The National tribune., 1909-07-29
ITALIAN POVERTY.
II is Dull. Wretched and Hopeless Beyond
Description.

life-blood by emigration is we'll de-
scribed by Walter E. Weyl in the Amer
lean Review of Reviews
The terrible earthquake comes te
complete the misery of that region, an6
its future seems particularly hopeless
Italian publicists describe the emigra.
tion as "a hemorrilage which is draw
ing away the country's life
Z. There are two distinct races and peo-
pies in Italy, we'll separated by line
drawn east and west thru Rome North
of that line the people are more like
the French, BeIgians and Dutch. They
have probably the same strains of blood
in them, with a large Kettle and Ger
manic infusion. South of Rome the
country was filled up by the herds of
slaves which the Roman armies gath
cred up in northern Africa and Asia
Minor, and the people there to-day are
the progeny of those captives They
are poor beyond the lowest descrip-
tion of poverty to American ideas. since
the average income of family is less
than s16G a year, and more than half
of them have less than S100 year.
The population is exceedingly dense.
being about 300 to the square mile,
with many of these square miles arid
and infertile mountain slopes or mala-
rious bottom lands. There are few
mineral resources, no forests and hut
few navigable streams. The country is
far more denseiy crowded than Ger
many, Austria, Switzerland, France.
Denmark or Hungary. The birth rate
there is higher than anywhere else in
Europe, the lives of the people are
short, illiteracy is universal, and Il
mans chances in lif, are of the dimest
Migration has increased in the most
astonishing way in the last quarter OF
century. Prior to 1876 less than 20,-
600 Italians left the country annually,
but within the last 16 years $500. 300
have gone TO the United States, Brazil
and Argentina. In the United States
the ignorance, squalor and retarded
ideas of the people prevent them en-
tering into the National life. and they
have taken place in the cities with
the Russian Jews and the ncgros. They
fill up the Slums in the great cities, herd
together in the most miserable tene-
ments. and are regarded very much as
the Chinese are on the Pacific Coast In
Argentina the Italians have done better.
There is an immense extent of fertile
territory in a temperate climate, and
the Italian emigrant is encouraged to
go out on the pampas and establish
home of his own. OF the 100000
people in Argentina il is estimated that
at least 100000 are Italians, while
ef the rest one-third have Italian bloc
IN their veins 1t seems as if a new
Italy is rising in Argentina. with the
Italians having some share in the com
mercial, political and social life of the
country. The Italian language is not
so different from the Spanish spoke.:
In Argentina, and the chances are bet
ter for the Italian making his wa?
there than in the United States. where
not only the language but the customs
and the habits of thought Of the people
are so unlike those of Italy.
The emigrants have also gone in
great numbers to Brazil. attracted by
employment on the coffee plantations
AS many OF 1872, 900 went 10 Brazil in
one year. There the emigrants had to
compete as laborers- with the freed
pegros and the coolies. but they main
tanned themselves fairly well until the
price of coffee took such a terrible
slump, when the planters were unab'e
to pay wages. and emigration from ItalS.
into Brazil practically ceased.
The Italians are also going in great
numbers to TEnis and Algeria. and it
is expected that this flow will increase:
Altogether there are $4,000 Italians in
Tanis to 1000 Frenchmen, and 10000
in Algeria. 1t was the hope of the
Italian Government to establish a col
ohy in Abyssinia. but the humiliating
defeat of the Italian army by the Abys-
sinians brought this prospect to the
ground
A large number of the Italians w..o
come to this country save their money
carefully, and go back to Italy to live
upon their accumulations. A few hun
dfed American dollars makes re-
turned emigrant seem like millionaire
may seem, with a great deal of Amer
lean independence and self-assertion.
which is not pleasing to the people and
authorities OF his home village He
wears cheap New York clothes. which
look to his home folks like the garb
OF pretense and luxury.
The emigrants to South America and
northern Africa do not come back to
display their wealth in this way. They
do not get such startling roll of dol
lars at the end of the week. but ac-
cumulate slowly, drudging on from day
20 day and putting their little savings
into houses, farms and stock.
PitIabIe Conditions.
The conditions in the districts from,
which most of this astonishing emigra-
Eon has gone are lamentahle. The Wig
orous young men have left, and the
work has to be done by the women,
. Old men and boys, with continual
falling rate of wages and amount Of
production. The pay of boys is as low
as tive cents a day, and that of women
only a little higher.
Mr.. Weyl thus describes the appear
ance of the country which has suffered
from the blight of emigration:
The drain of an excessive emigra-
ton upon the wretched populations OF
the deserted villages of southern Italy
reinforces the century-old habit to u e
in all sorts of ill-conducted, wastcful
employments the odds and ends the
scraps and dregs of life, the unripe be-
ginnings. the final worthless remnants
Not even this drafting OF women. chill
dren. idiots and cripples suffices alway !:
to keep alive the culture of the soil
Agriculture recedes. The pillow disa p
pears. and iocks OF goats take its place
Sometimes, for lack of shepherds, even
pasture is abandoned, and the land,
void of dwellers, surrenders at discrs-
tion to the investing malaria.
These villages, deserted OF their in
habitants. present a dolefui picture. The
hamlets, resting in the shadow of great
trecless mountains, seem shorn of hope
as of people. In the narrow, tortuous
streets, losing themselves in beNiider-
Ing Iabyrinths. heaps of muck, OF garb-
! age of decaying animal and vegetable
matter mount higher and higher before
tumble-down houses Everywhere are
Z signs of the blight. On every street
are hOuseS that Were-emptV shells