Soldiers for the Saar

Below the rose-colored cliffs of the Dolomites and in the fishing villages near Trieste, Italian citizens argued volubly in German about the Saar last week. Benito Mussolini was about to provide nearly 2,000 of them with temporary jobs there.

Heeding finally the frantic requests of the League's Saar Commissioner Knox and his Chief of Police that a fair plebiscite in January will be absolutely impossible without additional police, the League decided to recruit its first private army. Ever since the League was founded the loudest argument of its opponents has been that it would cause the drafting of innocent young men to fight private wars for peace. Almost every League member fought shy of allowing its nationals to be called for service in the Saar.

But not Benito Mussolini. He offered to send any number of Italian Carabinieri into the Saar at once. Taking thought, Saar authorities refused this, feeling that the injection of Italian-speaking troops into this Franco-German stew would only make matters more difficult. Il Duce had another idea. The South Tyrol (except for the Trentino), and the country back of Trieste, taken from Austria after the War, still speaks mostly German. He would recruit a special force among the mountaineers who could talk back to the Saarlander but had only an academic interest in their problem. The League accepted with alacrity.

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