The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-09-07

the case Of Sicilian. meet policeman
on the outskirts Of the city who takes
one fifth of his cotton, corn, eggs, or
whatever no happens to have away
from him. before he VIII allow him to
enter the town.
One day while l was walking along
the edge OF the harbor in Catania
noticed man who was at work mend
ing high wire netting, about twenty
or thirty feet high, which extended
along the edge of the water. l saw
that 1T extended as far as | could SEQ.
| Upon inquiry l learned that 1t was
placed there to prevent the fisher
men, whom l noticed constantly COM
Ing and going with their little sail
| ing boats, from bringing their fish
| into the city without paying the tax
At the customs house, where the
fisherman land l observed one of these
fisherman, who had landed with a
small quantity Of fish, which he was
carrying to the market near by, stop
and tumble in his clothes, trying to
IL.
When he could not find sufficient
money to pay the sum demanded, he
left two small fish behind with the
collector to cover the amount of the
tax.
Upon inquiry l learned that it was
the custom, when fisherman did not
have cash to pay the tax which the
city imposed, to permit him to deposit
a portion of his catch until he had
sold the remainder. This poor man
after he had disposed of the remain
der Of his fish, would therefore be
compelled to return and redeem the
two little fish he had left behind. In
this cumbersome and expensive way
is this veXatious tax collected in all
the cities of Sicily.
Fish is the cheapest and most album |
dant food the poor in the city can
get to eat. The sea, just beyond their
doors, is swarming with this kind of |
food. Nevertheless the city maintains |
an expensive army of officials to col |
lect this miserable little tax upon the
necessities of the poor.
The yearly income of a laborers |
family in Catania is about $50 lire a |
year. or this amount it has been |
reckoned that in the way of taxes up
on food stuffs brought into the city, |
the laborer pays 100 lire, or one-fifth |
of his whole income.
In spite of all that has been pro-
posed and attempted to improve con-
ditions in Sicily since that island be-
came part of the Italian Confedera-
ton. the government has failed, so |
far as | can learn, to gain the conf |
dence, respect and cooperation Of the
masses of the people. Naturally, con-
ditions which have grown up in the |
course Of hundreds Of years and have |
become fixed in the minds and habits !
of all classes Of the people cannot be |
changed suddenly. The further | have |
looked into the situation in Sicily the
more | am convinced that, different as
it is in details the problem of Sicily |
is fundamentally the same as that
which we have here to face in the |
Southern States since the war 1t is, |
in short, problem Of education, and
by that / mean education which seeks |
to touch, to lift aud inspire the man
at the bottom, anG fit him for prac-
teal daily life.
In this opinion 1 dnd that l am in |
agreement with the members of the
commission which was appointed by
the Italian government in 1886 to in
vestigate the condition of the pea
SAINTS in Southern Italy, particularly |
in their relation to the landed prop
rietors. The report Of the commits
sion, which has been recently made, |
fills several large volumes, but the |
substance Of it seems to be, as far as
l can learn, that the root Of the evil
is in the ignorance of the rural popu-
lation. One Of the effects of Italian
immigration to America will probably
be the establishment of a popular
school system for the people of the
land.