ITALY: Mussolini Notes

“Battle of Wheat.” At the opening of the first national Wheat Exhibition in Rome, Signor Mussolini declared his satisfaction with this year’s crop, assessed at 275,000,000 tons, but called attention to the fact that the goal of 375,000,000 tons a year was still a long way off, the figure at which, cereally speaking, Italy will become self-supporting. Said he:

“Everyone is at work in the fields. Who sows not, neither reaps nor harvests. Our peasants are not deserters either in peace or in war. But it is not sufficient to work. It is necessary also to prepare the groundwith the necessary fertilizers. It is necessary to sow well and in time.

“Our ‘battle of wheat’ cannot be won in only one year. But the possibility of winning it exists. Nobody now doubts that it is possible to increase the average yield per acre. Wheat must be raised wherever possible by intensive methods. Zones giving a high yield per unit of area must be generalized. Some people think it is possible to arrive at 100 quintals [five tons] per hectare [nearly two and a half acres] and I also believe that Italian agriculture can still advance far on the road to perfection.”

The Premier then distributed $100,000 in prizes for the best results in growing wheat. Farmers and humble peasants, abashed but proud, marched on to a raised platform and there were kissed on both cheeks by Il Duce amid the plaudits of the populace.

Marconi. At a luncheon given by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Manhattan, Senator Guglielmo Marconi made the following points regarding Signor Mussolini: “The Government is carried in strong hands. The fortunes of the State are guided by enlightened minds and the country, as a whole, has full faith in Premier Mussolini’s energetic policy. He is willing to make great sacrifices for the good of Italy’s economic position in the world. There is no false pride in saying that Italians are proud and gratified at the results which have been noted and praised by economists in all parts of the world.

“I met Mussolini when I was in Italy two weeks ago and we exchanged views on a multiplicity of subjects. The varied qualities of his virile and sympathetic mind need no praise from me. I found him full of the most sublime faith in the future improvement of our social, economic and industrial conditions, and Italians can rejoice in conditions in Italian industry today.”