250 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
Such vague and incoherent language enabled Mussolini
to offer everybody the fulfilment of his dearest hopes. The
capitalist saw all the public services restored to private
enterprise, the shopkeeper saw himself released from taxa-
tion and all state supervision and trivial regulations ; and
the petty bourgeois idealist was delighted to turn over the
c material realm ' to them, imagining himself something—
minister or hall-porter—in the * spiritual realm '. Mean-
while the party did not stop at these grand principles, but
prepared a long report, drafted by Signori Corgini and
Massimo Rocca, for a series of meetings on the financial
restoration which continued to be held in the principal
towns of Italy from early September up to the eve of the
march on Rome. In this report and at the meetings were
demanded : the reform of the civil service ; the transfer of
state industries to private firms ; the abolition of useless
state bodies ; the abolition of subsidies and privileges granted
to officials, co-operatives, and municipal shops in receipt of
e preferential treatment to that shown to private traders3 ;
simplification of the tax system ; reduction of duties on
inheritance, on business transactions, and in some cases on
luxuries, for such duties led to the c destruction of the
family and of private property' ; the balancing of the
budget^ not by raising taxes, but by extending the number of
taxpayers and increasing taxes on consumption goods
rather than by directly taxing riches.
In the course of 1922 Italy's financial and economic
situation was showing signs of improvement, as a result of
measures adopted by the various governments, especially
after 1921. The adverse trade balance was diminishing,
savings bank deposits were increasing, the note circulation
was gradually getting back to normal. Here are the relevant
figures up to December 31 of each year :
Deposits at
Adverse general and post office Note
trade balance savings banks circulation
(in thousands of lire)
1919 12,694 10,643 18,551
1920 10,557 13,213 22,000
1921 15,048 15,576 21,475
1922 8,647 i7>25° 20,279