At this, he replied- "Many more interesting reports than many of our ministers can produce." I watched him with great surprise. "That what You say is a very serious thing in regard to our diplomacy.- He smiled, saying "I did certainly not refer to the articles of Gayda. They are it, seems, not even worth reading." "And why do You make him write them then?" "Certainly I don't". "I do not wish to contradict; You, but; permit me to remind You, that Gayda recently published an article, where he supported the idea that, Italy ought to have half of Africa, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. A similar article must have been inspired, if not directly dictated, by no other than Your Ministry. He answered to this with indignation: "I have never inspired nor authorized such extravagances. That article was one of Gayda's personal articles. After reading it, I felt very bad about it and found it; deplorable."Allow me to make two observations: In the first place, an official journalist, has no right, whatsoever to permit himself such a "personal initiative" - and if he does the day after the publication of such an article, he can no longer be considered an official journalist. In the second place: All the papers receive their instructions from the Board of Education to publish articles of mentioned kind. Therefore the initiative was taken by the Board of Education (the Ministry) and not by Gayda. "You are wrongly informed. It, is not true." "I can assure you that it is true." "It is not true. I can give You my word as to that." I remained silent and stupefied. But in that moment everything seemed to reveal itself; the vast disorganization of the Fascist propaganda. The Minister of the Board of Education, Pavolini, had probably grasped some... |