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"To whom the victory?" he roared in one of his characteristic platform questions. The tumultuous answer: "TO US! TO US! TO US!"
This caused Emperor Power of Trinity to call to Ethiopia's colors some 15,000 additional tribesmen who were soon being drilled in Addis Ababa with piercing shrieks of "Gira! Quagn! Gira! Quagn!" (Left, Right! Left, Right!). Simultaneously the Viceroy of India, His Excellency the Earl of Willingdon, cabled profuse thanks to that astute humanitarian, Benito Mussolini, who had sent a gift of 40,000 lire ($5,000) to succor natives injured in the recent monster Indian earthquake at Quetta. Il Duce poses today as the friend of Moslems, Ethiopians being Christians, and recently received with royal honors at Rome the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from which Italy may recruit useful Moslem volunteers.
Since the true reaction of the Italian people to their Dictator's program of expansion is of vital interest, the world's editors last week continued expensive efforts to ferret out the truth. The New York Times with two star correspondents in Rome last week, one Italian and the other U. S., received a pair of reports three days apart which made odd reading in parallel columns:
From Arnaldo Cortesi:
"With public opinion in its present mood, Mr. Mussolini's truculent policy has the support of all Italians, . . . Nobody who has watched the troops leave the cities for embarkation points en route to East Africa could doubt that they were keen and happy to go. . . . The people have become accustomed to the idea that war is not only inevitable but also necessary. . . great patriotic fervor."
From Anne O'Hare McCormick:
"In many years this correspondent has not heard such widespread, open grumbling. . . . The people everywhere are restive under the tightening of political, economic and financial restrictions. . . . Mr. Mussolini still is popular enough to stand a mistake, even defeat, . . . Yet he faces the most difficult time since the killing of Giacomo Matteotti, Socialist Deputy, by Fascisti."