Representative John McCormack of Massachusetts has expressed the hope that the people of Italy will in the near future refuse io allow Chancellor Adolf Hitler to treat Italy as a mere province. *The blame for the condition of Italy he places squarely where it belongs, upon the shoulders of Mussolini, the opportunist who failed. And with this opinion the majority of the world will agree. Mussolini made an egregious blunder when, inspired by a desire for loot from the collapsing French Empire and from what he believed would be the fall of the British Empire, he hurled his countrymen into an unequal struggle—unequal against friend and foe. After a few initial successes while the British Empire was girding its loins, the Italians met nothing but defeat after defeat, humiliation after humiliation, which came to a climax in the series of blows inflicted upon their much superior armies by the Greeks. It was this series of defeats that brought Adolf Hitler actively into the Italian picture. He was forced to send his armies into the Balkans to save his Axis partner from a complete débácle. It was at this juncturerthat Mussolini showed that he-was as equally unable to cope with his friends as he was with his enemies. "From that moment Italy ceased to an independent factor in European, affairs, and became what Representative McCormack has described it—a German province. It was known from before the outbreak of the war that Hitler never had much of an opinion of the Italian" army. In fact, he is reported to have said that it was worth at least two divisions to the opposing side. But doubtless he had hopes of the Italian navy, Very badly did he need reinforcement of his sea 3 hoped to get it from whi Mussolini then had at His disposal. H appointed. And perla grea could have been thought up in a which Would appear to take a special delight in giving offence, was his latest demand-—that the Italian navy, or at least a portion of it, should be sold to ihe Bulgars for use in furthering his plans in the Black Sea, Hitler appears to have argued that the Italian navy could not make a very much worse showing that it-lidd already done, and that, therefore, there could be no harm in seeing if Bulgars or Germans could do a little better, There is, of course, nothing wrong with the Italians as Italians. "heir culture and their traditions are admired the world over, ahd the individual heroism of their people is admitted. But og Italians fighting in a cause for which they have no heart, and which the majority recognize to be the wrong one, there has proved to be something very wrong indeed. According to revelations mede "The Times" Italian soldiers are not properly equipped. Mussolini's boasted eight million bayonets seem to "have miraculously vanished, until Italian officers complain that if there is any further drain on their forces, they will not be able to defend even their own soil against a direct assault. There are shortages of all commodities, partly due to natural causes and partly to the penchant of the Nazis to remove everything which may be valuable for their own use, no matter whether the former possessors were partners or not. Yes, Italy deserves all the sympathy She can get. But there will be greater sympathy if the Italians as a nation make an effort to take their destiny into, their own hands. Who is responsible for their sad fate? Who deceived them: for years with bombastic declarations Mussolini. By now the truth of Mr. Churchill's words must have found its way deep into Italian hearts. One man, and one man only, is
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.