New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-12-29

As q matter of interest to the Italians of
this city We copy the following article,
which was addressed to the New York
Herald BY the Consul General of Italy in
the United States:
| CONSULATE GESERAL or Italy IN THR }
United States of America
! December Is 1872.
To the Editor of the Herald
The persistent Misrepresentation attend
ing the Italian emigration to this port make
it incumbent on me to submit, once for all,
to the unprejudiced opinion of the Ameri-
can public the real condition Of affairs.
To merely suppose that the government
of his majesty the King Of Italy looks
tavOrably. or even indiferently, on this ex-
| odus is not to know or to ignore the actual
| state of Italy and it's vital interests. The
agriculture of the southern provinces is now
| suffering heavily from the want of laboror5
| consequent upon the large emigration
| especially for South America, which the
| Italian press chaTacterizes as a scOUrge, and
calls unanimously upon the public for
| united efforts to prevent. Those who as
| sumo that the government could and Onght
| to interfere seem not to ba aware that Italy
| is free country, and that the right to
/ change dOmicile is as sacred there as in the
United States for all its citizens, let them
! be rich or poor, educated or ilEterate. Let
lis suppose that a month ago q telegram
| had reached New York announcing that by
| decree of the Italian government emf
| grafton to America had been forbidden.
| How would the news have been received by
! the press and public opinion in this cOun-
! try Weuld not the measure have been de-
| nOuEced as tyranncal and Illegal The
! American people, who enjoy all the bless
| ings of freedom, are too generous to wish
| for its monopoly. They ought to applaud
and not to blame the Italian Government;
ov,I = IL hT,I ~
| planned, this ClamOr against a government
which puts no obstacle upon emigration,
with the strong disapprobation expressed
by the American press, not long age,
against another government for endeayOr-
ing to check it; or is it to be presumed that
the United States laws in regard to emf
grants have only partial hearing on some
nati0nalties, and not on others, and that
there are pariahs among nations to whom
the shores of the HUI son are forbidden. as
are those of the Ganges to the Indian pa
riahs
All that the Italian government could do
was to require the emigTants to comply
with certain conditions before granting
them the passport, especially for those di-
rected to the United States, where, in alb
sence of protective Italian societies. there
exists comparatively greater difficulty in
obtaining employment than in South Amer
lea. AS a general measure these have to |
prove that they are possessed OF means sut- |
frient to live for some time after landing, !
or that they have relations here able to |
take care of them. But everybody knows |
how easy it is to evade such requirements |
by false representations or by declaring a |
different destination, OF even by leaving !
Italy without anv passport at all. 1t must be |
borne in mind that Italy has no port on the |
Atlantic. man or number OF men take |
the passport for South America and go to 1
Havre or Liverpool, whence they proceed |
instead to the United States. Such in fact, !
has been the case with many of these newly |
arrived Italians, who came here with pass |
ports delivered for Buenos Ayres. Is the
Italian government expected to regulate
also by what route the emigrants have to
proceed to their destination through terri
tories i'll which it has no jurisdictiOn2 | do
not think that the Italian emIgrants coming
direct from Italian ports by the Anchor line
have ever caused to the commissioners of
emigration any more expense or annoyance
than the best class OF those tg0m other
countries.
l will now examine with calmness in what
consists the great scandal attributed to this
Italian immigration, and what may be the
facts justifyiRg such an unprecedented hos
tility.
If I am not mistaken. the main accuse
ton repeatedly dwelt upon is that they are
destitute. But if they were not SO they
would not have emigrated 1t is we'll
known that those who are rich, or even
comfortably situated in their own country,
do not leave it-let them be German, Irish,
Scandinavian or Italian-eXceptf for reasons
of trade or from political or moral causes.
Poverty besides, is nO8 an absolute fact,
but relative to the country in which one
lives. Thus, for instance, a man may be
considered poor in Germany who can not
dispose of 100 thaIers, while in Italy he
would be considered such if unable to dis
pose of 100 Italian ivreo Z must confess.
that | can not see how the desti-
tuition of these may be called scandal0us, !
and how their poverty differs 80 materially !
from that of the greatest portion OF @mi-
grants of other natiOnahties as not to on
title them to the same eageG hospitality af !
fOrded to chose who ageo perhaps GG8n !
poorer than themselves.
Mr.. Frederick Knapp, q distinguished
writer on the subject, and lately q commits
sioner of emigration himself, speaking of
the development Of the United States, in
his remarkable work on immigration, pub
llshed in 1870, thus expresses himself:
!" The territory which constitutes the pre- !
sent United States owes It's wonderful de-
mainly to the conHux Of the poor
and outcast Of Europe within it
The end which the Legislature of New
York had in view in adopting the act of
May 5, l847 by which the commissioners Of
and the system of the,commUta- {
ton money for all immigrants wero estab- {
ished, was what Mr.. Knapp himself defines Z
as follows THE problem to be solved was
10 protect the newcomer, to prevent him
rom being robbed, to facilitate his passage Z
through the city to the interior, to aid him /
with good advice, and, in cases Of most a
Urgent necessity, to furnish him with a '
small amount OF money in short, not to O
reat him as a pauper, with the ultimate +
7iew of making him an inmate Of the aims a
house. but as an independent citizen, whose v
uture career would become interviewer .
With the best interests Of the country 2
On carefully examining the foregoing act [
do not find any exception in regard to i'm il
migrants entirely destitute of means. All +
Unfortunately with or without means, II
re to be received on the payment of the Il
0mmutation money, and then "it shall be &
he duty of the commissioners to provide l.
or the maintenance of such of the persons q
or whom Communication money shall have n
zen paid as aforesaid" isectiOn four act
fifth May, l847}. Superintendent Kennedy, Il
he predecessor Of Mr.. Casserly, in his re- "
ort Of January IA, 1858, clearly states that G.
part of the immigration is always among +,
hat class of persons who seek refuge on {
hese shores and subsistence by labor with | Il
title or no cash means. g,
Some of the papers, speaking Of my in Il
arViews with reporters, say that do not ! G,
leet the fact that large number Of these b
Italian emigraDts are dependent upon the | e,
of charities. Of course [ lie
ave not and do not intend to meet it, 81
moving, as do, the loss that these labor | tt
RS and artisans are to my country, and the Il
enetit that country like this will derive Vi