Stl ~., SPRAYS 'ir' Haile Selassie, Emperor of Abys- sinia, "King of Kings," the "Libn of Judah," ete., seems to be a very ole- ver man, and it looks as if he would be quite a match for Benito Musso- lini in the matter of guile. GLOBE, Aug. 16, B5, L. E. Roe. The other day the writer expres- sed the opinion that Italy would be beaten-mot so much by the Ethi- opians, perhaps, as by nature. Since expressing that view he has talked with several of the most distinguish.. ed officers in the district, who, while not going so far as to predict a vie.. tory for the Abyssinians, are very strongly of opinion that, even if the conflict is localized so that the two countries only are engaged, Italy will have by no means a walk-over. ' If the Abyssinians avoid stand-up fights with the Italian armies, use sharpshooters in hidden places to pick off their opponents and wage determined guerrilla warfare only when the enemy has advanced well beyond his good roads, they will ex- act a heavy toll and delay an Italian iumph by many months. A prolon- 'l campaign without great SuCCe8- ses would be fatal to Mussolini's re- gime. _ , w, i BTAR, Sept. 9, '35. Halton. One enemy is fehting Italy alre. ady in Eritrea-lack of water. Tro- ops are being stricken daily with dysentery and malaria. Most sup- plies and water for troops are bro- ught in from Aden. Britain controls that supply as well as Suez. Italy, if Abyssinia pursues the right tactics, has bitten off a, good deal more than she can chew, and her fate will be that of France when she invaded Russia. GLOBE, Aug. 12, 'M. L. E. Roe. STAR, Sept. 12, '35. Editorial. Mussolini ean't bring his tanks and aeroplanes down from Adowa. That is one of the roughest mountain co.. untries in the world. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that your Colo- rado Grand Canyon is only a pot- hole compared to the canyons cover.. ing much of Abyssinia. There is one main factor that we have left till the lasb-WATER. Be- side this difficulty all others fade into more or less insignificance. Africans, by generations of usage, can get along with less than half the water needed by Europeans, and any old water seems to do them no harm. But let a European drink unboiled and unfiltered the water that the natives thrive on, and typhoid, dy-. sentery, guinea worm, hookworm and other diseases will follow as sa.. rely as day follows night. pen when the Italians march. Of the military experts and Abyssinian ex- plorers I have talked to, not one of them sees anything but a tough ti.. me ahead for Mussolini and his la.. ughing men. The boys who, in Italy, laugh, laugh and sing and shout "bella signorina" at every pretty woman, will soon be floundering across the desert under almost unbe- arable conditions. So the experts STAR, Sept. 17, B5. Van Paassen. I am having a hard time in trying to find out just what is going to hap- Unexpected successes on both fronts have inspired Ethiopian mi- litary leaders to plan a concerted drive to oust the Italians from northern and southern Ethiopian provinces, by Christmas if possible, it was learned to-day on good autho- rity, STAR, Nov. 28, 'M. Editorial GLOBE, Aug. 10, 'M. LOCAL PRESS) IL BOILETTINO HALO-GANDHI Left hand cut off after death.--. Tanks and planes can make dash- ing sorties, but without a well-built, well-guarded line to the base, ar- mies 'can neither fight nor live. In the South African War divisi-. onal columns consisting of troops and lengthy teams and wagons, were about 10 miles long. They made that distance in a day. Italy's mechanized forces might be expected to go faster, but without roads they cannot improve on the old infantry trudge of about 10 miles per day. The Italians could conquer Ethi- opia within two years if they had the economic resources required for so lengthy a campaign. Their troops would advance no faster than roads could be built and territorial gains consolidated. But the financial ca- pacity of the country and the patien- ce of the Italian people would not withstand the strain of a two-year campaign, and League sanctions wo.. uld have devastating effect within six months. A determined attempt to obtain a decisive effect before that period expired would be attend- ed by great risks. TELY, Oct. 5, '35. M. F. Davy. There are only a few hundreds of miles of road in the whole country, and they don't happen to lie in the paths of the Italiaieolumns. In territory entirely hostile the army must use up a lot of its energy in paving the way to victory or otherwise. Foreign observers remaining in cn the Cities, or else taking only Shol'tlec dashes into the countryside, cannot;be understand how tough these Ethi-fM' 'opian peasants are. Personally, I}an cannot believe that Ethiopia's eakelof 'will be cut in our time. I have seen Le enough in the last two weeks to con- l pe Vince me that the occupation and!..... pacification of Ethiopia would tet) rapt any government now interest- ed in it. I Twelve thousand Ethiopian war- riors under Ras Ayenou are report- ed to have crossed the Italo-Ethiopi- an frontier and advanced well into Eritrea. STAR, Nov. 22, '35. Editorial, But outside of France and Italy, there is hardly a soul in Europe who thinks they will get Ethiopia. . . . . . With an armed and determined Bri- tain again active on the European Continent, the entire post-war set- up changed, melted, and flowed. . . ' . Everybody is watching London. If the British block Italy they will again be the cocks of Europe. STAR, Nov. 27, 'M. R. Halliburton. "How will it end, think you?-. have the Ethiopians a chance?" "More than a mere chance. I believe that they will win the war-in the sense, at least, that they cannot be beaten. They have tremendous as. sets in their favor." It would take at least 100 years' of war to conquer Ethiopia. "Sach as?" I pressed. "Flies, for one thing--they have the worst flies in the world. The worst deserts too. The worst canyons. The worst heat. And no roads, no bridges. They are inured to all. They are no more con- scious of these drawbacks than a deep-sea fish is of the water in which it swims." Are the Italians good fighters?" (Yes. But they lack endurance. They lhave courage-so long as things go well, not otherwise." GLOBE, Nov. 8, '35. Editorial. STAR, Oct. 4, '35. GLOBE, Nov. 21, '35. Editorial (Theland is placed beside the head) TELY, Oct. 1, '35. L. Stallings. And how Haili Sellassie had con- fided over a bottle of champagne that the'Italians would never defeat Ethiopia because England and Ger- many were with him, and the Ethi.. opian flies were "the biggest in the world." England would never permit Italy to defeat Ethiopia. It is too early to speak of an Its. lian debacle in Africa. It will not be long however, before the gravemili- tary position, of the Italian forces in Africa becomes clear to all the world, in spite of the wholesale pro- duction of victory-reports at Italian headquarters in Asmara. Mussolini is licked. He may put a bold face on it. He may befuddle the world's public opinion for yet a little while) The truth will come out some day, And that soon. The League will not need to apply military sanctions to halt the Italian invasion of Ethi- opia. The Negus and his heroic pe- ople can do it alone, f The Kaiser found in due course Ahat he had made a serious mistake and that he could not fight the whole world. Mussolini is painfully learn- ing the same thing. The Italian ar- mies are making little or no progress in Ethiopia, despite their highly me- chanized equipment, and in Italy the economic and financial situation is becoming daily more difficult. For Mussolini the outlook becomes bleak and desperate. For the establishment of world peace through collective League of Nations action the pros- pect is decidedly encouraging. STAR, Nov. 28, '35. R. Halliburton. Now Mussolini is finding that the flies, mosquitoes and microbes of Ethiopia, not to mention the rain and the jumping thermometer, pay no attention to dictators and that deserts and canyons can be used even by ignorant natives to baffle the ingenious offensive machines of modern armies and that an aroused world is making its last stand in de- fence of the international 1aw.and- order system and the hope of collec.. live security. To-day it can be said definitely that the present Italian forces in Africa will never conquer Ethiopia. STAR, Nov. 30, '35. Editorial. STAR, Dec. 6, '35. Van Paassen. TELY, Dee. 7, '85, Editorial. The return of Count de Bono to Italy proves that the progress of the campaign in Ethiopia is disappointing to Mussolini. Il Duce wants decisive defeat of the enemy at once and the advances of about a hundred miles on the two fighting fronts in seven weeks of warfare fail to meet the urgencies of the situation. The Italian armies have not even come to grips with large bodies of Ethiopi- ans and they have suffered a number of minor but disconcerting setbacks. Raiding bands on the northern front have infiltrated to the rear of the Italian main force, bagged a caravan or two and somewhat disorganized the military machine. On the southern front the Italians, after capturing the wells at Gorrahei, rushed a battalion of troops by motor truck, escorted by tanks, across the desert to the favorable high ground a hundred miles beyond, with orders to hang on until reinforcements could come up, only to ha- ve the entire force surrounded and captured. More difficult ground is immediately ahead of the Italians and the task of maintaining a sure line of communication with their bases becomes more troublesome with every mile of advance. Marshal Badoglio is a skilful general who favors offensive strate- gy but his rashness was largely responsible for the Caporetto dis- aster during the great war. He may hasten Italian victory by in- creased aggressiveness but he cannot do so without incurring very serious risks. The Ethiopians could thwart his purpose by evad- ing mass battles and drawing the Italians deeper into the wilds of their rocky fastness before risking a major clash. MUSSOLINH CAN'T WAIT DUCE I What will be the eventual outcome is difficult to foretell. Certainly Ro- c, can no longer look for a great |triumph. Even under the most favor, (able circumstances the Fascist dicta- ltorship faces a loss of prestige in [Italy and abroad as well. STAR, Dee. 9, '35. Van Paassen. A big surprise awaits the world. One of the days before Christmas, the priests of St. George cathedral in Addis Abeba will dance the sacred dance of victory before the altar. Mussolini's super-perfect flying armada, which was to have brought the Ethiopian empire to its knees "over the" weak-end", is reduced to virtual impotence in so far as the northern front is concerned. TELY, Dee. 11, '35, C. B. Pyper. Nobody can conquer Ethiopia. Mussolini, if pushed, will pull down civilization. But he will use all the resources of a brilliant diplomacy The two men (General Fuller and Mr. Webb Miller) agreed that the Italians are meeting with great dif- ficulties and are back on the defen- sive. The British officer says the Italians are completely bunkered and he doubts that they will win the war. The news correspondent is a little more hopeful but thinks it we- uld take Italy three years to con- quer the country. Excess of force and deficiency of experience is going hard with the Italians in Ethiopia, in the opinion of one distinguished military obser- ver, who hints that anything like conquest would take a decade. To date the Ethiopians must be credited with waging a victorious defensive. They have the laugh on the Italians. Mussolini is in grave difficulties. His army is far from having con- quered the territory which he disda- infully rejected by saying he was not a collector of deserts. The question which the statesmen in London and Paris are now consid- ering is not "How can Ethiopia be saved" - but "How can Mussolini be saved?" How? TELY, Jan. 13, '36. Editorial. first. STAR, Dee. 27, '35. Van Paassen. STAR, Dec. 7, '35. Editorial STAR, Dae. 26, '35. Editorial STAR, Jan. 9, '36, Editorial. The feeling of uneasiness is grow- ing in Italy. Many high-placed and qualified persons, who warned aga- inst the Ethiopian adventure, are shaking their heads more ominously than before and see their most glo- omy expectations turn to reality. Everybody whispers that a quick ar- rangement with the Negus may still save the Duce's face. If Mussolini has pride, he lacks courage. This lack of personal co- urage will make him swallow his pride before the regime cracks to pieces. _ 1 Away from the protection of bom- bing aeroplanes, mountain artillery and motor equipment the Italian troops are not a match for the Ethi- opians. . , 1 The current news is not encourag- ing news in Rome, Italy. Day upon day calamity follows calamity to further stifle the aims and ambiti.. ons of Premier Benito Mussolini. STAR, Feb. 14, B6. Van Paassen. GLOBE, Feb. 18, 'M. Editorial Assuredly a big victory by Italian arms is needed in order to bolster Mussolini's prestige at home; but, with the heavy rains only a few we- eks off and the lesser rains now fal- ling, friends of Ethiopia need not fear that this is the beginning of the end for Haile Selassie's country. TELY, Feb. 22, '36. Editorial. The general consensus of opinion seems to be that Mussolini has pre- pared a fine story for the home folks before the rains crack down and bog his army in mud for another six months. A paper published by the League of Nations Committee of eighteen on trade with Italy shows that if Ita.. ly's exports to sanctionist countries have fallen off as a result of the im.. port prohibitions, her imports have declined not only from sattetionist countries but as a whole, thus reduc. ing her adverse balance of trade. The League's statistics show that in November 1935, for instance, Italy had a trade deficit-expressed in U. S. gold dollars at the old parity-of $4,587,000 against one of $7,706,000 in the corresponding month of 1934, and again in January 1936 one of $4,379,000 against one of $5,299,000 in January 1935. Despite this latest Italian victory, it now seems more than ever certain that the subjugation of Ethiopia will not be effected this year. The Ministry of Finance publishes the list of countries considered non- sanctionist, from which imports are regulated on the basis of castom't receipts of the previous year; they Former Under Secretary of Guilds, Asquini, has returned from a trade mission in South America during which he negotiated agreements with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chi.. STAR, Feb. 25, '36. Editorial. GLOBE, Jan. 10, '36. Editorial. Non-ferrous metals . . . Electric apparatus . . . . Textile machinery . . . . Woollen fabrics . . . . . . Chemical products . . . . Vehicles ............ Raw wool ........... Wool noils ........... Fuel products ...... .. Coal ............_.. Iron and steel products Porcelain ........... Sundry raw materials ITAL YG FOREIGN TRADE Commodities Qualified observers believe that Italy is nearing the limit of her re- sources, and her reported willing- ness to negotiate-even though she affects to impose her own conditions for so doing-is an indication that she has little hope of complete sub. jugation of Ethiopia in the near N.. tare. TELY, March 24, 'M. R. MacLean Mr. MacLean described the war between Italy and Ethiopia, and stated it would take Premier Musso., lini years to subdue the people of the country, due to the long rainy season, the elusiveness of the Empe., ror's warriors, and ,their ability to withstand the rigors' of the climate. Reports from Addis Ababa tell of 'resumed fighting in the region whe.. re Rome's legions were supposed to have won an overwhelming victory. Evidently Haile Selassie's warriors are not only in a position to resist further advances by the invaders but are actually strong enough to undertake counter-offensive (raids. And the heavy rains will soon be coming to their assistance. It is therefore just possible that il Dune is becoming convinced that complete conquest would be at too high a price and that compromise might be the best way out. are Afganistan, Albania, Arabia, Ar.. gentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costarica, Ecuador, Germany, Japan, Guatemala, Ice- land, Jemen, Manciulam, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, United States, Switzerland, Hunga- .ry, Uruguay and Venezuela. As the list shows, practically all South and Central America is trading with Ita.. ly, as are also such great commer- cial countries, as the United States, Germany, and Japan, besides Swit.. zerland, Austria, Hungary, and Al.. bania, markets of special importance for Italy. The "economic suge" wo- uld therefore seem to be "more hon- ored in the breach than the obser. Vance". . GLOBE, March 6, B6. Editorial British exports to Italy in Math 1936 compare as follows with those of March 1935 (The figures are BIL tish): Both sides are suffering great hardships. These hardships will in.. crease as time goes on. No fight.. ing can be expected on the northern front until the end of next summer, unless the Italians should manage to launch submarines in the mud-hills. le, some of which are already con. eluded, while others are still under discussion, the basis of all being strict trade reciprocity. There is little prospect that they could reach the Ethiopian capital until the autumn, and by that time the war may be at an end. TELY, March 27, '36. Editorial. STAR, March 24, B6. Editorial. STAR, March 2, B6. Van Paassen 1,130,802 5,288 40,824 19,527 8,706 90,832 19,836 18,837 24,620 74,229 93,184 376,919 15,560 11,289 250,871 22 Maggio 1936 11 2,27 6 194 26 828 998 760 256 450