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SELtrCTIONS FROM THE ITALIANPRESS 75precedented event of an Italianplaced at the head of a TammanvDistrict organizarion. A ttistrictleader does not necessariiy have tobe a great personality. ile is responsibiefor the voies under hisjulisdiction, and what he must do toassure himself of these is verr. oftenquestionable. Party organirarionbeing u hat it is, he can only ruleby. means of favors, protection,p.rivileges, immunities and impositions.The offrce needs a man rvholinorvs horv to use these methods.A district leader is a man whosepower is exercised behind thescenes. He recommencls appointmentsand candidacies; he is a secretsuggester in the distribution ofpositions, offtces and functions. Thefact that an Italian, for the firsttime, has reached this high positionof political manipulation is a goodbeginning. But it is not enough.The ltalians have a riglrr to rnuchmore. Anci they will obtain itrvhen thel-have a full consciousnessof their strength-and knorv how toremain united.athe l-irst arrivals. A century agothey already constituted the immensemajority of the immigrationof the time. In their politicai organizationsthe ner,v arrivals r,vereable to assume positions of commandoniy when the strength oftheir numbers and their l,vill madeit dangerous to exclude them.No one ever has anything if henever desires anything. The Italians.divided. undirecterl and led b1'petty leaders into differences amongthenrselves, u ere easill' manetrveredby Tammany 1r'ithout adequaterecompense. They could not. the)'dicl not ltnorv horv to ask for anr:-thing. This nervspaper has oftinprotested against the injustice doneto the Italian element, rich in )oungability, to tvhom but a few ciumbirvere throtvn from the sumptuouspolitical dinner tables of the otherraces.Non- the ltalians are beginning tomake thernselves heard. -The 6conomic.depression,so keenly felt bythem, is giving voice to their disconlent.Among ltalian n-orkers unemploymentis enormous. I t exceedssixty per cent. The Italian-Americans are asking themselvesrvhy they should be the ones mostsacrificed; rvhy they are not protectecl;lr,hy they should continue tostrengthen, r'vith their votes, a partyorganization rvhich, in time of need,relegates the Italians to the end ofthe line.In manl' districts in Nerv YorkItalian-Americans constitute thestrongest ethnical nucleus. In theNineteenth and the Tr,ventieth AsscmblyDistricts ( Harlem) therelives the most numerous Italian colonyin the United States. In theSecond Assembly District the Italiansare in the majority. In theFirst Assembly District they constitute40 per cent of the population,r,vhile the lrish contribute only 20per cent. ln nine districts -1theFirst, the Second, the Sixth, theEighth, the Tr,velfth, the Fourteenth,the Sixteenth, the Eighteenthand the Twentieth) the Italianvote holds the balance'of power.Victory lies on the side'to i,r'hiih thisvote is thror'vn.This situation explains the unaOR quite a while we havebeen encountering, fromtime to time, outslde ofTtaly,.some signs of an acceptance,conscious or unconscious, of ourconceptions concerning the Stateand its present-day problems. Norn'rhe usefulness of collaborationamong the economic categories, and:he opportunity for conciliation oi'nrerests. is being admitted ; no\l.:he necessity on the part of the:tate of coordinating, regulatingand governing even the eionomii.:fe is being recognized. Our lessrthodox conceptions, too scandal-':s f or the average E,uropean men-:alirr. _n-hich laughs sceplicalll- or. ,,.'ks dou'n on them. are coming lo:hc surf ace here and there now.:iside of Italy, as though the.t:::c original. very new. or pointed.. :,.rdini to the iircumstances. lts evident that the pressure ofEXPORT ARTICLEThe reoiew ''Critica Fascistat, ol Rome carriedo in itsissue of lwly Tsto the lollowing eilitorialo in which thePlint is _rnad.e that some ol the basic iileas ol Fascisrn,which Nlussolini has declaied, is not an ftartiile lor expolt?"_are being adopted. abroad as though they areoriginal.necessity.and the gravity of presentproblems are such that simple commonsense suggests criticism. andthis makes people recall the thingsthat have been read concerning the"outlandish" ideas oI Signor Mussolini,inho desires to modify "thenatural order of things", ideaswhich. however. basicalll wouldturn out rather well in this or thatconcrete case.Lately, for example, a Frenchman,Lucien Corpechot, has becomea\4rare of a "crisis of authoritv.""All those rvho reflect," he sa'ys,"are more or less agreed that civilizationis badly governed. Thosespirits born to govern are becomingrarer. u'hile delibcrations and corrncilsare being multiplied. Thuseverything lvorks toward r,veakeningand limiting the action of governments,lvhereas, with the interestof the people beconring moreand more complicated day by day,this action should become steadilystronger and more extended."Everyone desires order, but,rvith everyone loving freedom, lifelittle by little becomes impossible ifthere is lacking an authority capableof having the general interestprevail over special acts." The accidentsthat occur in the streets ofParis, or the catastrophe of St.Philibert, are a sign, according toCorpechot, that the authority of theState is not respected or does notmake itself respected, lacking thenecessary sanctions."fn the rain of concessions," hegoes on to say, "'uvhich all the powersare making among themselves,the essential notion is disappearingthat in the social life it is necessarrlto punish more than to recompens6.There is an element of decadencein the weakening of authority. Thecrime of the demagogues is that o{having marie of the word 'republic'the synonym fol a diminutionof authority."This is a recognition that is ratherinteresting, considering itssource; cven if it is a bit ingenuous.For the authoritv of theState does not consist "simplv inpunishing. I\tror can it be said that