Gilpin observer., 1906-12-13
LIVING in SLAVERY.
PiTiFuL PLIGHT OF ITALIAN Emil
GRANTS y BRAZIL. =
Completely at the Mercy Of Cruel
Taskmasters, Unfortunates Wear
Out Their Lives in Hardest
Kind of Toll.

For the last few years Italian peas
antry have been encouraged to emil
CRATE to Brazil, and Roman and Flor
entine reviews have published ard-
cles setting forth the advantages. of
South America for the exploitation ol
Italian capital and labor. says the Lit
erary Digest. In the year 1904, we
are told. there were 100000 Italians
settled in Brazil. 100000 being in San
Paulo, in the south region of the re-
public But according to Oreste Ris-
tori, who writes from San Paulo, the
condition of the Italian farm laborers
in that region is most deploraDie.
Writing in the University Poplorae
(Mantua), he speaks of the miserable
slavery of his fellow countrymen,
They are compelled to work from II
to IA hours a day The food given
them is both unwholesome and insul-
ficient. Physical and moral degen-
Grafton has resulted from the nor
rors of their lot and they have sunk
into q condition below that OF the
brutes. This writer says that al
though heavy taxation and capitalistic
oppression have driven them to FOR
eign lands, they find after some years
in South America they have merely
jumped out of the frying pan into
the fire. To quote:
"On their arrival in Brazil they are
distributed through the fazandas or
farms of the country, and are com
PEELED to labor far beyond their
strength, badly fed, lodged like swine
in the mud of novels destitute of
light or fresh air Here they are ex-
posed to the weather to disease. to all
the pestilential vapors of night, with
NO. .alleviatiol for their exhaustion eX-
cepting a few hours of sleep between
sunset and dawn. After years OF
weariness and tribulation our slaves
of the soil, those strong and indom-
: liable cultivators of the ground, are
. not longer recognizable. Their physi-
cal constitution is broken, their
strength is exhausted, their blood be-
comes impoverished, their spirit is
gone Even their countenances be-
tray their condition, for privation and
suffering have emaciated and turned
them into the aspect of skeletons.
The personal liberty of the Italian
settlers has become subject to the
whims of cruel taskmasters, and the
law in San Paulo affords no redress.
Mr.. Ristori tells us.
On the fazendas the Italian colon
lists count for nothing. They are mere
ly schattels gifted with the power of
2Ocomotion, and their masters have
absolute right to them, as to the ne
groes who were formerly their slaves
They are compelled to give up all
their human rights, to think only of
their duty and to conform to the local
estimate of their own inferiority to
their masters, at the risk of being Sc
verely punished. Meekness and res
ignation are indispensable requisites
in avoiding the lash of the slave driver
or foreman, and only in this way
can the laborers escape from worse
fate"
The worse fate" is forfeiture of
wages. torture and sometimes death.
The laws and the Italian consulate
have no protection for the Italian
farm hands of San Paulo. Thus:
"The laws of the land. which breathe
the spirit of the fullest liberalism,
have no force in protecting the Italian
colonist All the guarantees of which
we so freely hear are mere dead
letter as regards him. The police in
yariably favor the assassins. and the
magistrates exculpate them. Their ex-
cellencies the Italian consuls dine with
the owners of the fazendas, and the
horrors of slavery. apparently put a
stop to by Brazilian Legislation, are
actually brought back again in all
their frightful cruelty and still -four
ish under the blue sky of the repub-
lic.''