All the people of the U. S. apologized last week to Benito Mussolini. Through Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson they sent him this message: SINCERE REGRETS . . . FOR THE DISCOURTEOUS AND UNWARRANTED UTTERANCE BY A COMMISSIONED OFFICER OF THIS GOVERNMENT ON ACTIVE DUTY.
That slender, long-nosed spitfire, Major General Smedley Darlington ("Old Gimlet-Eye") Butler, had made another speech. In Philadelphia he had told a club meeting this story: A friend of his recently roared through the Italian countryside with Mussolini at the wheel of the motorcar. A little girl ran across the road, was smacked to the ground, the life crushed out of her. When General Butler's friend protested at their not stopping, Mussolini said: "What is one life in the affairs of a State?"
General Butler also was quoted as referring to "mad dogs who are about to break loose in Europe," and as saying Mussolini was "polishing up all the brass hats in Italy."
When fire-spitting Prime Minister Mussolini read reports of General Butler's fire-spitting, he got hopping angry. He cabled his Ambassador in Washington, Nobile Giacomo de Martino, as follows: I HAVE NEVER TAKEN AN AMERICAN ON A MOTOR CAR TRIP . . . NEITHER HAVE I RUN OVER A CHILD, MAN OR WOMAN!
The Ambassador went to the State Department, the State Department queried the Navy Department, the Navy Department got a verification of his speech (all except the "mad dog" part) from General Butler. The apology of all the people was then promptly transmitted.
Dictator Mussolini accepted the apology and "considered the incident closed."
But all the U. S. people do not like to have to apologize. An atmosphere of "now he's going to get it" quickly surrounded General Butler. It was remembered that Smedley Darlington Butler, whose bravery as a soldier has won him two Congressional Medals of Honor and the Distinguished Service Medal, has always spoken as he fights, recklessly, ferociously. When he was Philadelphia's Director of Safety, charged with cleaning up speakeasies and vice, his robust language (sample: "I ought to pull his [the mayor's] nose") got him ousted after about a year. He went back to the Marines, was sent to California. There he denounced and courtmartialed his predecessor in command of the post on charges of drunkenness after entertaining General Butler in his home. From California he went to China, where he so comported himself that last week the Navy Department issued a booklet which praises his peace-making efforts there. When he returned to take charge of the Marine base at Quantico, Va., he soon made a speech to the local townspeople, saying that he would not permit his men to trade with Quantico merchants until every Quantico bootlegger was put out of business. He addressed his men as follows: "You birds took an oath ... to defend the Constitution. Don't let the news stun you, but the Prohibition law is part of it."