Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1906-12-14
LIVING IN SLAVERY.
PlTiFui PLIGHT or ITALIAN emil
5s GRANTS IN BRAZIL. 81
Completely at the Mercy OF Cruel
'Taskmasters, unfortunates Wear
Out Their Lives In Hardest
Is ~. al Kind Of Toll. 3Ei .54

IL
Out Their Lives In Hardest
Kind Of Toll.
For the last few years Italian peas
antry have been encouraged to emf
crate to Brazil, and Roman and Flor
entine reviews have published arti-
cles setting forth the advantages Of
South America FOR the exploit ation OF
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 i Ris-
tori, who writes. from San Paulo, the
condition OF the Italian farm laborers
In that region Is most deplorable.
|. Writing in the University Poplorae
4 (Mantua) he speaks of the miserable
slavery OF his fellow countrymen.
!, They are compelled to work from IL
to Ia hours a day. The food given
them is both unwholesome and insult
foient. Physical and moral degen-
Grafton has resulted from the hor-
rors of their lot and they have sunk
into 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: .l.:5
"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 Hike swine
in the mud OF novels destitute OF
light or fresh air. Here they are sex-
posed to the weather, to disease, to all
the pestilential vapors of night, with
no alienation for their exhaustion ex-
j, cepting few hours Of sleep between
sunset and dawn. After years Of
WEAKNESS 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 IL
gone. Even their countenances be-
tray their condition. for privation and
suffering have emsciated and turned
them into tha;aspect Of skeletons"
The personal liberty of the Italian
settlers has become subject to the
whims of cruel taskmasters, and the
law In San Pauio affords no redress.
Mr. Ristori tells us.
On the fazendas the Italian colon
lists count for nothing. They are mere
ly, chattels gifted with the power of
locomotion, 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
vsreiy 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 a worse
fate ss
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:
1 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 50 freely hear are q 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
j the owners OF the fazendas, and the.
I horrors Of slavery, apparently put q,
1 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,
i lie. = NJ ND MI