The Charlotte News

Sunday, April 26, 1936

EDITORIAL

 

Hoping for the Worst.

What Italy's Ethiopian War has cost in money so far is unknown, but what it has cost Italy in the paying out of gold is tremendous. As of August, 1935, Italy had on hand gold to the value of $419,000,000. By October, the store had shrunk almost by half, and the latest League of Nations estimate sets it at hardly more than $100,000,000, plus whatever has been taken over from citizens.

The cost of the War to Italy has been tremendous also in the dwindling of her foreign trade. Month by month, Italian exports have declined. Not only those countries which imposed sanctions have taken greatly reduced quantities of Italy's goods, but other nations as well. Exports to 30 countries fell from 18 millions in November, 1935, to less than six in February.

The cost of the War to Italy in loss of prestige among the nations is not to be determined with any exactness, yet surely it can be said wholly in truth that Italy's good name in the world has been damaged almost beyond repair. The lack of good will is not always a crushing blow to a nation's hopes, but it is a real handicap.

We chronicle these Italian losses of various kinds with something approaching satisfaction. Italy's stringency is not necessarily any other nation's good fortune, but it would fit nicely in the pattern of poetic justice if, after ruthlessly overrunning a poor and defenseless country, Italy came out at the little end of the horn.


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