Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-20
Italians in New York.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:

| To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
| / am indebted to a friend of mine residing
| in Norfolk, Va, for a clipping of a letter
sent to your paper by your New York cor
respondent under date of May ., relative
to the effects of the Venice incident upon
the Italians living in the city of New York.
Were it not for the fact that the Journal
istic profession has certain amount OF OBJ
legations, l would not lose a minute of time
in refuting the absolutely unfounded asser-
lions made by c. L. C. regarding the con-
ditIons of the Italian colony in this city; but
inasmuch as we as journalists owe some
respect to the public who buys papers,
and also because 1 do not think it is honest
for a correspondent to impose upon the
good faith of a newspaper which naturally
pays him in order to obtain facts-facts
based upon truth and not upon imagination
1 beg leave to enter my protest against
the publication of such lbelous statements
as those contained in the correspondence re-
ferred to.
Your correspondent. who, by the way.
seems to enjoy referring to the Italians as
"Dagoes' and who undoubtedly does not
even know the origin and meaning of the
epithet, has informed the readers of The
Star that the Italians, morally, socially and
economically, are far below the Chinese,
and he also asserts that the average New
Yorker believes that instead of ChineEe
exclusion law there ought to be law mot
only providing LOT the tAcluSlbll VI lldlldils,
but providing for the deportation of those
who are already in this country. particular
ly those who cling to New York.
Now, 1 would humbly suggest to the gem
tleman to peruse. for a moment the real
estate statistics of the city of New York,
and, after noting how many Italians are
large owners of real property in Greater
New York, l wish he would oblige me with
a list of Chinese property owners Of this
city. Let him, for instance, take a look at
the list of Italians who hold responsible po-
stions in private and public administra-
lions of this city, and then let him inform
the readers of The Star how many Chinese
are so called upon to fill positions of trust2
Your correspondent has the audacity to
publicly proclaim that the Italians hate
America and Americans with hatred that
is an unquenchable flame within them. II
the gentleman would take little trouble
and peruse the records of the War Depart
ment and see how many Italians bravely
and periodically have answered the call to
arms during the late Spanish-American
war, he might perhaps modify his judgment
as to the loyalty of the Italian immigrants.
He claims that few of them have any incli-
nation desire to learn the English lam
guage, and again l would, respectfully, re.
fer him to the statistics OF the board OF
education of New York city, and he would
very readily be convinced of the contrary.
Only blind prejudice must be responsible
for such an unjust and un1ustlhabie ar
raignment against whole class OF people
who have helped and are constantly help
ing making America and the United States
what they are. And were 1t not for the
uncalculable damage which such screeds
produce, it would not be worth while to an
swer them. The writer who is an Italian
by birth and an American by adoption,
fears that If articles the one published
by your paper should be translated and re-
printed abroad, they would certainly pro-
duce a very false impression of the charac-
ter and feelings of the Americans in so far
as they concern the Italians In this country:
and il is because such sentiments are SO
utterly un-American that l. not Ital-
IAN but above all as an American, desire
to correct through your courtesy any bad
impression that they may have produced.
LOUIS CASABONA,
90 Center street, New York