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Show ITALY'S QUEEN INFLUENTIAL i i Italy's policy toward the great powers lies in a large measure with her queen, a statement which may provoke an incredulous smile on this side of the Atlantic, where the citizens citi-zens of the republic are unaccustomed to feminine influence in questions of high governmental import, but a statement state-ment nevertheless true. Queen Elena has unusual influence upon her husband, hus-band, King Victor Emmanuel. She can have the deciding voice with him if she cares to use it at such a critical time when there is so m'jch to be said in favor of Italy's action, whether it be for or against her former allies of the triple alliance. The king rules under the restrictions of constitutional constitution-al sovereignty, but he exercises a directing di-recting sway over his cabinet, the parliament par-liament and the people. The nation's present policy of neutrality is his personal per-sonal policy, backed by Prime Minister Minis-ter Salandra, a newcomer in the cabi- 0 net, and strenuously opposed by For- offll Sfecretary f1 San Giuliano, the strongest man of the government, in office for several years, and openly friendly to the triple alliance. the question of Italy's policy may be in the hands of the queen-one says tms, speaking figuratively. The hands themselves so thoroughly typify the cnaracter of the queen that one could say it literally. They have the long, tapering fingers of a poetic temperament; strong, full of nervous energy, Bearing the marks of constant use, not nourished and caressed as things of beauty and protected from labor to be soft and white and useless; the busy hands of love and devotion, tirelessly at work from morn till night. |