What does it matter if some lazy bureaucrat has not yet taken into account your needs? Sassari has already passed gloriously into history. I was grieved to-day when I was told that this town has no water. It is very sad that a city of heroes has to endure thirst. Well! I promise you that you will have water; you have the right to have it. (Applause.) If the National Government grants to you, as it will grant, the three or four millions necessary for this purpose, it will only have accomplished its duty, because while elsewhere young men with broad shoulders worked at the lathe, the people of Sardinia fought and died in the trenches. We intend to raise up again the towns and all the land, because he who has contributed to the war is more entitled to receive in peace. A few days ago, on the anniversary of the war, I went by aeroplane to the cemeteries of the Carso. There are many of your brothers who sleep in those cemeteries the sleep which knows no awakening. I have known them, I have lived with them, I have suffered with them. They were magnificent, long-suffering, they did not complain, they endured, and when the tragic hour came for them to advance from the trenches they were the first and never asked why. (Loud applause.) The National Government which I have the honour to direct is a Government which counts upon you, and you can count upon it. It is a Government sprung forth from a double victory of the people. It cannot, therefore, be against the working classes. It comes to you so that you may tell it frankly and loyally what are your needs. You have been forgotten and neglected for too long! In Rome they hardly knew of the existence of Sardinia! But since the war has revealed you to Italy, all Italians must remember Sardinia, not only in words, but in deeds. (Loud applause.) I am delighted, I am deeply moved by the reception which you have given me. I have looked you well in the face, I have recognised that you are superb shoots of this Italian race which was great when other people were not born, of this Italian race which three times gave our civilisation to the barbarian world, of this Italian race which we wish to mould by all the struggles necessary for discipline, for work, for faith. (Applause.) _I am sure that, as Sardinia has been great in war, so likewise will she be great in peace._ I salute you, O magnificent sons of this rugged, ferruginous, and so far forgotten island. I embrace all of you in spirit. It is not the head of the Government who speaks to you, it is the brother, the fellow-soldier of the trenches. Shout then with me: Long live the King! Long live Italy! Long live Sardinia! (An enthusiastic ovation greeted the last words of Mussolini.) “MEN PASS AWAY, MAYBE GOVERNMENTS TOO, BUT ITALY LIVES AND WILL NEVER DIE” Speech delivered at Cagliari (Sardinia) on 12th June 1923, from the Palazzo della Prefettura.