The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-11
ITALIANS AT HOME.
A Land That Ia OVERCOMING with
Poor People.
Immense Emigration TO This Country
occasioned by Lack OF Emplsyment
In Italy - Large sumo OF
Money Sent Back.

&
The great masses Of the people barely
make out to live. They are poorly fed.
I scantily clothed and badly housed In
/ dian meal Italian chestnuts and rice,
/ with little inferior fruit, constitute
+ the staple diet OF the majority Of the
Italian peasantry. In thousands OF
homes in this Heaven-favored land,
meat and wheat bread are unknown.
1t is said that the great majority Of the
poor people eat meat but three or four
times a year at the most
Christmas and Easter are hailed ax
meat days rather than as holy days
For those who have eyes for anything
but the beauties of art and the glories
of nature, there are no sadder sights
than can be seen in the streets OF any
Italian city. Mrltitudes OF human be-
ings, with pale faces, hungry eyes and
detected looks, throng all the highways
of travel. and though begging is for
hidden by law II is almost universally
practiced. Old women and little chill
dren, the lame, the halt and the blind,
and even able-bodied men. beSiege
the stranger at almost every step.
1t is generally admitted that there In
no remuner"tive employment in Italy.
and, as consequence, there is annual
~ large emigration 10 this country.
Brazil and the Argentine Republic. The
emigrants sre poor. sometimes ignor-
ant, and often vicious. There are two
classes Of emiyrantS from Italy. tho
permanent and the temporary. The
temporary are those who leave In the
early spring and GO north in search OF
labor. and late in the year return ~
their native land. Statistics show that
about one hundred thousand lahorers
migrate in this way every year.
1t is estimated that those Italians
who have sought homes In America send
back 20 their poor relatives no less than
twenty million dollars every year. Italy
Is losing by eni grafton about two hun
dred thousand II its population annual
", but the natural increase OF this pro-
lihc race more than makes good the
loss. Whilo in France deaths are iE err
cess OF births, in Italy the increase of
population Is rapid in spite of the ever
increasing exodus. What can be done
~ itAlINc LnO shhCILnk 18E2oS - =
problem of tie greatest gravity.
Fortunately. the climate does mnch
70 diminish tho hardships Of poverty.
The short, sunny winters, tho long,
pleasant summers, enable tho multi
tudes 10 live on comparatively little.
Except in cooking their scanty meal.
the poor Italians seldom have a tire,
even in the sevsregt weather. AID Ancri-
can family will consume more wood
and coal in one week than the average
Italian family uses in a whole winter
The cost Of fuel Is so great that n fire N
an expensive luxury. But
there are days, and even weeks, during
the winter, in all parts OF Italy, WHEN
the weather is quito cold, and 1T such
times the suffering Is something fearful.
When people have neither food nor FIRE
on a cold day, their condition il truly
lamentable.
But il must be said 70 tho praise Of
the Italians that, notwithstanding Gil
their burdens OF taxation, of poverty,
and Of sickness, they are still cheerful
and patient race. They are sober By
habit, they are idle from necessity, IL
Il not from choice. While this is true,
II IS also true that the comforts. pleas-
nres and enioynents OF life are far
greater in this country than they arc in
italy