Il Piccolo
- The manifesto for the economic International
- The cold, ally of the English miners
- Circulation falls to 10 billion 227 million
Il Piccolo of 20 October 1926 carried economic and labour news from Rome and London. A Rome dispatch reported that the Roman press had received the international financiers' manifesto for 'economic peace' with hostility, with some papers calling it a trust's manoeuvre to subjugate nations, while La Tribuna argued that it was the work of a handful of English economists and businessmen whose signatures were gathered on a tour by Sir George Pais. From London, the paper reported that the coal strike continued despite the opening of the Imperial Conference, described a theory that winter cold would hand the miners victory by Christmas, and dismissed it as too simplistic. A Treasury report from Rome gave an actual first-quarter surplus of 55 million, rising to 243 million once special items, including an instalment toward reducing the note circulation, were set aside.
This edition covers only three legible excerpts from a partial reading of the page. A library label hides part of the masthead, the column edges are cut off or curled at the tile boundaries, and the bottom lines of some columns are faded. All three articles break off mid-sentence, and the subheading of the Treasury report is truncated. The OCR has many character errors, so the transcription follows only the text that can be read in the image. Spellings such as “Ronsey” and “Pais” are kept as printed.
Translation
The manifesto for the economic International
The dangers for Italy pointed out by the Rome newspapers
ROME, 19 — The manifesto of international finance for so-called economic peace is being widely commented on by the Roman press, in a far from friendly sense. Some comments, such as those of the Tevere and the Lavoro d'Italia, do not confine themselves to purely critical considerations but take up an attitude of determined battle against the colossal manoeuvre for the economic subjugation of nations that the «A. B. C.» trust is attempting in Europe.
La Tribuna, warning that the document must at once be cut down to its true proportions, says that it has no connection with the Ronsey meeting but has other and different origins. «Drafted», the paper goes on, «by no more than ten or so English economists and businessmen, its endorsements were obtained during the journey made through various European states by Sir George Pais, a writer on economic matters and an editor of the Economist. It nevertheless fits within the very wide-ranging manifestations…
The cold, ally of the English miners
New Series – No. 2141
The cold, ally of the English miners
An attempt to seize Cook
LONDON, 19 — The opening of the Imperial Conference distracted public opinion for a moment from the course of the coal strike. But the strike goes on, and there is no sign from which to draw favourable auguries. The cold has turned biting, but this sudden drop in the thermometer does not seem likely to have any important influence on the course of the dispute. According to the theories of some, the strike could drag on even until Christmas and end in victory for the miners. They reason thus: the winter cold will oblige consumers to provide themselves with coal, even if they are forced to pay an exceptionally high price for it. Once the public has grown used to paying out unusual sums to buy coal, the owners will be able to reopen the mines, granting all the miners' demands on wages and hours of work, and will go on selling coal at the prices consumers pay today for imported coal. But this is too simplistic a line of reasoning, which does not ta–
Circulation falls to 10 billion 227 million
Circulation falls to 10 bi…
An actual surplus of 55 million in the first quar…
ROME, 19 — The budget position for the first quarter of the financial year closes with an actual surplus of 55 million, a figure that marks an improvement on the surplus shown at 31 August. It must also be borne in mind that the current financial year includes, up to the end of September, the exceptional items of 125 million, as an instalment of the 500 million just authorized for the purpose of reducing the bank circulation on behalf of the State, and of 63 million for railway construction expenditure, which in the past was entered in a separate category. Leaving these expenses aside, the surplus for the first quarter of the current financial year rises to 243 million, against 168 million in the…
Context
Who stood behind the bankers' manifesto against trade barriers
The document the Roman press was attacking was a business manifesto made public in London in October 1926. TIME reported that it was a round robin signed by over 100 of the world's leading financiers and that it called upon European nations to remove their tariff hindrances to international trade. Italians were among the signers: TIME listed Nicola Pavoncelli as chairman of the Bank of Italy and added Antonio S. Benni, president of the Fascist Confederation of Industries, and G. Agnelli of FIAT. Who wrote it was unclear at the time. TIME noted that those who circulated it refused to say who had drafted it. La Tribuna, as quoted by Il Piccolo, credited about ten English economists and businessmen, said the signatures were collected on a tour by Sir George Pais, and denied any link with the “Ronsey” meeting. Hjalmar Schacht, president of the German Reichsbank, was by contrast reported by TIME as saying that the manifesto was closely connected with the recent conference of German and British industrialists in England. La Tribuna's picture of a narrow English origin should therefore be read as that paper's argument, not as an established account of where the manifesto came from.
Why Italian newspapers treated free trade as a threat
A Turin letter published in The Economist on 13 November 1926 confirms the hostile reception that Il Piccolo described. Only the Turin Stampa published a favourable comment, and the rest of the press was unanimous in very adverse criticism. The critics described the manifesto as an attempt by rich countries to capture world trade at the expense of industrially new and poor countries such as Italy. They also pointed to the pressure of Italy's growing population, whose outlets abroad were closed by restrictions on immigration. The correspondent was sceptical of this case. He noted that signatories such as Agnelli, Gualino, Conti and Pirelli were perhaps the greatest captains of industry in Italy. He also reported that a Fascist deputy, Lanzillo, writing in the Lavoro d'Italia, one of the papers Il Piccolo names as waging “battle” against the manifesto, admitted that the idea of a European customs union was bound to be discussed more and more seriously. The Rome press campaign therefore ran alongside support for the manifesto from leading Italian industrialists.
Where the British coal dispute stood in autumn 1926
The coal strike in the London dispatch was the miners' stoppage that had outlasted the General Strike of May 1926. The miners were led by A. J. Cook, general secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain from 1924, who was associated with the slogan “Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day.” After the Trades Union Congress abandoned the general strike after nine days, Cook led the miners' resistance for several more months. The dispute turned on exactly the wages and hours the article mentions: on 5 July the coalowners posted notices of new terms based on an eight-hour working day. The article's reference to the prices consumers paid for imported coal also had a background, since in late May the government was reported to be arranging imports of foreign coal. The theory the correspondent reported, of a winter victory for the miners, did not come true. Between 27 and 30 November 1926 the miners returned to work at lower pay and longer hours, an outcome the University of Warwick's archive timeline calls total defeat.
What the Treasury surplus meant for Mussolini's lira policy
The budget report dates from the first months of Mussolini's deflation drive. On 18 August 1926, in a speech at Pesaro, he announced the revaluation later called Quota 90, pegging the lira at 92.46 to the pound sterling. Cutting the paper money in circulation was central to that policy, and the article accordingly singles out an instalment of 125 million from the 500 million authorised to reduce the bank circulation on the state's account. Finance Minister Count Volpi called Treasury bills a continuous menace to the circulation. In early November 1926 the government forcibly consolidated the ordinary, five-year and seven-year Treasury bills into a long-term loan, and Volpi presented the step as a logical sequel to Mussolini's Pesaro speech and a further move in the defence and revaluation of the lira. The surplus figures in Il Piccolo are the government's accounts as relayed by the paper, and the sources used here do not test them. The policy's costs came later: the revaluation was accompanied by industrial and agricultural wage cuts in 1927.
Original
Il manifesto per l'Internazionale economica
I pericoli per l'Italia rilevati dai giornali romani ROMA, 19 Il manifesto della finanza internazionale per la così detta pace economica è ampiamente commentato dalla stampa romana in senso poco benevolo. Alcuni commenti, come ad esempio quelli del Tevere e del Lavoro d'Italia non si limitano a pure considerazioni di indole critica, ma assumono atteggiamenti di decisa battaglia contro la colossale manovra di asservimento economico delle nazioni che il trust «A. B. C.» tenta in Europa. La Tribuna, avvertendo che occorre ridurre subito alle sue esatte proporzioni il documento, dice che esso non ha riferimento con il convegno di Ronsey, ma ha altre e diverse origini. «Stillato - prosegue il giornale - da non più che una decina di economisti e uomini d'affari inglesi, le adesioni ad esso furono procurate durante il viaggio compiuto in diversi Stati europei da sir George Pais, scrittore di cose economiche e redattore dell'Economist. Esso si inquadra tuttavia nelle manifestazioni assai vaste
Il freddo alleato dei minatori inglesi
Nuova Serie - N. 2141 Il freddo alleato dei minatori inglesi Un tentativo per sequestrare Cook LONDRA, 19 L'inaugurazione della Conferenza imperiale ha distratto per un istante l'opinione pubblica dalle vicende dello sciopero carbonifero. Ma questo prosegue e non vi è nessun sintomo per trarre favorevoli auspici. Il freddo si è fatto pungente, ma questa brusca discesa del termometro non pare debba avere una importante influenza sulle vicende della contesa. Secondo le teorie di taluno, lo sciopero potrebbe protrarsi anche fino a Natale, e terminare con la vittoria dei minatori. Costoro ragionano così: il freddo invernale obbligherà i consumatori a fornirsi di carbone, anche se costretti a pagarlo a un prezzo eccezionalmente alto. Quando il pubblico si sarà abituato a sborsare somme inconsuete per l'acquisto del carbone, i proprietari potranno riaprire le miniere, accogliendo tutte le richieste dei minatori in fatto di salari e di ore di lavoro, e continueranno a vendere il carbone ai prezzi che oggi i consumatori pagano per il carbone importato. Ma questo è un ragionamento troppo semplicista che non tie -
La circolazione discesa a 10 miliardi 227 milioni
La circolazione discesa a 10 mi Un avanzo effettivo di 55 milioni nel primo trime ROMA, 19 La situazione del bilancio relativa al primo trimestre dell'esercizio si chiude con un avanzo effettivo di 55 milioni, cifra che segna un miglioramento su quello dell'avanzo risultante al 31 agosto. Si deve tener conto inoltre che l'esercizio in corso comprende, a tutto il mese di settembre, le partite eccezionali di 125 milioni per quota dei 500 milioni testè autorizzati allo scopo di ridurre la circolazione bancaria per conto dello Stato, e di 63 milioni per spese di costruzione di strade ferrate, contabilizzate, per il passato, in categoria a parte. Prescindendo da tali spese, l'avanzo del primo trimestre del corrente esercizio sale a 243 milioni contro 168 milioni del
Source: Source: Internet Archive