THE UNSEEN COST.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20281, 25 August 1937, Page 6

THE UNSEEN COST.

When Signor Mussolini entered the port of Palermo, the cable messages state, a crowd of 400,000 people gave him a tumultuous welcome. The other day the Duce addressed another vast crowd of people, and indeed, wherever he goes the populace throngs to some open space and listens to a speech by the Fascist leader. The same conditions obtain in Germany. During the harvest celebrations in Prussia Herr Hitler addressed an immense number of people, and at the annual conference of the National Socialist Party at Nuremberg special trains from all parts of the Reich bring enthusiastic supporters by their tens of thousands. Then on special occasions a speech by the Leader is broadcast, and it is compulsory for the people to assemble, and listen to what he has to say. These things are all carefully organised in Germany by Dr. Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightment. He has been called the stage manager of the party. “Propaganda,” he once wrote, “has only one object —to conquer the masses. Every means that furthers this aim is good; every means that hinders it is bad.” No one apparently has yet attempted the task of estimating ■what these great gatherings cost. When a highly industrialised nation such as Germany has to stop work in order that all may listen to a speech by the" head of the Administration, or whole towns and districts in Italy take a day oft to welcome the Duce there must be a heavy fall in production. Just assuming that one half of the people who cheered Signor Mussolini at Palermo on Friday would otherwise have been engaged in some useful occupation, then 200,000 working days have been lost, and that must represent a substantial sum. When thousands of young men are taken by special trains to some great demonstration then, during that time, their contribution to national production has ceased. It may be, ns some of the critics hold, that these mass gatherings are essential in a dictatorship. They are the modern version of the policy, of bread and circuses adopted by dictators long ago. Whatever they are, and whatever political purpose they may serve, it is clear that they must have a most adverse effect on national production, and the countries where these things arc organised have to face serious economic problems. The unseen cost must ho heavy.