In Parliament

The Senate:

Before the Senate appeared Premier Benito Mussolini to review his foreign policy. Said he about

Debts. "The Italian Government recognizes its War debts ... to the last cent. . . . [Loud cheers from the Senators.] When the greatness of the sacrifices we sustained in the War and the smallness of our national resources are taken into account, it is evident that creditor States should grant us in return something more than a most-favored-nation clause. If we are required to pay, we must be placed in condition to be able to pay. It is equally evident that we must have a moratorium to consolidate our financial position, as then we will be in a position to begin payments immediately. "The moratorium, in addition, will have to be a long one. It would indeed be painful if we should find our former allies wishing to place us in conditions of inferiority with respect to conquered nations."* Hindenburg. "The Government is not alarmed by 15,000,000 Germans voting for the Field Marshal. Indeed, we immediately sent him congratulations. Hindenburg did not reach the Presidency through revolution, but through the freely expressed will of the German people. I believe, in fact, that Hindenburg's election will prove a stabilizing influence in post-War Germany." Pan-Germanism. "I cannot at this point help referring to German propaganda in favor of the annexation of Austria. I am sure the Senate agrees with me that such a flagrant violation of existing treaties cannot be countenanced." Russia. "What we have seen can fill us with joy, for we have seen that Communist experiment has totally failed, because Communism, which tends to level all men down, is opposed to life and the nature of man, who is, by instinct, individualistic. Russia now follows an economic financial policy not much dissimilar from the ones obtaining in capitalistic countries. Russia now has stock exchanges in operation and money which is quoted on these stock exchanges. Besides, the new policy has created a class of small landholders who have small sympathy for Communism and has turned the professional classes also against the Communists. " . . . I admit that Russia has evolved a magnificent propaganda machine and believe Russian propaganda will become more intense as the failure of Communism becomes more pronounced." P:By a vote of 160 to 28 the Senate passed Premier Mussolini's Army Reform bill, under which the Chief of the Army General Staff is given power to decide national defence questions. Admiral Thaon di Revel, ex-Minister of Marine, argued that coordination and not subordination of the Navy was required in dealing with defence policies. P:The Senate approved an appropriation of 18,000,000 lire for improvements of the port of Cagliari, capital of the Island of Sardinia.

P:By a vote of 140 to 48, the naval estimates for the current year were adopted. The Chamber: P:In the Chamber of Deputies, a unanimous vote of 304 approved Premier Mussolini's bill regulating secret societies. The bill provides that no Government employe may belong to any secret society or any society which compels its members to take an oath; and that all secret societies must supply the police, on request, with a full list of their members. The absence of oppositional votes was due to the absence of the Opposition.

*In La Tribuna, Rome journal, Senators Tommaso Tittoni, ex-Foreign Minister (1919) and President of the Senate, counseled reduction of Italy's War debts on the score that the U. S. and Britain made "excess profits" out of war materials. These profits, he held, should not be repaid. Concerning the remainder, he advocated nonpayment of interest, extension over a long period of years of capital payments at the rate of exchange at which the debts were incurred.