In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 88, 15 April 1939, Page 24

In the Public Eye

The most quoted person in Italy is Dr. Virginio Gayda, editor of the "Giornale d'ltalia," who has been much in the news in the last few weeks. He is quoted because he is the mouthpiece of Mussolini, and what he writes in his journal is usually taken to be an unofficial rendering of the views of the Founder of the Empire.

Dr. Gayda's early training fits him particularly well for his task of interpreting his Government's foreign policy. He was born in Rome fortythree years ago, and after obtaining a law degree at Turin University took a post-graduate course in political economy at the same university. At the age of twenty-three he entered journalism and soon was sent as : a special correspondent of the Turin "Stampa" for Central and Eastern Europe. At the start of the World War he was in Russia and was taken into the Italian diplomatic service with special political and military duties.

He remained in Russia until the end of May, 1918, when he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Sweden and later to London. In February, 1921, he re-entered the ranks of active journalism, assuming the post of editor of the "Messagero" in his native Rome. In March, 1926, he became editor of the "Giornale d'ltalia," a position he has never since abandoned.

When Count Galeazzo Ciano, first as Minister of Press Propaganda and then as Foreign Minister, was looking for a suitable person to become the officially-inspired but unofficial Government mouthpiece, his eye fell on Dr. Gayda, and his choice is considered to have been a nappy one.

Dr. Gayda's particular usefulness to the Government lies in the fact that he is known to represent accurately the Foreign Minister's views, with the result that his writings receive worldwide attention as almost official pronouncements, but at the same time he has no visible connection with the Government, so that his releases can be passed off as expressions of his personal views whenever they threaten to create trouble abroad. President Roosevelt. Only slightly more than 33 1-3 per cent, of the "third of the nation" are for President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a third term as President of the United States, according to a survey by "Fortune" magazine. This, the report of the count of heads makes, clear, would not be enough to re-elect him.

The survey was nation-wide, according 'to the report, which recalls that the "Fortune" straw vote in 1938 showed Mr. Roosevelt would be reelected, and came within 1 per cent, of the majority he received. The present survey, after eliminating the voters who "don't know" what they think of the President, finds that the total popular vote he would be sure of winning is today down to 36.9 per cent plus some portion of the people who applaud him, but have not yet decided how they would regard his candidacy for a third term.

"To be re-elected," the report says, "he would have to win all the people who are uncertain about their vote, and then he would have only a negligible margin over the field. The twoterm precedent may be a determining factor in tipping the scales against the possibility of President Roosevelt remaining in the White House, but it does not stand alone as the main reason why he can hardly hope to win another term. His political errors have taken their toll." (

The poll showed that 79.1 per cent, of the New Dealers believe the nation needs Mr. Roosevelt or a man like him, and 48.6 per cent, hold that while he has made mistakes, the good he has done outweighs the bad. Eight per cent, would not vote for him for a third term and 12.9 per cent, were undecided. Twenty-six and eighttenths per cent, of these also believed his good works outweigh his errors, with which 24.6 per cent, of the "don't knows" agreed. "Fortune" finds from this that the President's mistakes, rather than precedent, "have evidently whittled down his potential 1940 following to 36.9 per cent."

The survey showed that 31.1 per cent, of the voters believed Mr. Roosevelt would run for a third term, while 45.1 per cent, believed he would not and 23.8 per cent, did not know.

Seventy and five-tenths per cent, of the voters are still undecided who President Roosevelt's successor should be, but Vice-President John Nance Garner is the favourite of the few with opinions, Thomas E. Dewey, District Attorney of New York County, and Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, of Michigan, both Republicans, coming next in that order, according to the report.

Mr. Garner gathered 4.9 per cent, of the votes; Mr. Dewey, 4.2 per cent.; Senator Vandenberg, 2.6 per cent.; Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, 2.5 per cent.; Senator Robert A. Taft (R.), of Ohio, 1.7 per Alfred M. Landon, Republican standard bearer in 1936, got 1.6 per cent.; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, jun. (R.), of Massachusetts, 1.5 per cent.; James A. Farley, Postmaster-General in the Roosevelt Cabinet, 1.2 per cent.; Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (Progressive), of New York City, 1.1 per cent., and former President Herbert Hoover, 0.7 per cent.

Not so much as 5 per cent, of the population is united on a likely choice for the Presidency, the survey reveals "but if the 29.5 per cent, of the people who indicate some preference now are any guide." it says, "the Democrats should pick a Conservative and the Republicans who register more positively in the contest can take their choice between Mr. Dewey, Mr. Vandenberg, Mr. Taft, and Mr. Landon, while the Democrats choose between Mr. Garner, Mr. Hull. Mr. Farley, and Mr. Lehman."

Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian Foreign Secretary, who has been prominently in the public eye during the Albanian affair, is considered likely to be Mussolini's successor. The Count, who is also the Duce's son-in-law, mounted a grade in a rapid career when II Duce made him head of the Government Press Bureau in 1933. This is one of the most important posts in Italy, because of the Government's strict supervision of newspapers. Count Ciano, son of Count Cbstanzb Ciano, Minister of Communications, who was then just turning thirty years of age, has been lucky in having a powerful father and a more powerful father-in-law. The Count's newspaper experience was limited to dramatic criticisms and feature writing for the "Tribuna" of Rome and to special correspondence for Mussolini's paper, "Popolo d'ltalia". of Milan. His journalistic work ceased when he went in for diplomacy. For a brief time he was secretary of the Embassies at Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Then, in 1929, after Italy signed the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican, he, was given the same post in the Embassy to the Holy See. Next year the young Count married Edda, Mussolini's first child, to whom II Duce is devoted. The wedding was an elaborate ceremony, although held in the Mussolini parish church. The Duce, Donna Rachele Mussolini, and the foreign diplomatic corps attended. After the wedding the couple and their parents drove to St. Peter's. Count Ciano had little time to enjoy married life in Italy, for his new father-in-law soon appointed him Consul-General at Shanghai: There the young couple became the parents of Mussolini's only grandson, Fabrizio. The Count and Countess were in Shanghai while the Chinese defended Chapei against the Japanese. Fre- ] quently their apartment was shaken by the big guns. Ciano served on the commission of foreign consuls that tried to arbitrate the conflict. After three years in the Orient, Count Ciano was recalled in May, 1933, and was sent as a delegate to the London Economic Conference. He delivered several speeches before sub-committees. Ciano's next position gave him practical dictatorship over the Italian Press. Editors' ideas for editorials came from him. Every important official communique emanated from him. The head of the Press Bureau travels wherever Mussolini goes. Frequently he is the only important Government official accompanying the Premier. In 1934 Ciano became Under-Secre-* tary for Press and Propaganda. During the Abyssinian war he served with the air force as a squadron-leader. On his return he received the portfolio of Foreign Affairs from the Duce. Dr. H. Colijn. Dr. H. Colijn, Prime Minister of the ■Netherlands, whose. .Government has been taking precautions designed to make rapid mobilisation possible, is the dominating personality in Dutch politics today. He is past sixty-eight now. The East Indian Army, politics at home, business abroad, and international economic conferences know him well. .

As an East Indian empire builder whose hero is Cecil Rhodes he belongs to a more or less familiar type. But as the leader of the most orthodox of the clerical parties which are one of the paralysing features of Dutch politics at home, he belongs to a less familiar type. He is not as fanatical as some of his followers are, for his life has been a more varied one.

As a political force he owes as much to the great East Indian Viceroy, General van Heutsz, as to the rigid Calvinism of the little Dutch" farms from which he springs. General van Heutsz belonged to the old line of empire builders as that line existed in the days before cables came into general use and too many cooks began to spoil the broth. He is now commemorated by monuments of stone in Batavia and Amsterdam; and Captain Colijn, who brought the. warlike Sultanate of Achin into the Dutch East Indian system and is today Prime Minister of the home Government, may fairly be regarded as another of his monuments.

The eight years from 1914 to 1922 Dr. Colijn spent outside politics as director of various oil companies belonging to the Royal Dutch-Shell group. Since then he has been. prominent at League economic conferences. He was the driving power behind the severe deflation. ■ Miss Christian Lombard. The Union of South Africa has appointed its first woman prosecutor. She is Miss Christian Lombard, a yourjg barrister who, until recently, worked on the clerical staff at the Juvenile Court at Auckland Park, Johannesburg. j

Miss Lombard took up her new duties during the second week in February, and she expects that, for the present, at any rate, these duties will take her mainly to the work of the Juvenile Court.

Miss Lombard, who has attained her distinction at the age of 24, is not, of course, South Africa's only woman barrister. There are other, and perhaps better-known women than herself who have been called to the Bar. Mrs. Bertha Solomon, of Johannesburg, who was returned to Parliament in 1938 as a supporter of the Union Party, is one of them. Miss Gladys Steyne, of Bloemfontein, daughter of a former President of the Orange Free State, is another.

Miss Steyne—who succeeded in qualifying for the Bar while at the same time holding a post as principal of a large girls' school —has acted oh several occasions as an assessor when, in criminal cases, the accused person has elected to be tried by a Judge and two assessors rather than by a Judge and jury. The fact has proved satisfactory to the organised women of South Africa, since it was as a result of representations made.by the South Africa League of Woman Voters that women first came to be regarded as eligible to fill such a position.