, the picture is not as bad
as 1t looks because the import dollar
is valued at 100 lire and the export
dollar at 225 lire.
5. The peace treaty. There is not
much that Washington can do about
changing the terms of the peace
treaty worked out at Paris and New
York. But Mr.. de Gaspari may
find attentive listeners when he
tells of the repercussions In Italy to
loss of colonies, sharp reductions in
army and navy and the $3.50, 900, 900
reparations bill.
Navy Staff Chief Resigns.
Only today Admiral Raffaele de
Courten, chief-o f-staff of the Navy,
retired, and Italian newspapers said
he was resigning in protest against
the peace treaty disposal of the
Italian fleet.
II Giornale d'Italia linked the
resignation with the arrival here of
British Admiral Sir Algernon Willis,
who was understood to be anxious
to discuss reports that italian crews
might scuttle the fleet rather than
give it over as war booty to the
victors. The exact units which the
italians will be required to turn over
have been kept secret, presumably
as precaution against any
scuttling.
The italian cabinet accepted Ad-
mtral de Courten's resignation and
named Admiral Francesca Maugerl
to succeed him. Admiral Maugeri
is known widely as II Duce's jailer"
l. s. I,A