The San Francisco call., 1908-10-04
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By. Katherine Osbourne

italian port bound for New York
harbor. and vice versa, is laden
between decks with italian emf
grants, drawn from the peasant labor
ing class The great partitionless.
common compartments simply swarm
with them. Animals could not survive
at sea so closely packed in.
The ships company supplies them
no comforts whatever. and only the
barest necessities. Except for an alley
along either outside wall. forming
place to stand and wash, the whole
space allotted TO them is filled with
sleeping berths. These are nothing
more than shelves arranged like those
IN a dairy where cheeses are set away
10 ripen-two and three TERED. and row
on row. so close together there is
scarcely room for the occupants TO pass
between. There are no cupboards nor
places Of any description where the
emigrsnts could stow their belongings
or lay their clothes II inclined to dis
robe al night, except on their berths
or in lieu Of pillows. An iron pipe
running the length of the ship along
the bulwarks and near the floor. with
faucets at intervals of four or five feet,
supplies drinking and washing water
An open sluice underneath carries off
the drippings. sloppings and emptyings.
There is a pail provided to every Is
or 20 persons to wash in, TO be filled
and emptied by each user. There is no
dining nor lounging saloon, no chairs
no tables anywhere. The emigrants
spend their nights in the hold and the
day squatting about on the open deck
above. They eat their food on the deck
also. When the meal bell sounds in
the morning. at noon and at evening,
each emigrant. bearing a small sized
tin dishpan and a tin cup apiece. falls
into line and files past the galley, to
receive a loaf Of bread. a portion OF a
sorI Of stew and. from - barrel near
by. wine of an inferior quality of claret
Returning TO their places. they spread
their food on the floor beside them and,
breaking their bread with their hands,
sop and lift up their stew with il,
washing down their food with wine.
Afterward their dishes are washed al
the water taps by themselves and set
away on their berths until the next
feeding.
There is no care taken 81 the steer
age quarters and In rough weather the
closed parts shut out the little air that
comes in at the best OF times The
hole quickly becomes foul, and what
the stencil is below can be guessed
By the odor that reaches from the COM
any human creatures can endure such
conditions. even for a fortnight, is a
matter OF wonderment; and especially
these peasants taken from the open
field, from the sweet, fresh air of the
country. That they suffer is unde-
nisble.
The numerous bands Of Italian la
boIers (for they are that rather than
true emigrants, as they do not seek
an abiding place. crossing and recross-
ing the seas that lie between their ma
tive land and that which in a sense is
theirs by right Of discovery. is the
most lucrative cargo-and from the ac-
cOmmodations furnished them it is not
a figurative way Of speaking to class
them so--that the Mediterranean liners
carry. Thirty-five dollars is the aver
age price of fare. more than
half Of that Of second class. where two
or three persons only occupy a state
room and 2 dining and smoking saloon
are provided.
What of these numberless peasants
that undergo such discomforts, suffer
ines. dangers. extortions. to cross those
wastes Of water. And what induces
them to part with home and family
and native land to which they are al
ways deeply attached, even for the
few short years they usually remain
in the Americas. both north and south?
Il is not to live better. 10 improve
The conditions to which they were
ssrn. 20 nave greater comforts; not
merely 10 obtain the high wages for
labor that America offers. 1t is to
live at all: to continue as their for
bears have done The 25 or 80 cents
a day the cOntadini can earn dressing
the vineyards Of their padrone. gath
ering the olives and pressing the oil,
tending the silk worms, fishing the
Tyrrhenian and Adriatic, planting and
reaping wheat fields no bigger than a
floor leading the goats in cities from
house TO house for the milking. or
the heifers with their young calves
led to their horns. or hawking from
town to town the products OF the
country-such wages viii do for
young man up to Il or is years Of
age But more than likely there is