COMPULSORY SMILES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 January 1942, Page 4

COMPULSORY SMILES

BY ORDER OF MUSSOLINI. One of the invaluable privileges which go with life in a decadent democracy, says the “New York Times,” is that of waking up in the morning with a liverish sensation and the firm belief that nothing good can happen; snapping at the little woman as she trots in with the coffee and toast; growling at the younger generation because it is starting off to school with egg on its chin, and, in short, to quote an apt phrase from a recent Fascist Party bulletin issued in Rome, indulging in “doubts, uncertainty, delusions and sadness.” A citizen of a free country at such moments is permitted to exhibit “a critical, destructive spirit, which is incapable of rendering clear, positive values to social life, but is only capable of denying them.” Social life, indeed! Who, under such circumstances, wants to be sociable? In Italy, under 11 Duce’s inspiring leadership, such things cannot be. Those who give way to melancholy “still live in the shadow of the past and must be considered the most dangerous enemies.” No penalties arc mentioned, but they are unquestionably severe. The man worth while, under Fascism, is the man with a smile. About all that those of us who live in a democracy, and who kind of like it here, can say in rebuttal is that, though we don’t smile all the time, when we do smile we mean it.