"Steel--Hot or Cold!"

"Steel--Plot or Cold!"

In the Chancelleries of Europe diplomats began to speak last week of the Italo-Ethiopian Question and the Italo-British Question as distinct and thus capable of separate solutions. Helping this along with a flat assertion, undoubtedly premature, highest Paris diplomatic sources said off the record that in Rome last week the Italo-British Question was solved by Benito Mussolini and Sir Eric Drummond, although the Dictator and the Ambassador obviously could divulge nothing until after Britain's general election this week. In neither Rome nor London could the slightest confirmation be obtained, though in Mayfair some swank wits opined: "The reason Baldwin called our election so suddenly was that he was afraid the trouble with Italy might not last much longer." This frivolous view Italians could not take. From the King down they were nervous, anxious and resentful of Britain's jam-packing the Mediterranean with warships neither authorized nor requested by the League (TIME, Sept. 30). With patriotism boiling, General Giuseppe Garibaldi, grandson of Italy's "Liberator" and for years a prominent antiFascist, abruptly said in Manhattan last week that he had switched to Mussolini, was now for the war. With gasoline up from 85-c- per gal. to $1.10 last week, Italy's mincing-mannered Crown Prince Umberto combined patriotism with the renowned thrift of his Royal Family by announcing that he and the Crown Princess will hereafter use not more than two of their motor cars. An English governess who has cared for any number of Italian royal infants and who had settled down in the Palace for life was hinting in Rome last week that she is now "willing to accept a situation with some American millionaire." Mobbed early last week, Rome's Eden Hotel decided to become Aloisi Hotel. But light-hearted young Fascists were reminded by the Dictator that his cardinal policy is discipline. For failure to preserve adequate discipline Rome Chief of Police Giuseppe Cocchia was abruptly ordered to exchange jobs with Florence Chief of Police Amadeo Palma. What most Italians seemed to be thinking was well phrased by General Garibaldi: "If there is a war, England will give us a whipping, but the English will know they've been in a fight! Italy must expand. We can't go on begging always. Today we have first, faith in Mussolini, and second we have steel--hot or cold!"

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