La Consulta

The Council of Ministers, at whose head was the omnipresent Benito, met to consider:

1). Whether the Government's press curb should remain;

2). Whether the Fascisti should forthwith be placed under State control.

The first restriction was attacked by the Opposition as an unwarranted interference with the rights and liberties of Italians.

The second problem has been the basis for every attack by the Opposition on the Government since the Matteotti murder (TIME, June 23, et seq.). The Opposition has, at present, no intention of taking its seats in Parliament next Fall. As a sine qua non of its reentry into parliamentary activities, it has demanded the aboliton of the Fascist militia.

Thus Benito and his ministers decided to dispose of No. 1 problem by instructing the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice to draft a bill regulating the activities of the press.

No. 2 problem was disposed of in right royal fashion. An imperial decree was drawn up for the King's signature, was unanimously approved by direction of Benito. The decree made the Fascist militia part of the State forces, subjected them to military law, stipulated that they must take an oath of fealty to the King.

However, the Opposition were quick to find a bug in the healing ointment. There were certain modifications. Paragraph 7 stated that membership in the militia would be open to all Italian subjects between the ages of 17 and 50 who have the necessary "physical, moral and political" qualifications. Paragraph 11 stated, in part, that the militia "will be employed for those duties which he [presumably the King] will consider both in the Kingdom of Italy and in the colonies."

The Opposition continued to be oppositional.