El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-16


Often, when some native American
tries to explain to me the status OF
Italians in the United States. L am
told, We do not usually see cultured
Italians over here. We only get the
lowest type, ignorant uneducated, SUI
perstitiOus peasants from the south.
Just Sicilians
Ha. Just Sicilians.
1 take no offense though 1 do not
agree in the least. There are north
ern Italians who, speaking from re-
gionaI point of view, will make you
feel that the excelIency of our people
increases with the native cold they are
exposed to, and that the cream Of our
nation is only to be found near the
Alps Americans should realize that
the boast of the northerner is not 10
be accepted IN condemnation of the
southerner For what happens within
their own gates?
ShiftIess South.
The men from the north will tell
you that the south is shiftless, that
commerce. learning and philanthropy
flourish in the colder regions, but the
southerners say that to look for ch1vaI-
~, manners. that indeffnable something
that make up the real gentleman, you
must go south of the Mason and Dix
on line. though even there things have
deteriorated nightly since the war
Fasteners declare that people in the
west speak vile English The latter
assert that you might just as well bury
yourself in the old country as TO i've
in Boston or Philadelphia All agree
that the American who makes himself
known abroad is your worst type
Loyal TO United States
But all this is counteTacted by loyal
Z
To the United States, and by an unwil-
1ingness TO admit that any land ex-
cells this realm in anything In this
thew differ materially from our south
ern Italian He waits for you to give
him praise He IS silent and dlnl-
dent. He neither brags nor tells you
how deeply you wound him when you
attack his ideals Yet. what can
these people. crowded together under
impossible conditions in New YORK, not
boast Of? More than that, they are
loyal to the country that gives them
the bread they starve on That single
trait suffices to give them a place
among the chosen races Of the world
was visiting a poor Calabrese lam
f1v when I met a Sicilian laborer VINO
interested ME by the remarkable cor
RICHNESS of his italian. As soldier
he had been stationed in several OF our
large cities. He entered into remark
able discussion of the industrial con-
ditions Of both countries
A Hard Country.
But how do you like this country.
finally asked. for he had carefuly
avoided making any complaint.
He pulled himself up, looked at me
for a moment in silence and then. drop
ming suddenly into the touching me-
dioeva1 forms of his own dialect, he
exclaimed:
.Sister do you want me TO answer
thee before God? I do not like this
country and do not like the people
IF has been a hard country for me-
But I earn the bread I eat from them
and as long as I eat their bread L
shall saw nothing against them when
I can stand 1t no longer. l snalI 90
hack TO my own land and curse them
| from thare-"
Tovaltv is the most striking char
ac+eristic of the Sicilians who perhaps
suffer more than any other people m
New York. from an unjustfed popular
nreiudice. which classes them Whole-
So1e With criminals and blackhanders
They are different and not easy 10
approach in a country where they are
| constantly exposed to fraud and GRIM
| fral greed but once they have recOg-
r1lZ
/ fer and die for you. It is in the Ital-
| ian army and navy, when during ma
tional catastrophes the men from one
region hasten to succor those OF an
! other, that the answering heroism or
| orr men has proved itself. and never.
never have our southerners been known
! to hold back at the moment OF danger
Loyalty and Courage.
Tovaltv and courage are. you may
| saw barbaric traits and do not show
that they. the Sicilians particularly,
are not an uncultured. ignorant. su-
perstitious race. But what is the her
/ itage of these people? First the mag
nifcent culture of the Magma Graecia-
| Has that. after more than 1000 years.
/ entirely disappeared? No indeed The
! unwisely despised dialects Of the peas
/ ants from the mountains OF southern