ITALIAN TRADE DRIVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 13

ITALIAN TRADE DRIVE

AIMS IN SOUTH AMERICA SUPPLANTING OF BRITAIN ROME, Feb. 8 A survey of the Italian press gives added interest to the statement by Rear-Admiral Leahy, chief of the United States naval staff, that "nothing stands in the way of the seizure of the Central or South American republics except the Monroe Doctrine, which, to be effective, must be backed by the United States Navy."

Bcar-Admiral Leahy's words may possibly be intended to refer to fears of

future armed risings and attempts to . establish Fascism or Nazism, or both, , in South American republics. | The Italian press constantly reminds r Italians of their blood ties with South . America. At present, the papers are i emphasising tho close relationship and . linking it with the Italian formation , flight to South America last week. Italy does not disguise the fact that she i 3 endeavouring to supplant Great Britain and the United States in the markets of South America, and that Germany is doing likewise. The recent flight is stimulating Italian correspondents in South American to lj'rical outbursts. For instance, the Buenos Aires correspondent of La Stampa talks of the, population of South America "trembling and vibrating with pleasure at the glorious Italian Feat." La Stampa inserts in the report from South America a colourful passage which attributes to Signor Mussolini tho declaration that pride should vibrato in the hearts of the Black Shirts of Italy, who were the first to oppose Bolshevism, .who have shown to Bolshevism the barrier of their own crests, and have guarded Italy and shown tho way to grandeur to all Europe, and who have begun a constructive human revolution which will transform gradually, but profoundly, all the spiritual and material manifestations of life." Clearly, one of tho prime objects of the Italian flight was to impress the South Americans with Italian manhood and Italian material. Looked at from this angle the flight was another spectacular drive against Anglo-Ameri-can trade.