Brave, Honest, Upright

Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, Pope Pius XI, spoke, last week, for the ear of Benito Mussolini while addressing a gathering of priests: "All forms of society should be founded on the divine precept. Man is not and never can be a means, he is the end--not of course the ultimate, supreme end which is God--but in the creation, man is really the end and centre about which everything is organized. Therefore neither the concepts of race nor those of the State or nation should supersede that of man as the end."

Since these remarks flatly contradict the maxim of Mussolini: "'Nothing outside the State! Nothing against the State!" the Vatican news organ, Osservatore Romano, sought next day to soften the Pope's rebuke to Mussolini. The editor ingeniously declared that President Coolidge and Premier Mussolini both "are agreed on the principle of the pre-eminence of spiritual things." From Mr. Coolidge was quoted: "Religion is necessary"; but the nearest similar remark which could be quoted from Mussolini was of very different purport: "Youth must be brave, honest and upright."