Italy in Abyssinia Although Italy has now been in occupation
of Abyssinia for some eighteen months and has successfully stamped out all military opposition, an important message to The.
Times from Jibuti throws an instructive light on the difficulties still to be overcome. The Abyssinians, it appears, are refusing to till the land or contribute to the pro- duction of raw materials, so that exports have fallen off disastrously and, as a consequence, the value of Abyssinia as a market for Italian exports -has also pan passu declined.
The recently imposed import and export restrictions, intended to provide Italy with foreign currency, have further dimin- ished the country's trade.. The cost of living in towns. has more than doubled, and yet prices, which are arbitrarily fixed, frequently provide no profit to producers. The sudden and rigid application of a corporative system has further accentuated the social and economic unrest of the country. So far then his new Empire has signally failed to produce those benefits—a valuable import market for Italian manufactures, a source of important raw material supplies and a means of acquiring necessary foreign currency —which Signor Mussolini promised to his people. Nor will it produce them, even though passive resistance is overcome, without liberal supplies of capital investment in the country— and where they are to come from is a mystery. * * -* *
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