Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-06-22
Conditions Of Labor and
Its European Situation
Italians Seem Terminated With Spirit of Ances-
tors-More Than 100000 Are Emigrating Ev>
cry Year From Italy's Sunny Slopes-Grave
Question.

BtNWtt IN iWAul W OtutI IuIuES Dc-
sides indiscreet maidens, The name
Of Italy suggests Il fruitful. as we'll as
a beautiful land, The name In It's
most ancient form signifies abun.
dance of food. The earliest Greek col.
onists discovered the attractions Of
the land and founded cities all over
the lower part of the peninsula. The
greatest n In those days. as In our
day, was Naples. Neapolis--the New
City-it vas In Greek. The whole
country took the nam of Greater
Greece. SO thoroughly was It owned
by the colonists. And at much later
period the cry Of Goth. Hun. Visigoth
and Vandal was beyond the Alps lies
Italy" and those magic words put
new life and hope into the heart Of
the warriors who had come from the
shores Of the Caspian sea and from
the central plains Of Asia. as well as
from the lands OF northern winters, to
seek new homes In far-off lands.
Through all the ages. to artists, to
students, travellers. poets and dream
ers- as well as to the weak and sick,
the charm of Italy has appealed in
various ways. and many lips have
lisped in ecstacy, beyond the Alps lies
Italy. II Is to us, from the new world,
across the ocean so long unknown IN
til a great son Of Italy dared TO brave
its terrors and seek the other half Of
the world. In this twentieth century
the witchery of the words is as potent
as to the Huns who climbed to
capped Alpine heights. sat down on
their bucklers and slid into the sunny,
verdant. fruitful fields below the cold
heights from which they first beheld
the glory of that land of perpetual
sunshine. Sapphire eas washed the
land on three sides and the Alps
guarded it from the approach of polar
currents of air on the north.
Italy is eleven times larger than
Belgium, and 1t has only four times
the population of that kingdom. 1t is
half as large as France and has prac-
tically as large a population. over
32,500, 900. compared with about 3S.-
900, 900. Belgium as has been seen,
has close to GOO persons on each
square mile. Italy has only about half
as many. But Italy is much more
mountainous than either Belgium or
France. The chain of the Apennines
cuts the peninsula almost from north
to south with rugged spurs running
toward the sea east and west. SO
there is much more waste land in
Italy than in either of the countries
just compared.
Revivina Italy.
Italy has ben among the last coun-
tries of Europe to feel the pulsations
of the great development in industries
and learning which has shaken so
proounfdly the world of the present
day. While great awakening and re-
vival has taken place all the way from
the British isles to the furthest con-
fines Of Germany, while France and
Belgium have been putting forth ear
nest %endeavors to keep pace with
the progress of the age, Italy has lain
past which made her ancient people
glorious; singing, painting, carving
beautiful figures out of marble, or mo
deling them out of bronze. but letting
the great work-a-day world whirl past
with its increasing wealth and lux
ury and saying in her heart Dolce
far niente," and thinking how hard
the mans lot is who has to toll. The
sun was warm, life in Italy called for
little. One could be comfortable with
out grand houses and rich clothing
and indigestible d~elicacies.
But that is all changed. Italy of
today has awakened out of this sleep
and from these dreams. The terrible
modern fever which drives us all to
attempt so much in order to struggle
up nearer the top in material things
and in intellectual things is raging in
the veins of sunny Italy. The spirits
Of the founders of the race seem to
have come back from the other world
and taken possession OF the bodies
of their descendants. The old rover
of the seas, Aeneas, and the Greeks
who founded Naples, seem to animate
the present generation Of Italians. The
world opens up before their vision
and shows them great prizes to be
gained by effort. The Italian who
seems so content to stay at home, take
things easy and bask in the beams OF
his eternal sunshine, has become the
veriest globe-trotter of us all. Belg-
ians continue to crowd upon their
ancestral lands until there is scarcely
standing room left for them. The
French, like all people of Celtic
blood, are very fond of the land OF
their birth. They are forced out OF
the crowded where scant
bread Is to be gained, but they go re-
luctantly and not until they must
move on. For a population of 3S,OO0,-
900 a maximum Of $4,000 emigrants a
year is a small figure. The Italians
are going out into the world in mil