Show italy feels the pinch of sanctions J 0 W va fk dill the precious fui shown gushing forth from the earth at the right Is the biggest need today of muss mussolini olini shown in inset how young italians take pride in turning over the r valued private possess ons to the government to help it beat the pressure of sanctions may be seen at the upper left lower left are romano and anna marie marle chil dren of the dictator turn ng over their personal jewels to the government by WILLIAM C UTLEY oil sanctions stop the war CAN the answer seema seems to be yes it if the league can succeed in cutting off all 0 I 1 ship meats ments to italy estimates of the ex recently assigned by the league of nations to make male a survey of the situation indicate that six or seven months of a complete oil embargo would bring 11 II duce to cease his oper allons in ethiopia many qualifying factors may alter the situation Bitu atlon As a matter of fact the longer the league of nations ponders the advisability of applying oil sanctions the longer the del iy ay the longer italy will be able to hold out after sanctions begin to be enforced for she Is reported to be storing oil at a rapidly increasing rate the way in which american oil shipments to italy have more than doubled normal pro portions Is an indication of what Is happening between italy and other nations even rumania one of the staunchest supporters of the sanctions B idea Is increasing her petrol sh prents to italy normally italy uses tons of oil annually with the war oper actions now going forward in ethiopia ehe she now Is burning it up at tl ti e rate of tons of her normal imbor nations of tons annually ru mania furnishes about 35 per cent russia 22 per cent persian sources controlled by great britain 12 per cent latin american sources also con trolled by great britain to a large ex tent 14 per cent the united states 10 per cent and all oti off er sources 7 per cent during the past year when italy imported tons rumanian shipments leaped to 41 per cent of the total russia shipped 16 per cent persia 15 per cent latin america 15 per cent the united states 6 per cent and other sources 7 per cent because of the delay in the applina tion of oil sanctions it Is believed that italy can go along through the rainy reason and pich pick up her military opera eions in autumn the temporary letdown let down in fighting will make possible the saving saying of con eld sid erable oil and will thus stretch out the period of italy s reprieve a few more months how flow long after that time mussolini can keep going depends upon his success in securing fresh supplies tl tie e answer to this lies iles largely with the nations who are not members of the league the united states has not yet made up its mind whether its new neutrality act will contain the provision that exports to belligerent nations must not exceed their normal proportions one of the things hold ing up the league embargo of course Is the fact chati member nations are waiting until it can be determined what bind kind of a atlon will be taken by the nonmember non member nations face loss of trade it italy can keep buying of oil from non member nations the members will face the possibility of losing a good share of their oil business for a long time to come if not permanently some of them are trying to console themselves into thinking that immell ate losses will not be very important bicaise a settlement div b tw effected within the next few months italy Is attempting to amel orate its own situation through the adoption of substitutes for oil and tl it e building of new factories installation of trans formers and similar preparations are well under way the process even when it gets moving well Is a costly one however and it Is doubtful cheth er italy s solution to tle tl e problem of oil sanctions lies iles in that direction some estimates place the total annual saving in oil by that means could be only about WO tons at the most besides this alcohol and benzine are used in he n manufacture anu facture of substitutes they are also used in the manufacture of explosives and if the need tor for both increases the difficulty becomes alpar ent lastly some of these substitutes have to be mixed with imported petrol anyway there is plenty of ground tor for the sup position that the cry for oil sanctions has subsided considerably with the in dictations that italy Is achieving a vie tory far from complete in east africa if such sanctions do come it Is I 1 kely now that they wil wit not be complete but will only apply to shipments over and above the normal shipments the member nations are in a ticklish position of that there can be no doubt mussolini has told them in no uncertain terms he will con consider FAder oil sanctions acts of war and will reply with acts of war whether saving a it and saving the face of the league will be worth the risk of fighting an honest to goodness war with italy Is a poser that Is holding up immediate action lim t U S export if the united states does adopt the kind of neutrality law advocated by president roosevelt and secretary of state hull the league could then be assured that italy would not receive more than about tons of oil annually from american producers if american shipments are unlimited the league has an ther card which it could play however most of the oil tankers in use are owned by british and scandinavian interests american shipments might be materially cut by denying the united states the use of these tankers meanwhile italy has been adding to her own fleet of tani era accord ng to the league transport sub comm acee atee s estimate italy now has 82 ships which total approximately 35 tons there are tankers in the italian navy which might be included and which would add another 70 tons it hag has been estimated that italy might herself be able to transport some 2 tons annually from ports on the gulf of mexico undoubtedly if sanctions on oil are declared the league would declare a prohibition on the sale of tankers to italy thus preventing her from build ing up her tank fleet any more than she has already done also it Is able that the league would forb d 1 the movement of tankers sailing to italian ports to accomplish this and to pre vent the shipment of oil in containers carried by other types of vessels it would probably be necessary to de dare clare naval blockades th tb s Is too much like war and tl e league la Is ex cee wary about invoking the blockade there Is little likelihood that new tankers would be purchased by amer lean interests to carry on a wartime trade with italy the policy of the administration Is too clear against aid ing a nation at war at any time the usual amount of regimentation of a people under a dictatorship has multiplied many times sirce the 55 5 nations declared econ mic sanctions on italy the government has declared fm port monopolies on hundreds of items from meat and fish to things I 1 ke amov ing picture films to protect the gold reserve the national institute for for eign exchange was authorized to con arol all transactions involving the precious metal citizens or corpora alons may not sell or exchange gold until they have offered it to the gov which agrees to return it in the same amount and q lal ty within a year with interest at aper per cent royalty sets example italy s king and queen set an ex ample by sending their wedding rons to mussolini and the populace quickly took up the idea thousands upon thou sands of persons turning over oer their own gold rings and receil ng iron rings in exchange in colorful and indeed pitiful ceremonies throughout the coun try after the depletion of the gold re erve to a point somewhat under the treasury department has insisted thit th it it has maintained most of that reserve through increased tax atlon the floating of bond issues the wedding rings new loans the con version of government credits and the realization of fore agn credits held by private citizens clil zens prices of ol foods and other items in common use sl after italy had felt the pinch of sanctions for a little while gasoline rose from 85 cents to a gallon wheat went up 20 idres a quintal coal soap and textiles followed rac factories shot shut down because there were no raw materials to manufacture or because of the prohibitive hibi tive prices on raw materials appeals were made to the e emotions ma eions of the people boycotts were declared on goods coming from lonist coun tries great engines of economy and conservation of sanctioned articles were set in motion there were and are plenty of the meatless days and days that we americans knew during the war except that the italians probably observe them more rigidly and more frequently the populace was encouraged to eat more fish and poultry that beef pork and mut ton could be conserved or sent to the boys in the african trenches news papers and periodicals even refused to accept any more buttons from au thors of the lonist countries and textbooks from those countries were removed from the schools to meet the needs of the poorer people who were hardest hit by the rising prices which followed the application of sane commissions of doctors and dieticians issued pamphlets and began educational campaigns on the maintenance of proper diet and living condi dons under the difficulties the people were not to be denied dented bread broad for the fine wheat harvest of 1935 was 21 per cent greater than that that of 1934 in the last five flie years the total area sown in wheat has been increased by about acres another acres were added during 1935 policy of secrecy the treasury department eventually began a policy of secrecy as to its exact status and it was believed that this status waa was none too good in the face of the fact that publication of all statements of the treasury department de and the banfe bank of italy were suspended the italian deficit last year was about with nearly half of this accounted for by tie ile campaign in at af rica it Is not in foodstuffs but in raw materials that italy faces the most dangerous threats of sanctions italy imports nearly 2 quintals of cot ton annually three fourths of it from the united states as against a prodoc tion of only quintals at home she albo imports five times as much wool as she produces but much of this import can be canceled by the aution of silk ravon and other mate rials the nation imports practically all of its requirements in seeds rubber and of course oil the home prod prodoc ile tion of oil probably does not exceed I 1 per cent of her normal needs italy s needs in timber are not facing any serious threats for she can still import practically all she needs from austria austria Is also helping in for iffy ng italy against the pressure of sanctions on minerals needs of ser scrap iron are diminishing as the result of or national drifts to corral all the old iron in the nation italy s 8 own prodie tion of iron ore can be increased about two thirds its normal needs with oth er minerals it Is not the same ita italy ly must import all of her tin and n nearly ear 1 y all of her coper cop er from lonist coun tries aluminum may be substituted for some of these products the na tion Is fairly rich in aluminum bhe she imports about half of her lead S she he must import about ten times as much coal as ane produces about half of the total import coming from lonist countries her own coal Is of poo pom quality 0 western union vulon |