Sour Fruit

When Benito Mussolini is piqued, so is the whole Italian press. Last week Il Duce's annoyance at the good show Democracy was putting on in Paris caused many Italian papers to omit accounts of the British royal visit, provoked one to attribute this apocryphal quote to Queen Elizabeth: "I haven't seen anything but the horses of our guards."

Fascism, meanwhile, was putting on a somewhat pip-squeak show in Rome last week, necessitated by the fact that the Italian-Hungarian-Austrian Protocols have lost one leg of this never very imposing diplomatic tripod. Only thing to do was to make a face-saving announcement that Italy and Hungary now constitute a bipod as faithful as ever to the Fascist cooperative spirit, and for this purpose to Rome last week went Hungary's economic strongman, Banker-Premier Bela Imredy, who had never before met Mussolini.

After a magnificent banquet in Palazzo Venezia, Bela toasted Benito as "one in whom shines the splendor of an ancient and ever-renewed Latin spirit!" Benito shined up Bela, and as the champagne went round it was conveniently forgotten that one of the chief purposes for which the Protocols were made was to help maintain the independence of Austria. Reputedly last week Hungary was sounded in Rome on the proposition that Yugoslavia, with whom Italy has ended her ancient feud, may shortly be asked to join the bipod, making it again a tripod. Keeping all Hungary's cards close to his chest, her Premier ended the Fascist festivities by vaguely declaring: "Our friendly relations with the Rome-Berlin Axis give us renewed hope that our efforts, directed toward the realization of an enduring and just Peace, will bear their fruit."

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