Beauties v. Sucklings

On his Day of the Mother & Child last week Benito Mussolini made Italian beauties wince by decreeing an end to all beauty contests as "unpatriotic." Instead there will be "child raising contests," prizes going to the mother who exhibits offspring of the best quality between six months and three years old.

Hitherto Il Duce has stressed quantity. No beauties were 92 women whom he feted fortnight ago in his lofty Palazzo Venezia. They were "champion mothers," the pride of Italy, with an average of 14 living children apiece--a total approximating that of an Italian infantry regiment. To each mother Il Duce gave a fat money prize, though three were women of wealth. They had already received the Government's regular bonus of 500 lire for every child born after the seventh.

On the Day of the Mother & Child every Italian editor, by order of onetime Editor Benito Mussolini, devoted most of his paper to Motherhood. Printed everywhere were striking pictures released by the Mothers' National Protective Association. Placing his lens just under mothers' armpits, the Association's cameramen had snapped close up views of many a bonny suckling.

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