St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-08-09
OUR INDUSTRIOUS ITALIANS.
Interesting Chat about some Recent ar
rivals in ST JOhnsbury.

Italy-the land OF the vine anu olVe,
the orange and p~omegranate, many
men leaving home and fatherland have
come over seas to do some of the
heavy work of this country.
A few of them have come among
us, and very properly we may make
some inquiry about their antecedents
and other distinguishing qualities.
Their presence is no menac to the
quiet of our homes and it is equally
certain that much of their energy is
applied, very efficiently, to forms Of
industry in which our country
men are 10th to engage.
In normal times there is work
enough for all, and while here and
interfering with no ones preroga-
tive simple justice requires fair deal
and the common courtesies of life to
all corners, who by their presence
with US have an implied claim
on the protection of a great and
generous people. No more nor less
is the simple duty of American civil
izatiOn.
The people with US hail from Cal
abria, a province Of Italy which
on the map forms the PENN
sula between the Tarantine and
Tyrrhenian a This district is al
most purely agricultural and there
one may still see forms of dress, and
which have changed very
little in centuries. In the larger
towns, on festival days, the pic
turesque costumes Of the women
and girls and the quaint sheepskin
jackets of the herdsnen attract the
interest of the occasional traveller.
Relative isolation has retarded the
growth of those amenities of civiliza-
ton n finds in the central and
northern provinces. Then again the
wretched misgovernment ofthe Span
ish vicerOys and later on of the Bour-
bon princes. has much to answer for,
in accounting for the present condi-
ton or southern Italy.
Carriages are. as a rule, unknown,
bullock carts and donkeys are the
usual means of conveyance.
The prevailing want is largely due
to the system of absentee proprie-
torship of great estates, which are
cultivated by gangs of men under
Overseers.
The proprietors live at Naples or
in a few large towns, and seldom
trouble themselves about their de-
pendants; a condition of things re-
minding US of affairs in France at
the time of Louis XIV.
If one asks a Calabrian peasant
what he gains, his pathetic answer
is oftentimes, Isl campa"-one ex-
lists.
Most primitive are their habits,
for there are few manufactures, and
trade and industrial relations, as we
know them, are there absolutely I'M
known.
Curiously enough the material
iron, with all the name implies
with which our newcomers are busy,
marks the immense difference be-
tween their civilization and ours.
Indeed, the use of glass became COM
mon in Naples, their largest city,
only about a century and a half ago.
Under the present government,
however, though the people are op-
pressed by enormous taxes, changes
for the better slowly find place, and
the south of Italy will some day riv-
al in prosperity the more fortunate
districts farther north.
The Italians with us are of a hardy
race, Injured to toll, and within the
rule of the survival Of the fttest have
proven themselves reliable and eff
cient workmen. In the words of one
of their foremen, "they are on hand
to begin work early on Monday
morning, and that is more than we
can say of men formerly in our en-
ploy, of other nationalities." Rare
ly does n become inebriated, and
it is easy to see that this trait counts
in their favor.
Like all people of the Latin race,
and in southern lands, they are
good natured and courteous under
kind treatment, but quick in resent
ment OF wrong.
Centuries of misgovernment, and
m~allormation of their civil and in
dustrial forces, are perhaps respon-
sible, in some degree, for this in
%stinct, which may have been original
ly one of representation. Be that