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The article discusses a crisis in Italian colonial opinion. Recently a morning newspaper carried the headline that dictator Benito Mussolini had declared that Italy's security in Africa depended upon the elimination of the Ethiopian army. In saying this he reiterated the repeated claim of Italian colonialists that the warlike preparations and unfriendly attitude of Emperor Haile Selassie necessitated and justified military operations on the part of Italy. This argument, connected as it is always with statements that colonies are necessary to the well-being of Italy, brings to mind the fact that at one time most Italians thought that Africa was composed of barren bits of sand, swamp, and mountain. This time was nearly forty years ago, when Italy's leaders very nearly decided to surrender all right and title to her footholds on the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is the object of this paper to describe the usually adverse opinion on the subject of colonies which prevailed in Italy after the battle of Adowa and to account for the failure of the Italian government to trust the convictions of the Prime Minister.