The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-05-24
a SAD pHAsE or ,.,FE,
ano Depiorable Slate OF Alters s,a eli
< MlninE Nisericts Of Sicily.

2ho DepiorAble Slate OF Alters an enc
Mining Dlssricts OF Sicily.
II is Mt once q startling and a reas-
curing fact that the labor Question in
Sicily seems mainly TO have interested
the medical phiIant hropist, such we'll
KNOWN biologists as Angelo Mosso, OF
Tprin, Cesare Lombroso of the same
school, and Napolcone Colaianni, Of
Mesaina, having each from. his own
standpoint contributed powerfully to
its calculation. Weisay 'startIngp
because a social evil that makes the
medical man intervene is one that af-
! fects the Vitality OF the popula alton, and
we say sreassuringr because when
such intervention has come about,there
is hope that the condition of things
will be improved. We leave on
enc side for The present Dr..
Colajanni's luminous expose OF the
horrors OF the sulphur lnines in Sicily
and we also postpone consideration of
DR.. Lonabroso's psychological study of
the effects Of ,he system on character
and development. Our present pur-
pose Is rather to draw attention to DR..
! Mosso's instructive facts and figures MS
to the physical deterioration induced
by such labor Of the Sicilian prole-
tariat. - 49,, 49, .~ Qx
Take, for example, the province OF
Caltanisetta FIJI the heart Of tlie 49,
land. and pond, = the following, stats
tics. In the four years from 1881 to
1884 the officers of the military levy
had 3,s72 young solfafari under scruti-
ny. OF these only s03 were found to
be At for service in the army; 1878
were riformati-that is, were ,tente-
lively declared to be fit, then broke
down after the regulation trials and
; had to be dismissed; and I 1885 were re-
manded for further inspection at the
next levy. Of the riformati 1899
proved to be defective as to
stature, 60 were incurably narrow
chested, 81 had constitutional debili-
ty, IS developed lnnlformation Of the
thorax, 49 were hunchbaclked, 20 had
other corporal deformities, Is labored
under malarial cachexia, IS became
blind, and so suffered from diverse ail-
Gin province under the resplendent
sky Of Italy, on a soil bursting with
fertility, in a land prolific in intelli-
gent sons-out OF S,672 young men
OF twenty only 2o3 found capable Of
military service. It is with great grief
and >dismay that we peruse these
figures and think on our native land"
Other provinces of Sicily showing
about third fewer reflections for the
military levy than Caltanisetta were
still far from presenting the normal de-
vel opment proper to youth mainly agri-
cultural in occupation; but the nadir OF
physical and mental abaseaent was
reached in the mining districts, where
the number Observation-Disclosures to read
and write) is about 90 per cent But
there is an antecendent condition even
worse than want of education. The
lives led by the poor children OF the
mines are in point Of decency, to say
nothing OF sanitary observance, as de-
graded as humanity has ever sunk to-
A small room will accommodate" the
young solfararo with six other persons
of both sexes and of all ages. AS often
as-not the pig, the goat. the ass, or,the
mule have share of the said ROOM"
and eve witnesses like DR.. Mosso and
Sig. Sonnino (the present finance min
lister of the Italian kingdom, whese'
book on Sicily is as painful as it is In
structive) could not penetrate into its
interior, such were the filth and the
offense to every sentient organ.-Lon'
5or, T,ancot