The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-04-24
FRIDAY. APRIL "a, 1905.
EMIGRATION FROM ITALY.

.hy EMIGRATION FROM ITALY.
viscount Lestrado pointed out last
summer that II emigration from Sicily
/. continued for thirty years at the eX-
/, listing rate, the island would be left
italy show the same condition. we'll
/ Informed italian, writing in Charities
I. and the Commons. states that the town
1 OF Potenza, for example. which had a
population of 2o,353 In 1881. lost one
fifth Of It's numbers In the twenty years
ensuing. Acri. in Calabria, with pop
u:ation OF 1894 lost ais able bodied
men In 1904 and osl men, women and
children in 1906. San Fill. with 5000
! in 1898. has lost nearly third of its
population.
OF late years the storage has been
rapidly depopulating Southern Italy.
The Charities writer Mr.. Antonio Man
gano, tells US that the peasant never
thinks OF moving from one town to
another to improve his condition. 1t is
so much easier to cross the ocean, and
this possibility Of improving his con-
dition constantly presses upon him.
Why should he want to leave his faith
erlandag Mr.. Mangano put this ques-
: ton to many mayors and communal
} secretaries, and everywhere got the
same answer-"Miseria, miseria. mis-
eria"
The cotadino. or peasant lives in a
wretched straw and mud hut. which
he frequently shares with his donkey,
pig or chickens. He starts to work be-
fore sunrise and continues at 1t till
dark, for which labor he receives per-
haps 30 cents day. His bill OF fare
ignores meat, and consists of such
Inadequate fuel as black bread, corn
meal mush and olive oil, onions, goats
cheese and boiled potato. He suffers
thescurse OF absentee landlordism, with
the usual dire results, and, not least OF
ali, is ground down by a grinding and
obnoxious system of taxation. Half
the population OF Italy, 1t must be re-
ncembered, are cotadini. and the vital
connection between man and land is
shown in the fact that short crops al
I, ways mean large emigration, and Vice
versa.
The poor land-tillers condition was
bearable to him only so long as he
thought 1t unacceptable: but now the
thlrd-class passage rates have opened
a his eyes. From his countrymen in
America come glowing letters. Much
moro oonclusively come also thousands
of lire TO thett Village post-off every
month. Finally the emigrant himself
returns for a trip home, in store shir,
end necktle, and with money in his
pocket-palpably a gentleman. More.
over. the steamship placards and the
steamship agents go everywhere. tell.
Inc. lnsistently OF land of promise
Small wonder that the downtrodder
peasant. possibly facing starvation mex
winter, sells his hut or negotiates {
loan and buys an emigration tax re
ce!pt and a cheap ticket. Small wonde
that the emigrant traffic between Ital
Ian and American ports reaches tn.
vast total ;of s36.o0oooO annually. ant
that nearly 100000 Italians pour int,
this country in a single year.
But this expatriation, drastic as it is
must In the end prove a blessing t,
Italy. 1t IS operating through a nat
ural law, which does not make mis-
takes 1t will work out in reduce
rents, higher wages and a general,
improved scale OF living, The Italian
who enigrates generally ameliorate
his condition. and, on the whole, is
help to the country OF his adoptio.
The ono who stays at home, rid o, tn
emiErantS competition. is able to ap
proach nearer to prosperity. The la,
OF supply and demand may do NOR
for the cotadini than they ever coul
do for themselves.