Evening star., 1921-01-02

peasant, the worst treated of all.
tyrannized by the last gabellotto. who
watches over him with armed guards.
The peasant is poor and has to Dor
row from the gabellotto the money
to buy seed. pay the rent of his cot
tage and buy food and the gabellotto
lends him the money at 80 to so per
cent interest.
1t is not easy to break up this eco
nomic organization. The latifondo
(great estate) is not a caprice of his
tory. 1t comes into being through
lack of water. through malaria which
prevents the peasants from living on
the land. through lack of roads. lack
of police, which renders it inadviSa-
BILE for men, women and live stock
to, stray far from the villages.
Struggle Without Violence.
Under these conditions one can un-
derstand that the agrarian struggle
has gone on for a hundred years in
Sicily. The peasant wants the land.
but If he obtains it he often has to
abandon it for want of capital, and
security to the large landowner, or
especially to the gabellotto. This lat
ter, on account of his usury and ex-
tortion. is the most hated men.
But this struggle is not violent. The
only exception was the case of the
Duke of Bivona. a Spaniard living in
Spain and possessing a large prop
erty, an inherited feudal tenure, at
Ribera. He came to Rome this year
to sell part of his land to the gabel-
lotti. In Rome he found representa-
tives of the soldiers co-operatives,
who offered him 100000 lire (nor-
mally S600.000). He went down to his
property. perhaps to get better terms.
But during the night, the whole vii
lage, Catholics and soldiers, assaulted
the castle with stones, besieged 1t,
invaded lit and forced the duke to
agree to cede the land they wanted.
Land to the Peasantx.''
The invasion of land began after
the war. at the time of the elections
(November. 1910. The Hon. Drago,
reform socialist. had started during
the war cry of: "The land to the
peasants" But the Catholics have the
historic merit of starting the inva-
sions at San Giuseppe Jato and San
Cipirrello in the province of Palermo.
These invaSions were of peaceful
nature. The leaders did not intend to
invade the land but wanted only the
right to cultivate it, paying so much
to the owner. The peasants started
from their village. on foot or on mule
back, carrying red or Italian flags, or
DotH tOSelHeT, oT tIit CIOSS, anu leu
by an ex-officer. by one of the mid
die classes, by a priest or friar on
horseback When they reached the
ground the flag was planted and arm
ed guards were left. while the rest
went off to ask permission of the au-
thorities to 1egalize their conquest. If
the projects refused this authorize
tion there was no resistance.
Government Remains Inactive.
The povernment took the same at
titude in this matter as in the strug-
gle of the metal workers. Giolitti is
convinced that the social transforma-
tion movement ought not to be him
dered. Nitti also held this view
Therefore the DEGREES of Visocchi, of
Falcioni and recently of Michel au-
thorize the invasion of land consid-
cred uncultivated by a commission
composed of landowners and peas
ants, representatives of the govern
ment and experts. The Michei decree
authorizes the annulling of contracts
with the gabellotti. who have them
selves sublet. This is the greatest