The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-21

few dollars, the giving of a few words
of advice at such critical time may
make all the difference to mans sue
cess or failure in life. Without little
help he is likely to drift about the city
until he becomes hopelessly destitute.
New York has become the great CEN
trail market of the country for Italian
labor. Immigrants who land at Boston
and other ports usually come on to
New York at once, while those who go
to distant parts of the country in
search of work, and fail to find it,
promptly return to the metropolis. The
newcomers seldom have more than
about $40 by the time they have set
tied down in New York and unless
they find work at once they are pretty
sure to need the aid of the Italian Be
nevolent Institute or of one or other of
the hundred and fifty Italian societies
in the metropolis.
Italians Are Provincial.
italians of the lower class are the
most provincial people in the world
They are wonderfully generous to
their townspeople. A Napoletano will
help a Napoletano, but feels no special
call to assist a Veneziano or a Sici-
liano Thus there are societies in
America representing every nook and
corner of Italy, and a man from any
part of the old peninsula can obtain
relief at the hands of men from his
own town or district.
The Italian does not lack the in
stinct of charity or mutual helpful
ness, but at present he lacks the in
stinct in broad sense" said Antonio
Mangano who Is an authority on the
life of the Italians in America. He
would take the bread from his own
mouth in order to help his fellow
townsmen; there is nothing he would
not do for his 'paesano, but II must
not be expected that he will manifest
such an attitude toward all Italians
But were 1t not for this strong feel
ing, even though limited to small
groups, we should have many more
calls upon public charity on the part
of the Italians than we now do
The Greatest of All EmIgratOrs.
This is generally true of all classes
of immigrants. The Italians have been
dealt with particularly because at the
present time they contribute most to
the volume of immigration. But all
the national societies are saving large
sums of money to Americans-money
which would otherwise be paid out in
the form of public or private charity
That. however, is not the most impor-
tant feature of their work. They take
the raw material the immigrant just
out of the steerage, and begin to trans
form him into a good American citi-
zen from the moment he sets foot on
the soil of the United States.
Take, for example, the case of An
gelo Mamma, a bright-eyed Italian
youngster, 10 years old, who arrived
in this country a year or two ago. He
came alone in the steerage to join his
big brother, whose address he did not
know. Search for him being apparent
ly unavailing. Angelo was to be de-
ported, but one of the Italian society's
employees got him an extension of time
Next day a letter containing S. ar
rived from the brother who followed It
in person and carried Angelo off in
triumph to grow up a little American.
While he was at Ellis Island the
agents of the society told him about
the greatness of the United States and
gave him some elementary lessons in
citizenship.
Angelo had the clearest possible idea
as to why he came here. One day
they took his photograph at Ellis Is
land, and the photographer suggested
that he had better remove two huge
chunks of bread from his coat pock-
cts.
Let it be-" said Angelo, II came to
America for bread"
That is the case with all immigrants,
and their fellow-countrymen take care
that they have a fair chance Of get
ting 1t.
Copyright, 1904. by T. C. Mcclure