CONDITIONS IN THE NEAPOLITAN ZONE
It is a painful fact, but the average American’s conception of Italian
immigration is that the majority of the Italians come from “down in the
Boot,” and that they are all bad and undesirable. It is the usual thing
to regard all southern Italians as unworthy of Americanism. One sees it
constantly in public print or finds it in private discourse. And the
phrase about the Boot is one which has been bruited around again and
again from official report to alarmist editorial, and back to classical
reference which was its origin. I have met many people who are not aware
that the Sicilians, for instance, do not come from “down in the Boot.”
These ideas all mate nicely with the one which attributes to every
Italian the possession of a stiletto up his sleeve and an ever-ready
hand to use it.
The poor southern Italians are the object of constant attack by the
American public, of bitter contempt from the more fortunate people of
the northern provinces, and of ceaseless worriment from the gentlemen
legislators of the kingdom. Italia Meridionale _is_ in a miserable
condition compared with the north, and the people _are_ ignorant, and
the percentage of illiteracy _is_ appalling; but, nevertheless, they are
strong in body, steadfast in mind, willing of spirit and at all times
thrifty; so that, speaking from an immigratory standpoint, I am
convinced, after a survey of the entire experiment, that they are a very
good sort of raw material and their immigration should be encouraged, if
the rottenness that corrupts them after they are here—as a drop of
poison can turn the blood of an entire body to virus—could be cut out
before they start.
Poverty, ignorance and hot blood have fostered among them crime,
treachery and immorality, and the larger towns have sufficed to gather
these into festering clusters, leaving the countryside comparatively
pure. The farmer-folk and the villagers are not criminal, dishonest or
vicious; but when, in the process of emigration, nine of them are thrown
with that one tenth man who is so, he leads them into ways that are not
straight and paths that are turned, and in many, many instances
organizes a band which holds a large coterie of families almost entirely
in its power. This it can do by superior intelligence, boldness, etc.,
and the fact that the Italians in America are in a strange land, are
“greenhorns,” as they say among themselves, lays them wide open to such
invidious influences. If that one man or woman out of every ten who is
vicious could be prevented from sailing, a few years would see Italian
names almost entirely effaced from the criminal news and the court and
prison records. If the system of social poisoning of the densely
populated immigrant quarters is not destroyed, it will ultimately prove
a menace to all law and order in the large cities or industrial
districts populous with immigrants.
Before we went to Sicily to study the peculiar conditions surrounding
the Squadrito family and their neighbors, we took up the general
investigation through the country south of Rome, gathering what we could
by going from town to town, asking questions, asking questions, always
asking questions. Much was to be learned from watching even the tiniest
things in the newspapers and from observing the people themselves as
they passed about the most inconsequential pursuits of their daily
existence.
To give the matter a topical consideration, it separates itself
naturally into five divisions, which are semi-geographical merely for
convenience, as it would be erroneous indeed to consider each province
according to its political boundaries: The Zone of Naples, the Zone of
Rome, the Provinces of the Heel, the Provinces of the Toe and Sicily. In
those portions of the following consideration topicalized as zones, the
distinctions are made, because the regions dealt with have all their
general social conditions very largely shaped by the subtle cumulative
influence of the life in the two great cities, Rome and Naples. It is
possible that few Italians are aware of the differences, but they are
palpable to an outsider immediately. Every village that is within touch
of either the Italian capital or the most important port and city
partakes of the markedly contradistinct life of the two. If Naples is
correctly called a City of Thieves, then is Rome equally well named a
City of Institutions, and there is the difference. Abruzzi, Molise and
Puglie (Apulia), having greater extents of plain suited to agriculture
than any of the other southern provinces and being farther from the
emigration centres on the west side of the peninsula, form a group by
themselves under the title Provinces of the Heel. Basilicata (Potenza)
and Calabria, being nearly uniformly mountainous even out to the sea
line and having the most potent influences at work to urge emigration,
are considered under Provinces of the Toe; while, as for conditions in
Sicily, they are best told in connection with our own experiences there
with the people of Gualtieri-Sicamino and other towns.
As for general comparative conditions of education, amount of emigration
and a very interesting sidelight on the Italian administrative attitude
towards emigration, I give a translation of an article which appeared
some months since in _Il Progresso Italo-Americano_, of New York, a
newspaper of importance, and one which is usually able to reflect the
Italian government’s position in anything that pertains to social and
educational subjects. The article, which is editorial, reads:
“EMIGRATION AND EDUCATION
“The Bureau of Education in Rome has recently received the following
telegram from Inspector Adolfo Rossi, who is at present in South Africa.
“‘According to the decree already published in the _Official Gazette_,
the landing of illiterate immigrants at Cape Town shall be prohibited.’
“South Africa now follows Australia and British Columbia, and before
long the United States will emulate their example.
“The law already approved by the House of Representatives is now before
the Senate, being favorably reported by the Senate Committee, and from
the last message of President Roosevelt (of which the readers of _Il
Progresso_ are not ignorant) it is evident it will have all the support
of the Presidential power. What will then become of our emigration, and
particularly that from the southern provinces? This has been a frequent
question, and it is now becoming acute. A comparison between the grand
total of permanent emigration from the Neapolitan provinces for the
first six months of the year, and the percentage of illiteracy shown by
the last compulsory enrollment of troops is necessary, in order to
comprehend the terrible menace hanging over those regions, and the
duties devolving upon the officials directing affairs.
[Illustration: Peasant Types]
“The following tables give the statistics referred to:
_Emigration for Six Months_ _Illiteracy_
Abruzzi 28,412 49.59 per cent.
Campania 41,066 44.05 per cent.
Apulia 8,434 53.05 per cent.
Basilicata 7,840 52.13 per cent.
Calabria 21,262 55.02 per cent.
“During the first ten months of 1902 there emigrated from Naples to the
United States 145,629, of which number more than eighty-eight per cent
were over ten years of age.
“Given the application of the law presented to Congress at Washington by
the Hon. Mr. Shattuc, with amendments of the Hon. Mr. Underwood, about
70,000 persons from the Neapolitan provinces alone would have been
returned from the American ports during the period mentioned. The
following extract is taken from the report of the Senate Committee:
“‘While we are spending millions to eradicate from our country the evil
of illiteracy, we are opening our doors to illiterate men of all
nations. One may have the opinion that education is not a guaranty of
character, any more than the want of education may be of dishonesty, but
it is undoubted that education constitutes the fundamental basis of any
moral and intellectual progress.’
“The last message of the President of the United States contains the
following:
“‘The second object of an immigration law should be that of
ascertaining, by means of an accurate examination and not one simply
relative to illiteracy, whether the immigrant has the intellectual
capacity of being able to act healthfully and judiciously as an American
citizen.’
“In view of such danger, what action remains to be taken? It is illusory
to hope that the action of our diplomacy (no matter what eminent
statesmen we may have) can succeed in preventing the enactment of the
law in America, any more than it could have prevented such action in
Australia, British Columbia or Cape Colony.
“We can only endeavor to maintain for as long as possible the openings
which we at present have for our emigration, and to endeavor to acquire
new ones, as, for instance, the Transvaal mines. A strong economic
crisis continues in the Argentine Republic, and at present immigration
is necessarily suspended. In Brazil, where there is still much field for
opportunities, it would be heartless to encourage our emigrants and
afterwards see them in the ‘fazendas,’ treated with inhumanity and
oppression, without being able to render them any effectual protection.
“On the other hand it is a duty of the Italian state energetically to
provide for the education of the southern proletarian masses, which the
local administrations cannot do, deprived as they are of resources and
oppressed by debts and taxation. In the south it is the duty of the
State to conduct, at least in the minor communities, the elementary
education, causing the communities to contribute only in accordance with
their means, thereby avoiding an unnecessary aggravation of their
present condition. As stated by the Honorable Sonnino in his speech in
Maddaloni Hall, Naples, modern Italy has so far deplorably failed in the
first of its duties to civilization: that of giving primary education to
the poor masses of its most unfortunate provinces.
“It is now time to resolve for energetic action, in order to eradicate
from one-half the kingdom of Italy the stigma of being the leading
nation of Christian Europe in illiteracy. Considerations of prudence as
well as humanity advise us to take such a step.”
In a word, nearly half of the people are unable to read and write in
Italia Meridionale, because the communes are too poor to pay the
expenses of maintaining schools except in the larger towns and cities.
The attitude of the Italian government is very nicely shown also. It
looks on emigration as the only safety-valve for the districts which are
over-populated, and recent years have proved that an immense improvement
always follows in any village when the proportion of its emigration
rises above ten per cent. The reason is that the Italians in America,
South America, South Africa and Australia save enough money to send home
enormous sums to their relatives, with the result that in Basilicata,
for instance, which has been heavily drained by emigration, there are
entire communities in a flourishing condition solely on the savings of
their emigrants. By most careful estimates, made by comparison of
consular reports with Italo-American banking statements, the Italian
money post, and the statistics of the Italian Bureau of Emigration, I
have concluded that _in the year 1902 between $62,000,000 and
$70,000,000 was sent home to Italy from the United States alone. In the
year 1903 between $57,000,000 and $65,000,000 was the estimated amount_.
The decrease is to be accounted for by the great increase in the number
coming over to join those in the United States who had been sending them
money. A great difficulty that blocks accuracy in these things is the
concealment of funds by returning emigrants and by recipients of money
in Italy. I found a family in Caivano, near Naples, for instance, who
received through a cousin who returned to Italy on the _Lahn_, at the
same time with us, $3,500, jointly sent by a father and three sons
working in the mills in Birmingham, Ala. Only by chance did I learn of
it, and then they besought me to keep their secret, fearing that “the
King would get it.” When the Italian pays his two or three per cent to
the government he says, “it has gone to the King.” H. J. W. Dam’s “The
Tax on Moustaches” very nicely touches up this matter of national taxes
in Italy. I know personally of a large number of instances of returning
emigrants carrying large sums of money with them, and I have the
statements of scores of money-changers to whom American dollars are
sold; so that I feel justified in saying that a very large portion of
the emigrant savings goes home clandestinely and is never caught in the
government net, yet blessed is the lot of the tax-collector in a village
which has twenty or more per cent of its native-born in America. His lot
is an easy one compared with the corresponding official in a village of
small emigration.
Particularly as to conditions in the zone of Neapolitan influence,
emigration is the most important feature of life there to-day, for the
reason that the emigration from Campania has been and is enormous, and
that, should Naples suddenly cease to be the greatest of all ports of
embarkation, a financial paralysis would strike the city and province.
Over large districts, the vital arteries of which are the river valleys
of the Volturno and Garigliano and the country back from the Gulf of
Naples and the Bay of Salerno, the influence of Naples obtains, and its
dominant tone, as has been said, is dishonesty. Naturally, since Naples
is the metropolis of the region, the Neapolitan point of view is the one
emulated, and though I have seen many types of lying, lazy, morally
oblique peoples, I have never dwelt among any where a constant exercise
of one’s vigilance on the defensive was so absolutely necessary.
A rather good story which illustrates the propensities of the
Neapolitans was told me by an Englishman whom I met in Caserta.
According to his relation, a German Jew, a Scotchman and a Connecticut
Yankee formed a company for the exportation of wine from Naples and went
there to set up business. After being in the city several days, and
having a few business transactions with the Neapolitans, the Yankee said
to his partners:
“Well, boys, we had better settle down and live here for about ten years
until we learn a few tricks and then start business, or we had better
give these chaps all we have at once and save them the trouble of taking
it away from us.”
From Frosinone south to the valley of the Sele and back as far as Ariano
we found even the simple-minded peasants to have that touch of
Neapolitanism, which is, to say the least, an undesirable
characteristic. In the city itself it is so serious that not many years
since the organized ruffians of the Cammora, recruited from all stations
of society, were a power of terror, and since then men more polite, but
just as criminal, bankrupted the city and brought general conditions to
such a pass that the national government was forced to step in and take
control till municipal and provincial affairs could be put on an honest
and paying basis. The people are more noisy, more gross in their habits,
and more irresponsible in their conduct than any class in any part of
Italy. Constant change of government in the past, lack of things of an
institutional nature and the focusing of all the bad in the south of
Italy may have had the degenerating effect; but, whatever the cause, the
effect exists, and the social virus seems to have poisoned many a man I
know who, but for his brief stays in Naples, would be a very decent
citizen, either in his native town, in other provinces, or in his new
home in America. The bad Italians in the United States are in clusters,
and the heads of the majority of these groups are men trained in theft,
trickery and crime in the excellent schools of Naples and Palermo.
In the city there are few factories, though the government is bringing
every influence to bear to promote industries in Naples, and under the
new municipal plan a large tract of the side of the city that lies
towards Vesuvius is arranged for factory sites; but there are three
important things lacking: raw material, skilled labor and confident
capital. Even the excellent street-car system is controlled by Belgians.
The north of Italy continues to be the industrial section. The business
that emigration engenders is first in importance. Vesuvius, Pompeii, the
Bay and the climate form the next important asset, and the exportation
of agricultural products and wholesale business of all sorts the third.
Two hundred thousand people in the city live on so little a year that
the statement of the amount would sound ridiculous.
[Illustration: Mangling Hemp]
We traversed the country of the arbitrarily indicated zone in the time
of the full harvest, when the bits of plain on which rows of trees,
themselves loaded with fruit, were seen to be the supports of miles of
running vines bearing great bunches of grapes, heavily covered with
dust. In every village were to be seen the hemp workers, where the long
stripped stalks were piled up in bound bundles waiting to be laid in the
mangling machines, operated as a rule by women and hand-mangled. On
carefully brushed stone squares men, women and children were threshing
beans and peas. Before every door were flat shallow troughs in which
figs or fruit of some sort were drying. On the house-tops the tomatoes
were being converted into a dark red mash, which is called _pomidoro_
and is used to make the delicious sauces with which macaroni is dressed.
Long-horned oxen or patient donkeys, with now and then an undersized
horse, drew along the dusty highways carts loaded with casks made ready
for wine, bundles of hemp stalks or shocks of wheat. In every village
were to be seen the several offices of the steamship companies’
sub-agents. The countryside simply teemed with life. There was never a
spot where one might stand and, though there was no one in sight, not
hear voices all about. In nearly every group of people was to be seen
one or more who bore the signs of recent return from America or
indications of near departure. Over everything lay the white dust from
the dry plains and slopes, and the sun beat down with distracting
fervor.
It did not seem to me that in the country districts of the Neapolitan
zone the Church exercised quite the influence for good or evil in the
material affairs of the people that it does elsewhere in Italia
Meridionale, and it was noticeable that the people had stronger
commercial instincts, being more inclined to buy and sell if given the
opportunity. That finds an expression in America in this way. So many of
the lace-workers, barrow-men, coal, wood and ice men are Neapolitans, or
are from the villages in the Neapolitan zone. But, in the social
organization of the countryside everything led to the impression that,
as each child grew up, his or her elders forced a place in the already
existing throng for him or her, a place wherein a bit to eat and a scrap
to wear might be won, and above that place the child could scarcely hope
to rise, inasmuch as it was difficult to maintain the foothold, let
alone improve it. Those who were unfit for the struggle became beggars
and wanderers, not paupers in the Italian sense, for the Italian pauper
is a person not only penniless, homeless and friendless, but physically
incapable of taking any care of himself whatever. The inmates of the
Reclusario of Naples are the most shocking lot of human wrecks I have
ever beheld aggregated.
If a family or group of families is suddenly deprived of the source from
which it has been eking a slender livelihood, the desperation to which
it is driven is well instanced by the terrible tragedy at
Torre-Annunziata. Immediately on hearing of the first outbreak there, I
took up the investigation, and in brief this is the story of the
occurrence.
It was merely one of those risings of the common people which
occur every now and then, and in which they uniformly get the
worst of it. It seems that the estate owned by the Ferroni
Corporation had for fifteen years been allowing the farmers about
Sarno, Castellamare-Torre-Annunziata, to have cheaply certain
waste materials for fertilizing their farms. These were suddenly
cut off, and the tenants demanded the immediate delivery of the
manure for their common use, but to their demand no attention was
paid.
This led to a discontent, which it is claimed was fostered by the local
Chamber of Labor, and they were exhorted by a Socialist by the name of
Vincenzo Presenzano with the result that on the 31st of August over two
hundred of them, armed with sticks, forks, spades and stones, gathered
on the property of one Gennaro Salto and stopped the carts coming from
the estate with the material, and, the high iron bridge over the River
Sarno being close at hand, they dumped the entire outfit into the deeps.
Five municipal guards and two city officials intervened in an endeavor
to maintain order; but by this time the crowd had grown to over five
hundred, and, after securing information for making arrests, they
retired.
In a little while there arrived a small force of Carabineers, city and
municipal guards, and they were so outnumbered by the rioters that the
latter attacked them vigorously. The commandant of the municipal guard
and one Carabineer fell wounded.
Then the order to fire into the mob was given. It was the claim of the
military that the first shots were fired into the air, but men who were
in the mob averred that they opened fire even before the commandant was
wounded.
Men, women and children withered away before the blazing rifles like so
much grass, and, when the mob had dispersed, three lay dead on the
grass, two more of the wounded died in a short time, and four were known
to be in a very serious condition, while numbers of others were hurt.
The exact number did not even come out at the investigation which was
ordered by the government.
When I visited the commune it seemed as if a plague had fallen. More
soldiers were being hurried to the district and posted in spots to
command the situation, arrests were being made, even in houses where the
dead lay; but a terrible silence hung over both military and populace. I
talked with one of the Carabineers, and he told me he could never
forgive himself for helping to shoot down his own people, and that he
longed for the day when he could leave the service. It was the second
disturbance in which he had been, and in both cases the sufferers were
the simple-minded peasantry who, finding themselves deprived of what
they regarded as their just rights, had been incited to violence by
Socialists.
The _disgrazia_ made a profound impression throughout the kingdom, and
more than one resident foreigner in speaking of the subject remarked:
“Some day there is going to be more than that. The people who really
work and produce something in this country are getting about tired of
paying enormous rents to support the aristocrats, and heavy tithes and
taxes to maintain the Church, the army, and a government of splendor. We
expect trouble, and that before long.”
The Socialists are growing, and a paper called _Avanti_, published in
Rome, is the chief organ of the malcontents. During our stay in Italy it
made a number of successful _exposés_ of ministerial and official
derelictions and won suits brought against it in retaliation, while
numerous illustrated weeklies indulged in caricatures and cartoons of
the Pope, cardinals and ministers, that seemed to meet with great
popular favor; but my observation was that socialism as a principle was
not generally understood by the masses, and the only reason that the
socialistic groups have much following was because they are against
things as they are rather than for socialism as a solution of the
problem of what they should be. Socialism as a political belief is not
being readily transplanted to this country by any class of the emigrants
except the educated emigrants from the north and in and about Rome.