Progress

Slighted Excellencies. At Rome ambassadors of every Power were caught last week upon the tender hip of precedence. Their Excellencies represent, technically, the actual person of the sovereign or president who despatched them to Rome. As such they receive the precedence which would be due U. S. President Coolidge or the King-Emperor George V. Yet last week, Premier Mussolini rushed through a Cabinet decree raising the Secretary General of the Fascist party to precedence over all ambassadors, ministers or special envoys. This is unprecedented. New Dating. Hot-headed observers saw a new breach of usage, a new aggrandizement of Fascismo last week in another Cabinet decree, ordering that all official documents shall be dated twice; once in the ordinary way; and again dating from Oct. 28, 1922, when the Fascist march on Rome began.*

*Cf. the fact that Secretary of State Kellogg's clerks double-date every document of moment that leaves the U. S. State Department; once in the usual way; and again dating from "the independence of the United States," now in its 150th year.