Rule No. 2

Benito Mussolini, nine years at the helm of Italy, has evolved two rules for his party that always work: 1) There shall never be a Duce No. 2. 2) Except Benito, no Fascist is indispensable.

Last week rule No. 2 was worked. Bearded Dino Grandi, for three years Foreign Minister, and Minister of Corporations Giuseppe Bottai were removed from office. Il Duce himself took over both their portfolios, the first of which he has held before. The move was particularly surprising to U. S. readers. Only two days prior they had read in the New York Times Biographer Emil Ludwig's interview with Mussolini in which Il Duce had said:

"... I have tried to attract men and put them to the test. There is already a ruling class of excellent minds; for example: Grandi, Balbo, Bottai and Arpinati."*

Knowing observers realized some weeks ago that it was nearly time for another Fascist shift, and last week came particular reason for Il Duce to be displeased with his Foreign Minister. Dino Grandi was a delegate to Lausanne, yet the Franco-British Accord de Confiance was apparently as much of a surprise to him as it was to editors in the U. S. The accord contained a joker particularly unpleasant to Italy: a deeply buried hint of Franco-British naval accord in the Mediterranean. Benito Mussolini dealt gently with his deposed Grandi. Day after his removal was announced, Grandi was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain. It was not a mere face-saving gesture. Ambassador Grandi will have real work, important work to do in London.

*Italo Balbo, who looks enough like Dino Grandi to be his twin, is Minister of Air. Arpinati is Under Secretary of the Interior.

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