The Italians of Cleveland

THE ITALIANS O F CLEVELAND
Heights Club, Sossi Motta and Ettorezoia re.spect.ively, are Italians,
together with the second chefs at the Hollenden. ilnd Winton. In fact,
it is authoritatively stated that 140 out of the 200 leading cooks in the
city's foremost eating places are Italians.
Saloons
The saloon cannot be overlooked as a place of entertainment and
social recreation. Many of these people who are attracted from the
poorest provinces of their country by the rich economic opportunities
In the United States bring with them little equipment by way of education
or practical training. In few cases can they read or write their
own language. Finding the cost of living here disproportionately high,
they gravitate into the congested districts where housing facilities are
within their means.
During these years they find life necessarily barren of recreation.
"The younger men get it in the pool room, the children in the neighborhood
school or settlement." Their craving for companionship with
their own countrymen leads them to the warm, well-lighted and convenient
saloon, the degenerate cousin of the ins.titution with which they
were familiar in their European home. There are 18 of these institutions
in the Mayfield settlement alone, which is a generous comment
on their patronage. They have become the main recreational centres
for the older men.
Political
Year by year the Italian-American has increased his influence in
the local politics of our great cities. One has only to look over the roll
of city employees at such names as Charles Coralo, Tony Page, John
Corso, to get the significance of this tendency. The Italian-American
who in art is so extrinsic, in his political philosophy i just as practical.
Government itO him stands or falls, not by its ideal theory, but by the
number of concrete benefits, definable in economic and industrial terms.
He forgets no favor and condones no adverse discrimination. So while
the padrone system is at a minimum and political bo sism is not obtrusive,
government is a tacit quid pro quo arrangement and the political
aspirant who can give concrete evidence of influence or power is
not forgotten. Up to the Wilson-Hughes election in 1916 the Italian
colonies were overwhelmingly Republican. In that year a large Democratic
vote was registered.
Americaniza tion
It is true that socialism of a revolutionary type suggestive of violence
i rampant among certain elements of the Italians, but this is an
inheritance from the homeland. The spirit of di content nurtured there
by unfortunate economic conditions ha free scope when aggravated by
harsh inc1 ustrial conditions here. It is true also that the Italians more
than anv other of our ethnic groups come and go back to their native
land, that they are migratory. Far from being a reproach, this should
be a commendation. They have been the barometer of our labor markets
and a safety valve a well, relieving the tenseness of our industrial
crises. Nor is he less an American because of these migratory habits
and the over-estimated financial remittances to Italy. He is not oblivious
to the fact that the first American to die in our expeditionary forces
wa an Italian-American. In the present war no group ha lent its aid
in men and money with greater abandon than Cleveland's Italian sub-
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