And why these soldiers? To show that the Government has strength. I declare that, if possible, I want to govern with the consent of the majority of the people, but whilst waiting for this consent to be formed, to be nourished, to be strengthened, I collect the maximum available force. Because it may happen, by chance, that force may aid in rediscovering consent, and, at any rate, should consent be lacking, force still remains. In all the measures—even the most drastic—the Government takes, we shall put before the people this dilemma: either accept them from a high spirit of patriotism or submit to them. This is how I conceive the State, and how I understand the art of governing the nation.
I am glad to find myself before you—(continued the President, turning to the officials of the Ministry of Finance present at the ceremony)—because the Minister has spoken very favourably to me of the high officials of the Ministry of Finance. He told me that some of you often work up to sixteen hours a day. Well done! Those are long hours, but it is a splendid example. But if they were not sufficient, it would be necessary to work even twenty hours. Only thus, gentlemen, shall we rise up out of the sea of our present difficulties and reach the shore.
We must inculcate in our spirit a sense of absolute discipline. We must consider that the money of the Treasury is sacred above everything else. It does not rain down from Heaven, nor can it even be made with a turn of the printing press, which, if I could, I would like to smash to pieces. It is made out of the sweat, it might be said of the blood, of the Italian people, who work to-day, but who will work more to-morrow. Every _lira_, every _soldo_, every _centesimo_ of this money must be considered sacred and should not be spent unless reasons of strict and proved necessity demand it. _The history of peoples tells us that strict finance has brought nations to security._ I feel that each one of you believes in this truth, which is fully proved by history.
With this conviction I bid you farewell. (Applause.)
“IT IS NOT THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF EUROPE ALONE THAT WE HAVE TO RESTORE TO ITS FULL EFFICIENCY”
Speech delivered at the Palazzo dell’ Esposizione in Rome, on 18th March 1923, before the International Congress of the Chambers of Commerce.