Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-11-29
PEASANT LIFE IN ITALY
MEN AND WOMEN LABOR IN FIELDS
FROM DAWN TILL DARK.

From sunny Italy came the anarch-
list who slew the Empress Elizabeth,
President Carnot, Prime Minister
Canovas and finally Humbert himself.
In sunny Italy is probably the rank
est growth of anarchy and socialism
in all Europe. And in the sunny
plains and valleys Of northern Italy is
what perhaps is the worst condition
of serfdom that exists in Europe to-
day. Here in the provinces that bord-
er on the river Po-Lombardy, Vene-
tia and Emilia-the p0asantry stagger
under burdens SO depressing and uE-
bending that it is no wonder that the
extract from this human press is an
archy and socialism. 1t is i'll these
provinces that the ferment Of social
ism has worked the most. Here the
peasants are organized more or less
completely into socialistic groups.
Whatever of worth there was in the
old system Of labor in these provinces
disappeared twenty years ago when
many of the old mobiles were forced IT,
give up their landed estates because
of the fall in price Of wheat and cat
tie, due largely to American compe-
tition. With the ruin of the mobiles
came that OF many of the tenant
farmers and small proprietors, who
We're compelled to leave the fertile
and smiling country and so into the
towns for work, or else emigrate to
America, there to begin life anew.
The field laborers Of Italy are divid-
ed into two classes, the obbligati, who
are hired by the year, and the disob-
bligati, who are employed by the day.
The former class, Of course, are a lit
tie better off than the latter. for their
contract runs longer, and they can
look further ahead. But in either
class the outlook is miserable enough.
For not only does the peasant bind
himself to work for his owner, but he
binds his whole family, with the pos
sible exception of babes. who would
be included, except that they can pro-
duce nothing, and therefore are left
in the corners Of the fields. For this
reason, that an employer can get the
services of an entire family for the
price of one man, an unmarried man,
or the man with wife and no chill
dren, is at great disadvantage, for
work for him is not to be had as long
as there are unemployed families at
hand. Yet another hard feature OF
this system is that the head of the
family must stipulate, if he has un-
married daughters, that they shall not
marry for the period of time which
the contract has to run.
A days work in this part Of sunny
italy is from in the morning to 0 at
! night-that is, from the first flush of
dawn to the last light to be had from
\ the setting sun. There is no Sunday
in the calendar OF the Italian peasant.
On the day Of the week which all
Christendom observes, as on other
days, he is in the field at o'clock il
the morning, and between and S
has his breakfast; he gets an hour
at midday and half an hour at 8 or 6
o'clock, and then he works on until
he no longer can see.
The women so into the fields with
the men. They hoe in the maize fields,
feed the cattle and cultivate the flax.
If the children are babes they can do
nothing-to the great sorrow of the
employer for they eat, if ever so little,
but do not produce. But when they
get to be a few years old they are
useful in looking after the pigs, etc,
and as soon as possible they are sent
to wo"k with their parents. The stu
alton in the green fields of Italy is
about as complete refutation of the
Malthusian theory as its most ardent
opponent could desire, for it is the
man with many children who gets
the most out of life as it is lived in
sunny Italy.
The wages of the peasants family
are partly in money and partly in
kind, and he has the privilege of rent
free. In cash he gets from $15 to $50
year; ii kind he get fourteen bushels
of maize, seven bushels of wheat and
from 200 to 250 bundles Of frewood.
If he is in q vineyard section he re-
ceives in addition 500 to 900 pounds of
grapes, while in other sections he gets
six to nine bushels of rye. He may
get some rice, which he mixes with
the millet to produce the indigestible
bread which is responsible for the dis
ease called pellagra.
Then he may have the privilege of
a little Patch Of ground on which he
may raise maize, two-thirds Of which
goes to the employer, and he may raise
silk worms, too.
y So the average PEASANTS family of
fsix persons may earn altogether from
S120 to $12o a year.
The house Of the Italian peasant
usually contains several other fami-
lies. A lodging consists of kitchen,
a bed room and two other small rooms.
IN the older houses oiled paper an
swers for window, and the houses
are damp, moldy and smoky.
OF course the food of family
whose united income is about six cents
a day is bound to be rather meager.
Polenta, which is flour of maize