Volume 147

November 16, 1927

Number II

A

S I entered the great room which is the center of Fascist power in the Chigi Palace, Rome, it seemed to me like a commodious business office rather than a seat of political authority.

Il Duce-"the Chief"-Signor Benito Mussolini, rose from his seat behind a large desk burdened with many papers and books. He did not wait for me to approach, but with quick, vigorous steps he strode around the desk and met me midway with a cordial hand-shake. Then he indicated a chair before the desk, while he quickly returned to his own seat, to plunge instantly into the center of his subject in response to the question:

"Your Excellency, what are the outstanding problems confronting Italy today?"

"Economical! Entirely economical. We must develop our industries, our agriculture, and our-what is the word? -our marine."

Just for a moment did he hesitate on that word "marine," as he turned to my volunteer interpreter-an AmericanRoman-for prompting. How has this busy man acquired English? No biography indicates that he has ever been in England, certainly not in America. Yet he spoke with hardly any trace of foreign accent. He talked "American" rather than "insular" English. Recall that young Benito Mussolini, the son of a Milan blacksmith, became a tramp in Switzerland, seeking employment and finding a prison. But recall, too, that he holds now an honestly achieved degree from a college-that he has been an editor and an essayist, writing a

notable essay in English on Milton's "Paradise Lost." He was a poet, a connoisseur of art, and a linguist before he became the political dictator and national leader of 44,000,000 Italians— successor to the Cæsars.

"The problems are economical!"

He was again out of his seat, stirred by enthusiasm, leaning both hands on his desk and peering into my face. "Economic? In developing Italy's agriculture, do you believe the increased yields will keep pace with her augmenting population?"

"Yes; we have already doubled the production of food since Fascism came into control, and we can go on increasing production and keep up with our yearly increase of half a million population."

"Then, since the United States limits immigration and allows Italy a quota of less than 4,000 a year, where Italy formerly sent more than 100,000 emigrants to America annually, there is yet no fear of over-population?"

"No; we are sending many emigrants to Buenos Aires who would have gone to the United States. But we do not send them without knowing in advance that they will prosper. They must have assured employment before we grant visas."

Italy counts upon an average income of about $2,000 from every emigrant she sends out. This is from the revenue of passage in Government-owned vessels (and they must voyage only in such vessels), from subsequent visits to relatives in Italy, and from remittances while abroad.

"You will keep pace with your in

crease of population in food production? Or, in view of the closing of America's doors to unlimited immigration and the lack of Italian colonial possessions, do you advocate birth control?"

"Certainly not birth control," answered the Chief, emphatically.

"Fascism's conception of moral and religious problems is rooted in a profound sense of spirituality. My Government desires to prevent the diffusion of those deplorable tendencies toward limitation of offspring which are having such grave consequences in other nations. The traditional fecundity of the Italians must not be checked by such insidious propaganda, disguised under a pseudoscientific cloak, as has made progress in North America, England, and Holland."

He omitted mention of France with her falling birth rate. Then came to mind the stand of our late President Roosevelt on birth control; the parallel of the two great leaders was striking in more than one respect.

"The danger of voluntary birth control," continued Mussolini, "is not grave in Italy. Nevertheless, the Government, considering it wisest to attack before being attacked by such a peril, has arranged for means of crushing the first serious traces of any such propaganda.

"The great wealth of the nation is the vigorous florescence of the Italian family, which recognizes that in the multiplication of its sons lies the strongest instrument for Italy's uncheckable world expansion."

I asked, "Can Italians afford large families?"

"It is significant," he answered, "that the provinces in which birth control has

made any marked progress at all are those from which temporary emigration to foreign nations is most intense, hence those which are most exposed to foreign customs. The Government's campaign against birth control has received the enthusiastic approval of the Holy See, and this illustrates the moral and religious coincidence of Fascism and Catholicism.

"I have cited in an official National Order of the Day all Italian families having more than ten children. There are 18,350 such families-a glorious testimony to Italian fecundity. Out of every 10,000 families, 21.36 are of this type. And the provinces richest in children are the Venetian, which are the wealthiest in Italy.

"A people may die of exhaustion, but not through richness of men; through sterility, not fecundity. The most formidable of all raw materials is manpower. It alone can assure to a nation the road to power and to the conquest of the future."

(What significance has that phrase, "conquest of the future"?)

"Your confidence in Italy's ability to feed the increasing population through better farming coincides with what the agricultural scientists of the International Institute of Agriculture told me yesterday," I remarked.

Yet in the face of this double affirmation of optimism appear official Italian

statistics showing an increase of importations of grain in the last five years, while, by decree, no pure wheat may be used in baking without admixture with some other grains home-grown in Italy. The Fascist nation is eating war bread today-"by decree"-but perhaps the explanation of the increase of importa

(C) Burton Holmes, Ewing Galloway

tions coincident with the boasted doubling of home production is that with full employment of the entire population none go hungry.

"How do you purpose, your Excellency, to develop agriculture? By means of large holdings, so that it will be possible to use large improved farm machinery? Or by small units for individual farmers?"

"By small farms," he answered, "ten or twenty hectares. But we shall use modern machines-tractors and gangplows." (A hectare is about two acres.)

"How is that possible? We have not been able in America to do so on small farms. How can your small farmers buy tractors and other implements?"

"Oh, the landowner will supply all machinery and give the use of the land and tools. He gets half the crop."

"Then it is on farms rented on shares that Italy's agriculture will be developed?"

"Yes. You know, we let all farm machinery and benzine [gasoline] come into Italy free of duty. We want the best."

Farm renting is not counted usually as most conducive to strong and permanent development of farm life. Among American farmers the dread of farm renting and farm landlords appears to be the "black beast" of agriculture. They talk with foreboding of our making "peasantry" out of our farmers, but

in a country where always the "landed proprietors" have owned many square miles, all worked by tenants (once by slaves), the "peasant" is not an innovation; he is the normal farmer.

The Italian landowners, under Fascist influences, see the need of modern farm machinery, and, while the many tenants upon the estates will each do his own cultivating, they will have the advantage of all the economies of bonanza farm machinery. Down with the wooden plow!

And they are learning to appreciate deep plowing, for Italy suffers from drought, and "dry farming" is desirable. They accept plowing thirty inches deep as fairly "deep" plowing, but in some orchards the soil is broken with dynamite more than two meters (nearly seven feet) down. Yet they know nothing of our Mid-West methods of subsurface soil packing to bring water within reach of the roots, nor of a surface "dust-blanket," to stop evaporation of moisture when it has climbed up to the surface.

"How are you developing industry, your Excellency?"

"By greater discipline. Remember that the spirit and character of the Italian is greatly changed since the war -especially since Fascism was adopted." "You favor the American methods of mass production?"

"Yes. And Italy stands first in all the world in development of hydrodynamic power. Italy ranks second in Europe in its marine, and third in the world."

"Will the Italian workmen submit to the severe routine and monotony of mass production, in which one man does just one particular thing, all day long? His stunt may be to put one certain bolt in place as the machine moves past him on a belt. Will the Italians do that?"

"Oh, yes; they are doing it."

"What will be the influence on Italian æsthetics when mass production is developed? Will the lovers of the beautiful find a decadence of taste in such methods?"

"No; they will always keep in touch with the artists. They will continue to make things beautiful, even when produced in great quantities like the Fiat automobile."

"What if Henry Ford should come to Italy and compete with the Fiat?"

"Henry Ford is already in Italy. He has works at Trieste. Yet the Fiat continues."

True, the great Italian Fiat automobile factory, employing thousands of men, continues to run; but for months there has been public anxiety concerning it, and on the very day of the interview the report was published (even in a country where all news is cen

sored) that 10,000 men at the Fiat had been discharged.

There is said to be in Italy no "unemployment problem," for the Government forbids either strikes or lockouts. All labor disputes must be arbitrated by a magisterial court of three justices and two experts in the particular trade involved. Employers cannot discharge men without Government consent.

The Fiat-the "Ford" of Italy-has been struggling, and it is reported that, following a visit of its President to Premier Mussolini some months ago, the Government has supported it by buying many tractors, for which there is no immediate need.

"Here, I'll give you some pamphlets that tell about our policies of development."

Il Duce did not ring for a secretary to find the pamphlets, but strode to a table bearing stacks of booklets-perhaps twenty-five or thirty kinds-in Italian, German, French, and English, and, while continuing to talk, he searched out titles of English booklets to give his caller, as expressing his version of the problems. There was not a sign of termination of the interview, but I indicated my readiness to depart. Mussolini walked beside me across the spacious room, and at the door he gave me a cordial hand-shake and friendly smile of adieu.