IV THE NEW IMMIGRATION

Previous

The world never before saw anything comparable to this tremendous movement of people in so short a space of time. The population Europe has lost in a hundred years is greater than the total number of inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland in 1860, and only a little less than that of the United States in the same year. It is equal to three fifths of the total population of Europe in the time of Augustus CÆsar. If the ships carried five hundred passengers on the average, about fifty thousand trips have been made in the transfer.

Emphatically too many people are now coming over here; too many of an undesirable sort. In 1902 over seven tenths were from races who do not rapidly assimilate with the customs and institutions of this country.—Prescott F. Hall.

There are two classes who would pass upon the immigration question. One says, "Close the doors and let in nobody;" and the other says, "Open wide the doors and let in everybody." I am in sympathy with neither of these classes. There is a happy middle path—a path of discernment and judgment.—Commissioner Robert Watchorn of New York.

Just as a body cannot with safety accept nourishment any faster than it is capable of assimilating it, so a state cannot accept an excessive influx of people without serious injury.—H. H. Boyesen.

It seems to me our only concern about immigration should be as to its character. We do not want Europe's criminals or paupers. The time to make selection is in Europe, prior to embarkation.—United States Senator Hansbrough.

I. New Peoples and New Problems

Change of Racial Type

So great has been the change in the racial character of immigration within the last ten years that the term "new immigration" has been used to distinguish the present prevailing type from that of former years. By new immigration we mean broadly all the aliens from southeastern Europe—the Italians, Hungarians, Slavs, Hebrews, Greeks, and Syrians—as distinguished from the northwestern Europeans—the English, Scotch, Welsh, Irish, French, Germans, and Scandinavians. The ethnic authorities at Washington make the following racial division, which is used in the official reports:

Race Classification

"Ninety-five per cent. of the immigration to this country comes from Europe. Most of these different races or peoples, or more properly subdivisions of race, coming from Europe have been grouped into four grand divisions, as follows:

"Teutonic division, from northern Europe: German, Scandinavian, English, Dutch, Flemish, and Finnish.

"Iberic division, from southern Europe: South Italian, Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish: also Syrian from Turkey in Asia.

"Celtic division, from western Europe; Irish, Welsh, Scotch, French, and North Italian.

"Slavic division, from eastern Europe: Bohemian, Moravian, Bulgarian, Servian, Montenegrin, Croatian, Slovenian, Dalmatian, Bosnian, Herzegovinian, Hebrew, Lithuanian, Polish, Roumanian, Russian, Ruthenian, and Slovak.

"The Mongolic division has also been added, to include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, East Indian, Pacific Islander, and Filipino.

"Under 'all others' have been included Magyar, Turkish, Armenian, African (black), and subdivisions native to the Western Hemisphere."

The New Immigration

This new immigration has been commonly regarded as either decidedly undesirable or at least distinctly less desirable than the Teutonic and Celtic, which for so many years practically had the field of America to itself. It has not been uncommon to group the Italians and Slavs, and denominate them as the "offscouring and refuse of Europe," now dumped into America, which is described as a sort of world "garbage bin." Extremists have drawn in gloomy colors the effects of this inrush of the worst and most illiterate and unassimilable elements of the Old World. A distinct prejudice has undoubtedly been created against these later comers.

Increase of Illiteracy
Increase of Illiteracy

This chart shows what a mass of illiteracy is coming in from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Only those above the age of fourteen are counted as illiterates. The change in the source of immigration from northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe is responsible for this radical change in the number of those who cannot read or write. Of the southern Italians who came in 1905, 56 per cent. were illiterate; and of the Ruthenians, 63 per cent. Most of these illiterates will never learn to read, as they are beyond the school age.]

Reasons for Adverse Opinion

There is unquestionably some ground for the feeling that the new immigration is in many respects less desirable than the older type. These peoples come out of conditions of oppression and depression, illiteracy and poverty. Far more important than this, they have had no contact with Anglo-Saxon ideas or government. They are consequently almost wholly ignorant of American ideals and standards. There is a vast difference between the common ideas of these immigrants and those from the more enlightened and progressive northern nations. So there is in the type of character and the customs and manners.

We are sufficiently familiar with the older type, and do not need here to dwell upon it. We know how large a part has been played in the development of our national material enterprises by the Germans, the English and Irish, the Scotch and Welsh, the Swedes and Norwegians. Millions of them are among the loyal Americans of to-day. The Irish originally came to perform the unskilled labor of America. Their women made the domestics, and many of them still rule the American kitchen. But the Irish men have moved up, into bosses and contractors, into the stores and trades and professions, and especially into politics, until they practically run the cities and have a lion's share of the governmental positions. The Germans have always been among the best of our immigrant population in intelligence, thrift, and other qualities that make the German nation strong and stable. They have Germanized us more than we have Americanized them. The Scandinavians have with excellent judgment distributed themselves and gone largely into agriculture. All these north of Europe peoples belong to a common inheritance of principles and ideas, and all have found it natural to assimilate into American life. America owes a large debt to them, as they do to the land that has become their own by adoption.

Necessity of Discrimination

But what can be said about this new immigration? First let us see how great the change in racial character has been, and then differentiate these new races. It will not do to brand any race as a whole. Discrimination is absolutely necessary if we are to deal with this subject practically and justly. There are Italians and Italians, Slavs and Slavs, just as there are all sorts of Irish, Germans, and Americans. No race has a monopoly of either virtue or vice. This table will help us to differentiate the millions of immigrants since 1820 as to race:

Netherlands 146,168
France 428,894
Switzerland 220,199
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 1,730,722
Italy 2,000,252
Japan 88,908
Germany 5,187,092
United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland 7,286,434
Russia 1,452,629
Countries not specified 2,130,756
China 288,398
A Remarkable Shifting

To appreciate the significance of these figures, it must be remembered that while the totals from the United Kingdom and Germany amount to nearly twelve and a half millions, or considerably more than one half of the entire immigration down to 1905, the proportions have been rapidly changing. The immigration from the United Kingdom, for example, reached its highest point in 1851, when the total was 272,740, predominantly from Ireland. The German immigration reached high mark in 1887, the total being 250,630. On the other hand, the immigration from Italy did not reach 10,000 until 1880, and passed the 100,000 mark first in 1900. In the past five years nearly a million Italians—or one half of the entire Italian immigration—have entered the country, and the number in 1906 promises to exceed a quarter of a million more. The highest mark was 233,546 in 1903; but even this did not equal the birth-rate in Italy. In Hungary and Russia, also, the birth-rate is greater than the immense drain of immigration, so that this stream will continue to flow and increase, unless some check is put upon it, or some legislative dam built. The immigration from Russia, consisting chiefly of Jews, did not become appreciable until 1887, when it reached 30,766. It passed 100,000 in 1902; and from 1900 to 1905 the total arrivals were 748,522, or just about one half the entire number of Jews in the United States. The same is true of the Hungarian and Slav immigration. Its prominence has come since 1890.

The Inferior Checks the Superior

The point of importance to be considered is that as the immigration from southeastern Europe has increased, that from northwestern Europe has decreased. In 1869 not one per cent. of the total immigration came from Austria-Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Russia, while in 1902 the percentage was over seventy. In 1869 nearly three quarters of the total immigration came from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Scandinavia; in 1902 only one fifth was from those countries. The proportion has held nearly the same since.

Change in Source

The change is indicated most plainly in this table, which compares the total immigration of certain nationalities for the period 1821 to 1902 with that for the year 1903:

1821 to 1902 1903
Country Number Per cent Number Per cent
Austria-Hungary 1,316,914 6.5 206,011 24.00
England, Wales 2,730,037 13.4 26,219 3.1
Germany 5,098,005 25.0 40,086 4.7
Ireland 3,944,269 19.3 35,300 4.1
Italy 1,358,507 6.7 230,622 26.9
Norway, Sweden 1,334,931 6.5 70,489 8.2
Russia, Poland 1,106,362 5.4 136,093 15.9

This table shows not only the nations which have added chiefly to our population in the past, and which are adding to-day, but how the percentage of each has varied in the period before 1903 compared with 1903. Mr. Hall says: "If the same proportions had obtained in the earlier period as during the later how different might our country and its institutions now be!"

A German Family
A German Family

"Seven soldiers lost to the Kaiser." (German Consul's remark on seeing this picture)

The Problem of Diverse Race Stocks

This brings up the question of type, of character, and of homogeneity. The new immigration introduces new problems. The older immigration, before 1870, was chiefly composed of races kindred in habits, institutions, and traditions to the original colonist.[49] To-day we face decidedly different conditions. At the same time study of these comparatively unknown races will bring us many surprises, and knowledge of the facts is the only remedy for prejudice and the only basis for constructive Christian work. We must know something, moreover, of the Old World environment before we can judge of the probable development of these peoples in America, or learn the way of readiest access to them. For they will not become Americanized unless they are in some way reached by Americans; and they will never be reached until they are understood.

II. The Italians

Extremes of Opinion

In our more detailed study of the new immigration we take first the Italians, who are seen wherever one turns in our cities, and are perhaps the most conspicuous of the immigrants. Here we come at once upon two extremes of opinion. One extreme finds little or nothing that is favorable to the Italians, who are classed all together and judged in the light of the Mafia, or "black hand," ready for all deeds of darkness. The other lauds these aliens so highly that an Italian himself said to the writer, referring to a recent book about his people in America:[50] "I suppose I ought to be glad to have us all made out to be saints, but I am afraid there is another side to the story." We shall hope to find the truth between these extremes. This has to be admitted, on the start, that in most cases those who have most to do with the Italians, of whatever class, become warmly interested in them, and believe both in their ability and in their adaptability to American life.

A Gifted Race

When so keen a writer as Emil Reich, in discussing "The Future of the Latin Races," in the Contemporary Review, says, "there can be little doubt that the Italians are the most gifted nation in Europe," we see that it is a mistake to class all Italians as alike and put them under the ban of contempt as "dagoes." They differ from one another almost as much as men can differ who are still of the same color, says a recent writer.[51]

Marked Differences Between North and South

Most northern Italians are of the Alpine race and have short, broad skulls; southern Italians are of the Mediterranean race and have long, narrow skulls. Between the two lies a broad strip of country, peopled by those of mixed blood. In appearance the Italians may be anything from a tow-headed Teuton to a swarthy Arab. Varying with the district from which he comes, in manner he may be rough and boisterous; suave, fluent, and gesticulative; or grave and silent. These differences extend to the very essentials of life. The provinces of Italy are radically unlike, not only in dress, cookery, and customs, but in character, thought, and speech. A distinct change of dialect is often found in a morning's walk. An ignorant Valtellinese from the mountains of the north, and an ignorant Neapolitan have as yet no means of understanding each other; and what is yet more remarkable, the speech of the unschooled peasant of Genoa is unintelligible to his fellow of Piedmont, who lives less than one hundred miles away.

Different Environment

The northern Italian is the result of a superior environment. His section is more prosperous, intelligent, orderly, and modern. The industrially progressive, democratic north presents a striking contrast to the industrially stagnant, feudal south. The northern division is full of the spirit of the new Italy, and its people are less prone to leave home. Central Italy, too, is making steady advances in agriculture and education, and the peasant farmer is a stay-at-home. In southern Italy agriculture is practically the sole reliance of the people, the lot of the day laborers is wretched, and the failure of a wheat crop is as disastrous as the potato famine in Ireland was to the Irish in 1847. United Italy is undoubtedly making progress in education and industry, the standards of living are rising, and the money sent or carried back to Italy from America has helped to some degree in this advancement. Religiously, of course, the domination of the Roman Catholic Church continues over all Italy, and in illiteracy as in other respects Italy is an example of what this ecclesiastical rule means where it has power over the people sufficient to enable it to work its will.

Common Poverty of the Peasants

In view of these facts regarding the home environment and difference in peoples, it will not do, evidently, to use sweeping generalizations, or to regard the organ-grinder and fruit-peddler as the representatives of Italy in America. We receive all grades, from cultured professionals to illiterate peasants, though mainly, of course, the peasant class. The one common feature of the Italian provinces is the poverty produced by the crushing taxes and agricultural depression. Absentee landlordism has blighted southern Italy as it has Ireland. Yet with great tracts of fertile soil thus held away from the people, and with no new territory to cultivate, the population of Italy has increased within twenty years from twenty-eight and a half to thirty-two and a half millions, an average density of 301 per square mile, and the excess of births over deaths amounts to nearly 350,000 a year. Hence the question with the people in overcrowded districts is simply emigration or starvation. The southern Italian is driven from home by necessity to work, and work is to be found in America, so he comes. His labor is mostly unskilled, and this is in demand here. The result is that almost eighty per cent. of the Italian immigrants are males; over eighty per cent. are between fourteen and forty-five, the working age; over eighty per cent. are from the southern provinces, and nearly the same percentage are unskilled laborers, and a large majority of these are illiterates. The eighty per cent. of "human capital of fresh, strong young men" is Italy's contribution to America, and is a force winning its way to recognition.

Figures of Italian Immigration

Let us note the growth of Italian immigration, its sources, and its distribution. In the sixty years from 1820 to 1880 only 68,633 Italians made their way to America, while during this period the total foreign immigration was over ten millions. The census of 1890 gave the Italian population of the United States as only 182,580, and at that date not over a half million in all had come here. The rapid increase during recent years is shown in the following table:

IMMIGRATION FROM ITALY TO THE UNITED STATES

1890 52,003
1891 76,055
1892 61,631
1893 72,145
1894 42,977
1895 35,427
1896 68,060
1897 59,431
1898 58,613
1899 77,419
1900 100,135
1901 135,996
1902 178,375
1903 230,622
1904 193,296
1905 221,479

Remarkable Increase

This shows how steady and remarkable the immigration has been since 1900. In five years 959,768 Italians have come to this country. Surely it is worth our while to know more particularly the character of this million and their promise as an element in our civilization. Thousands of them are "birds of passage"—that is, they come and go, earning money here and going back home to spend it and then returning to earn more; but tens of thousands come to stay, and will play their part in shaping our future.

Distribution of Italians

The distribution of the Italians is shown partially in the accompanying diagram.[52] This, however, is based upon the Census of 1900, and does not account for the million arrivals since 1900. The destination clause in the immigrant's manifesto gives light upon the matter of distribution, although the incomer does not always get to the point named in his papers. From the official report for 1905 these results are drawn:

North South
Locality Italian Italian Total
New York 9,733 81,572 91,305
New Jersey 1,272 11,494 12,766
Pennsylvania 7,554 43,078 50,632
Connecticut 1,626 5,835 7,461
Massachusetts 2,011 11,747 13,758
Rhode Island 196 2,422 2,618
Illinois 3,663 6,685 10,348
Ohio 861 6,230 7,091
Michigan 1,330 1,649 2,979
West Virginia 421 2,987 3,408
Louisiana 177 2,631 2,808
Missouri 769 1,477 2,246
Mississippi 674 213 887
Eight Southern States 467 1,036 1,503
California 4,513 1,081 5,594
Colorado 824 881 1,705

Largely in Cities

It is interesting to note that at least one Italian immigrant was destined to every state and territory. Of the total Italian population in this country in 1900, 62.4 per cent. was in the 160 principal cities, and nearly one half in New York alone. The percentage of Italians attracted to the cities is about the same as that of the Irish.

Italians and Irish Compared

An interesting parallel, indeed, may be drawn between these races. The Italians to-day occupy largely the place occupied by the Irish of yesterday. The Irish came in the earlier years by reason of distressing conditions at home, forcing them to seek a living elsewhere; this is now true of the Italians. The Irish were chiefly peasants, unskilled laborers and illiterate; so are the Italians. The Irish came mainly from agricultural sections and herded in the great cities; so do the Italians. The handy weapon of the Irish was the shillalah, that of the Italian is the stiletto. The Irish found ready employment by reason of the demand for cheap unskilled labor created by the vast material enterprises of a swiftly developing country, with cities and towns and railroads to build; this work is done by the Italians now, and they are commonly conceded to be in many respects better at the job. Here is a sample of the kind of testimony frequently given concerning them as workers:[53]

Good Workers

"I have learned to be cautious in comparing races. I find good, bad, and indifferent people in all races. But I dissent from the current notion that the southern Italian is so much inferior to the northern. As a people there is more illiteracy among them; but when he goes to school the southern Italian holds his own with the northern. Another fact of promise is that Italians have not lost the spirit of service. They are good workmen. Not long since, asking a contractor who was building a sewer in the city why he had only Italians in his employ, he replied, 'Because they are the best workmen, and there are enough of them. If an Italian down in that ditch has a shovelful of earth half way up when the whistle blows for dinner, he will not drop it; he will throw it up; the Irishman and the French-Canadian will drop it. And when the lunch hour is over, when the clock strikes the Italian will be leaning on his shovel ready to go to work, but the Irishman will be out under that tree and he will be three minutes getting to his job, and three minutes each, for 150 men, is not a small item. The Italian does not regard his employer as his natural enemy. He has the spirit of kindly service."

Cheerful and Responsive

The writer can confirm this from personal observation. The Italians are cheerful workers, and on hand ten to fifteen minutes before the hour to begin work. They relish a kind word, and can give lessons in politeness to many an American-born. Ask anyone brought in contact with them and you will get the same testimony.

Flower of the Peasantry

According to Adolfo Rossi, Supervisor of the Italian Immigration Department, who is deeply interested in the proper distribution and welfare of his countrymen in America, these immigrants are the flower of the laboring class of Italy. Economically they are doubtless of value at so many dollars per head. But of far more importance is the question, what are they in the social fabric? If, as some assert, the Italian race stock is inferior and degraded, if it will not assimilate naturally with the American, or will tend to lower our standards, then it is undesirable, even though the immigrant had a bank account in addition to his sturdy body. The further one investigates the subject, the less likely is he to conclude that the Italian is to be adjudged undesirable, as a race. He must be judged individually on his merits.

Demand for Unskilled Labor

Mr. Carr draws a decidedly favorable picture of the Italians, whether from north or south. He says that immediate work and high wages, and not a love for the tenement, create our "Little Italies." The great enterprises in progress in and about the city, the subway, tunnels, water-works, railroad construction, as well as the ordinary building operations, call for a vast army of laborers. It is the educated Italian immigrant without a manual trade who fails in America. The illiterate laborer takes no chances. The migratory laborer—for more than 98,000 Italians went back to Italy in 1903, and 134,000 in 1904—confers an industrial blessing by his very mobility. Then, in his opinion, there is something to be said for the illiterates who remain here. They are never anarchists; they are guiltless of the so-called "black hand" letters. The individual laborer is, in fact, rarely anything but a gentle and often a rather dull drudge. More than this, our school system deprives us of unskilled laborers. The gangs that dig sewers and subways and build railways are recruited from the illiterate or nearly so, and for our supply of the lower grades of labor we must depend upon countries with a poorer school system than ours.

Favorable Comparison

Concerning the charge that the Italian is a degenerate, lazy and a pauper, half a criminal, a menace to our civilization, it is shown that in New York the Italians number about 450,000, the Irish over 300,000. In males the Italians outnumber the Irish two to one. Consider these facts: In 1904 one thousand five hundred and sixty-four Irish, and only sixteen Italians, were admitted to the almshouse on Blackwell's Island.[54] Mr. James Forbes, chief of the Mendicancy Department of the Charity Organization Society, says he has never seen or heard of an Italian tramp.Italians Not Beggars In reply to this, those who dislike the Italians say that their cheap labor has made tramps of many who would otherwise be employed. As for begging, between July 1, 1904, and September 30, 1905, the Mendicancy Police in New York took into custody 519 Irish and only 92 Italians. This table will be found interesting:

NATIVITY OF PERSONS ADMITTED TO ALMSHOUSE (NEW YORK) IN 1900

Male Female Total
United States 355 199 554
Ireland 808 809 1,617
England and Wales 111 87 198
Scotland 25 14 39
France 19 2 21
Germany 290 84 374
Norway, Sweden and Denmark 22 6 28
Italy 15 4 19
Other Countries 50 36 86
—— —— ——
1,695 1,241 2,936

This ought to correct some ideas as to where the pauperism comes from. Certainly the Italians are not to be charged with it. Conditions in Boston show equally well for the Italians. The proportions for the whole country also give them a remarkably low degree as compared with other races.

Few Insane

As to insanity, the figures tell their own story: In the charitable institutions of the country, there were of the insane: Irish, 5,943; Germans, 4,408; English, 1,822; Scandinavians, 1,985; and Italians, 718. As shown by the analysis of the Bureau of Immigration, the proportion of Irish in the charitable institutions is 30 per cent., of Germans 19, of English 8.5, while the Italians and Hebrews are each 8 per cent.

Criminal Record

The important point of crime remains to be considered. Here the Italian is commonly rated very high, by reason of the violent and conspicuous nature of most of his crimes, which are against the person. We hear of the brutal murders, the threats of the Mafia, the secret assassinations, and frequent sanguinary stiletto affrays, and are apt to regard the whole race as quarrelsome and murderous. The facts do not bear out this opinion. Here again they appear rather to the disadvantage of the older type of immigrant. The United States Industrial Commission on Immigration shows, by its statistical report,[55] that "taking the United States as a whole, the whites of foreign birth are a trifle less criminal than the total number of whites of native birth." This report further says: "Taking the inmates of all penal and charitable institutions, we find that the highest ratio is shown by the Irish, whose proportion is more than double the average for the foreign-born, amounting to no less than 16,624 to the million."

Italians Temperate

By far the greatest proportion of crime is caused by intemperance, and here the Italians are at a decided advantage, for they are among the least intemperate of the foreign peoples, and far less so than the average native-born. Arrests for drunkenness are exceedingly rare among them, and a drunken Italian woman is as rare as one of immoral character. While in Massachusetts three in a hundred of the northern races, including the Scotch, Irish, English, and Germans, were arrested for intemperance in a given year, only three in a thousand of the Italians were arrested on this charge. In these respects the race is deserving of great commendation, especially in face of the tenement conditions into which most of the newcomers are thrust. If they become worse in America than they were when they came, we ought to take heed to the sins of greed, and not put all the blame on the aliens.

Crimes of Assault

In crimes against the person the Italians are at their worst, but the affrays with knives and pistols are confined mostly to their own nationality, and grow out of jealousy or rivalry or resentment at fancied injuries. "There are, no doubt," says Dr. S. J. Barrows,[56] "murders of sheer brutality, or those committed in the course of robbery. There are known instances also of blackmail and dastardly assassination by individuals or bands of ruffians. But such outrages are utterly at variance with the known disposition of the great mass of the Italians in this country. There are vile men in every nationality, and it does not appear by any substantial evidence that the Italian is peculiarly burdened, though it has been unwarrantably reproached through ignorance or prejudice." This is the opinion of an expert in criminology, who has traveled extensively in Italy and knows the people on both sides of the sea.

Italians not all Unskilled

It is a fact of importance that the great majority of the Italian immigrants, while classed as unskilled, have had some experience in farming or gardening or home industries of some kind. There is a larger percentage of skilled labor than is commonly supposed, and the list is interesting. The Annual Report on Immigration for 1905, for example, gives the distribution by occupation, from which we take some of the leading classes:

PROFESSIONS, TRADES AND INDUSTRIES OF THE ITALIANS ADMITTED IN 1905

North South
Occupation Italy Italy
Architects 10 10
Clergy 52 69
Editors 9 6
Electricians 24 20
Engineers, professional 20 24
Lawyers 12 25
Literary and scientific persons 19 15
Musicians 38 240
Physicians 34 72
Sculptors and artists 116 52
Teachers 31 45
Bakers 201 571
Barbers 82 1,718
Blacksmiths 168 909
Butchers 65 278
Carpenters and cabinet makers 367 1,857
Dressmakers 161 615
Gardeners 30 165
Masons 1,374 3,161
Miners 1,843 492
Shoemakers 287 4,004
Stonecutters 409 567
Tailors 239 2,591
Farm laborers 6,181 60,529
Farmers 1,397 4,814
Manufacturers 14 32
Merchants and dealers 557 1,415
Servants 2,752 8,669
Laborers 14,291 56,040
No occupation, including children under 14 7,632 32,115
Tendency to Advance

It will be seen that not all the Italians who come are mere hewers of wood and drawers of water; while there is a distinct tendency on the part of those who begin at the bottom of drudgery, in the subways of American civilization, to advance.Desire for Education The desire for education and betterment is as manifest as it is hopeful. No parents are more ambitious for their children, or more devotedly attached to them, than are the Italian immigrants who have brought over their families, and no children in our schools are brighter or more attentive. There is good blood in the Italian strain. They are an art and music-loving people, and in this respect the southern Italians take the lead. They come from a land of beauty and fame, song and sunshine, and bring a sunny temperament not easily soured by hardship or disappointment. Otherwise the tenement and labor-camp experiences in America would soon spoil them. With the exception of the money they earn, the change has been for the worse.

Amazing Thrift

The thrift of the Italians is proverbial. To earn and save money they will live in conditions unsanitary, unhealthy, and degrading. It is not because they love dirt and degradation, but that they want money so much that they will put up with anything to get it. They can live and save a bit where an American family would starve. They have fairly monopolized for a time certain lines into which they entered—as the small fruit trade, the bootblacking business, and other pursuits. It is said that they have made the Americans a fruit-eating people. Supplanted in the street-vending of fruit by the Greek, the Italian has gone into business in earnest, and you find the small fruit stands everywhere, with always a good stock, and by no means a low price. As barbers and tailors, too, the Italians are becoming known. They have a passion for land, and acquire property rapidly. Take the increase of their real estate holdings in New York as an example. Mr. G. Tuoti, a representative Italian operator in real estate, says that twenty years ago there was not a single Italian owner of real estate in the districts where such owners now predominate. He has a list of more than 800 landowners of Italian descent, whose aggregate holdings in New York are approximately $15,000,000.[57]

Italian and Swiss Girls
Italian and Swiss Girls

Property Holdings

As to Italian savings and investments in the same city, Mr. Gino C. Speranza, vice-president of the Society for Italian Immigrants, finds on computation the Italian investments in the city savings-banks to total more than $15,000,000. He puts the real estate holdings at 4,000, of the clear value of $20,000,000. He estimates that 10,000 stores in the city are owned by Italians, and sets their value at $7,000,000, with a further investment of as much more in wholesale business. He makes the total material value of the property of the Italian colony in New York to be over $60,000,000, and says this value is relatively below that of the Italian possessions in Saint Louis, Boston, and Chicago. The Italian Chamber of Commerce has over two hundred members, and has done much to promote the interests of the immigrants. There is one distinctively Italian Savings Bank, with an aggregate of deposits approximating $1,100,000, and about 7,000 open accounts. Sixteen daily and weekly Italian newspapers in New York alone indicate that the people are reading, and that not all are illiterates by any means. The Italian Hospital, the Italian Benevolent Institute, and over 150 Italian societies for mutual aid and social improvement—all this in New York—indicate a degree of enterprise and progress. In the smaller cities the condition of the Italians is in many respects much better than in the great centers, since the tenement evils are escaped. The reports from such cities as Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Schenectady, New York, are most favorable as to the general character of the Italians as faithful workers and peaceful residents.

Born in Italy, France, Portugal, Greece
Born in Italy, France, Portugal, Greece—Resident in the U.S. 1900

Reproduced by special permission of "The World's Work." Copyright 1909.

Increasing Land Values

In the cities and on the small farms of the South and West the prosperity of the Italians is marked. They take unproductive land and make it fertile soil for truck-gardening, and have increased the value of surrounding lands in Louisiana and other states by showing what can be done. If they can be distributed properly, and gotten out of the congested city wards, there is unquestionably a future of prosperity for them. A Texas colony described by Signor Rossi, who recently investigated conditions with view to securing a better distribution by informing intending emigrants as to the openings for them in agricultural sections, illustrates the success of the Italians as gardeners and farmers.

Successful Truck Farmers

In the neighborhood of San Francisco Italians have cultivated about 250 truck farms. They "obtain the manure from the city stables gratis, and transform into fertile farms the original sand dunes." Nearly all our cities where Italians have settled are receiving vegetables and fruit as the product of Italian labor, and the Italian is first in the market. They are found on Long Island and Staten Island, in New Jersey and Delaware, in Virginia, and in all the New England states. Near Memphis, Tennessee, there is a large and noted colony of truck farmers, and they have done much to remove the prejudice formerly existing against Italian labor in the South.[58] In this connection we give hearty second to the statesmanlike proposition made by a Christian worker who has been brought into close touch with the Italians and other foreign peoples in Brooklyn:[59]

A Good Proposition

"Pure philanthropy could not find a better field for the investment of a few hundred thousand dollars than in the organization of farm and garden colonies a few miles out from our great city. On Long Island there are many thousands of acres of light, arable land perfectly adapted to the raising of small fruits and garden products. Irrigation plants could be provided at moderate cost, insuring generous crops. The Italian is prepared by nature, and by training in his own home land, for the cultivation of the soil. In a small way he has demonstrated his ability in the land of his adoption to do the very things here suggested. What he needs is a fair chance.

Strong Guiding Hand Needed

"What is needed is the guiding hand of 'philanthropy and five per cent.' to lead out of the congested and squalid tenement districts thousands of these poor yet industrious people who could make our deserts of Long Island sand and scrub oak blossom as the rose. Let the modern method find illustration here. Let our philanthropist choose for himself a board of trustees to whom should be delegated the management of a generous fund toward the end proposed. Keen-minded and great-hearted business men there are who would delight to give time and care to so worthy an object; and within five years a colony of 25,000 Italians could be transported and translated from the ghettos and filthy, crowded tenement districts of our great city into God's open country, there to be speedily transformed into industrious, self-supporting American citizens. Having studied this problem for years, I believe it is entirely feasible. Brain and heart, time and talent, land and water, enlarging markets demanding produce, men, women, and children begging for an opportunity to earn a decent living—all these are ready and waiting for use and service.The Crucial Point All that is lacking is an adequate supply of good money to set the enterprise in motion. We have millions invested at Coney Island, at Gravesend racing track, and at the new Belmont Park, to beguile and hypnotize the masses. God must have in his keeping somewhere millions to uplift and redeem the masses. There is unspeakable need that they be ministered unto in the spirit of the Master."

These are weighty and practical words, and some day Christian men of wealth will see the wisdom of them. How could American prosperity better insure itself and all it represents for the future?

Favorable Conclusion

What, then, is the conclusion of our study? On the whole, decidedly favorable to the Italian, while recognizing the vicious and undesirable element that forms a comparatively small part of the whole. The Italian in general is approachable, receptive to American ideas, not criminal by nature more than other races, not difficult to adapt himself to new environment, and eager to earn and learn. He furnishes excellent raw material for American citizenship, if he does not come too rapidly to be Americanized. But what he will mean to America, for good or ill, depends almost wholly upon what America does for and with and through him. Thus far, there has been too much of prejudice and neglect. Better acquaintance is the first step toward the transformation of the Italian alien into the Italian-American.

Roman Catholic Testimony

As for the religious side, here is testimony from a Roman Catholic source. Mrs. Betts says:[60]

"The relation between the Roman Catholic Church and the mass of the Italians in this country is a source of grief. Reluctantly the writer has to blame the ignorance and bigotry of the immigrant priests who set themselves against American influence; men who too often lend themselves to the purposes of the ward heeler, the district leader in controlling the people, who too often keep silence when the poor are the victims of the shrewd Italians who have grown rich on the ignorance of their countrymen. One man made $8,000 by supplying 1,000 laborers to a railroad. He collected $5 from each man as a railroad fare, though transportation was given by the road, and $3 from each man for the material to build a house. The men supposed it was to be a home for their families. They found as a home the wretched shelters provided by contractors, with which we are all familiar. This transaction, when known, did not disturb the Church or social relations of the offender, but it increased his political power, for it showed what he could do. He is recognized to-day as the Mayor of—— street; his influence is met everywhere."

Accessible to Evangelism

There is no doubt that the Italians are accessible to evangelical Christianity. Thousands of them appreciate the true character of the Church that tried to prevent Italian unity and liberty, and they are peculiarly open to the truths of democracy and the gospel. The home missionary finds among them a fruitful field. Dr. Lee expresses the conclusions of many observers, and indicates also a gate of personal opportunity to serve, when he says, as a result of personal observation and effort:

Exceptionally Open-minded

"Incident to the general recoil from the papal control, an enormous number of the Italians coming to this country are out of the old Church; they are without religion, yet are in a way groping after one. As a consequence the Italian is exceptionally open-minded. You can talk with him. He is not suspicious—not apprehensive lest you mislead him. He may have no respect for any kind of religion, but he is not afraid that you will lure him into forbidden paths. He is beginning to think—a privilege which he has been denied in the past. This open-mindedness is readiness to accept the spirit and theories of American life; for open-mindedness is an American characteristic."

And open-mindedness toward the gospel is the vestibule to conversion.

QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER IV

Aim: To Consider the Desirability of the Italians as Immigrants, and the Opportunity for Christian Work Among Them.

I. Contrast the Old and New Immigration.

1. What is the New Immigration?

2. What has become of the earlier immigrants? Was their coming a benefit to the United States?

3. Would your judgment concerning it have been the same when they were coming?

4. What races have gained and what have lost in their respective proportions?

II. The Italians.

5. What are the leading types at present? What are they likely to be in the future?

6. Mention opposing opinions as to the Italians? Which seem to you nearer the truth?

7. What differences are there between Italians from different parts of Italy?

8. From what class come most of the Italians now arriving? Of what sex? What age? What skill?

9. How has Italian immigration grown in numbers? How has it been distributed?

10. What proportion go West and South? Are efforts being made to attract them anywhere?

III. Are the Italians a Desirable Class of Immigrants?

11. How do they compare with the early Irish immigrants? With other nationalities?

12. What is the record of Italians in this country; as to work, citizenship, self-support, crime, temperance, thrift, care for education, financial ability?

13. Have many Italians taken to farming? Do they succeed? What sort of farming?

14. What efforts are being made to direct and distribute the Italian immigrants?

IV. What is the Opportunity of the Christian Church Among Them?

15. Do you know of any specific effort to uplift them through Christian influences?

16. Does this chapter make you feel that the churches can do more for them? How?

References for Advanced Study.—Chapter IV

I. Further Study of Contrasts Between Different Types of Italians.

Lord et al: The Italian in America, I, III, V.
Brandenburg: Imported Americans, IV, VI, XII.
Holt: Undistinguished Americans, III.

II. Illiteracy Among the Northern and Southern Italians.

(1) Its bearing on their desirability as immigrants.
Brandenburg: Imported Americans, IV, XII, XX.
Hall: Immigration, 54-58, 80-83.

(2) Its relation to the probable effect of a reading test for admission.

Lord, et al: The Italian in America, VIII, XI.
Hall: Immigration, 262-280.

(3) Its bearing on their accessibility to the gospel.

McLanahan: Our People of Foreign Speech, 69-74.
Wood: Americans in Process, IX.

III. Location of Italians After Their Arrival and Length of Their Stay.

Brandenburg: Imported Americans, II, XIX, XXII.
Lord, et al: The Italian in America, VI, VII, IX.

IV. The Italians in New York City and State.

Benefits and dangers arising from their presence,
and efforts made to help them.
Riis: How the Other Half Lives, V, XXIV.
University Settlement Studies, Vol. I, Numbers
3 and 4, issue January, 1906.
Reports of the Society for Italian Immigrants, 17
Pearl Street, New York City.


Yesterday the Slav was a pauper immigrant; to-day he is what the English, Welsh, Irish, and German miner was a quarter of a century ago—on the way to becoming an American citizen. What sort of a citizen he will be will depend upon the influences brought to bear upon him.—F. J. Warne.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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