Omaha daily bee., 1889-09-08
1rALIAN IMMIGRArIoN.

ITALIAN IMMIGRATION
There has been great deal OF misin-
formation regarding the character OF
the Italians who come to the United
States. The effect has been to create
an warranted prejudice against these
people, which in portions of the country
pursues them relentlessly. In the cur
rent number Of the Political Science
Quarterly Mr.. Eugene Schuyler presents
a number OF very interesting facts re-
garding the general character of Italian
immigrants, a knowledge of which
would remove the prejudice against
them.
Italian emigration is OF two kinds
temporary and permanent. The former
are workers, skilled and unskilled, who
leave Italy every spring to seek work in
other countries, returning in the au-
tumn. Not many of this class come to
the United States. OF those classed
as permanent emigrants the num-
ber annually leaving Italy has in
creased steadily during the past
ten years. According to the most
trustworthy statistics available the
number in 1878 was only twenty
thousand, while last year it was over
one hundred and seventy-five thousand,
less than one-fourth of which came to
the United States. The principal CEN
ters of emigration are Venetia. Pied
mont, Lombardy, Campania, Calabrla,
the Basilicate, Abruzzi and Tuscany.
The emigration from the large cities is
noticably small, being generally less
than one per cent of the population.
While the general causes of emigration
from Italy are the same as influ-
ence it from other countries, Mr.. Schuy-
Ter says that with respect to that from
South Italy that the main cause can
only be expressed by the word misery"
The agricultural laborers are paid most
niggardly wages, and suffering among
them is widespread. Those who can
get out Of the country do so, and tens OF
thousands of this class have within the
past two years accepted the liberal in
ducements offered by the Argen-
| tine Republic and gone to that
| country, in districts of (which
Italians are now majority
of the population. 1t is chiefly this
class who come to the United States.
These people have learned the value
of thrift, and MIR. Schuyler describes
them as frugal, temperate and indus
| trious race. "As the Italians are no.
toriously hard-worklng and indus
trious," he says, ''they would prove ex-
tremely desirable settlers, and in the
second generation, good citizens, for
the habit of thrift is one to
be encouraged rather than discour-
aged in America AS to the fear
that those people might intro
duce lower style of living, to the det-
riment of the country, Mr.. Schuyler
regards it as unfounded. With regard
to the general morality of the Italians
the reports of American consuls give a
favorable account. The percentage of
illegitimacy is small, and the personal
observation of Mr.. Schuyler in every
part of Italy, during residence of
several years in the country, enables
| him to say that the criminal statis-
tics of Italy will compare
favorably with those of any
other country. He says: ''T have
lived now for over three years on the
outskirts OF AlassiO, a town of SIX
| thousand inhabitants, about halfway
between Nice and Genoa. Theft here
is rare, burglary unknown, so that we
have slept for weeks with doors un-
locked and even open, and never think
of locking them during the day, though
the house may be quite deserted. A
murder has not been known here for
fifty years, until recently in a
| quarrel between workmen from
distant provinces. Illegitimate children
are very rare; crimes produced by lust
are almost unknown"
The conclusion reached by Mr..
Schuyler is that if the Italians will re-
main in the United States they are a
very desirable element to fuse with our
motley population. ''They bring to us
the logical qualities of the Latin race,
and they show in a long run the effect
of an experience which no other people
in Europe has had-of over two thou
sand years of civilization" At any
rate, there is no good reason for appre-
hending any danger, socially, NOR
ally or politically, from the small addi-
tion annually made to our population
from Italy.
OUR FOREST AREA.