Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-10-30 | Page 6 | A Petty Tyrant

A PETTY TYRANT. D'Annunzio has turned out to be pretty much of a tyrant since he seized the port of Hume. After declaring for Belf -determination, ho called a plebiscite pleb-iscite and it was promised the people should be free to register their will at the polls. The election, however, wa3 controlled from the headquarters of tho poet and tho only ticket in the field was that of the annexationist party, an organization backed by the rebel chieftain and his followers. D'Annunzio D'An-nunzio is the kaiser and War lord of Fiume, and so long as he is allowed trt hold sway those who disngreo with him will .be ruthlessly silenced. The poet is one of the Italian heroes of the war, but a little power gained by rebellion re-bellion has intoxicated him and his ambition am-bition knows no bounds. Military coercion coer-cion was the rule in Fiume on election day. The password was "Hurrah for D'Annunzio," and all those who did not shout according to order were either arrested or placed under surveillance. sur-veillance. If the league of nations ever comes into existence, and it may happen without ratification of the German peace treaty by the United States senate, sen-ate, the reign of D'Annunzio will come to an inglorious end and the citizens of Fiume will be freed from their present bondage. But with the United States out of the league, if the fight in the senate should bring 6uch a calamity to pass, Italy would probably retain possession pos-session of tho port until the Dext great war, which might not he long in coming, com-ing, notwithstanding the fact that all of. the larger nations of Europe aro in a state of exhaustion because of their participation in tho recent struggle strug-gle to prevent Germany from dominating dominat-ing tho civilized world. What will hap-jen hap-jen to civilization in that event can only bo conjectured.