THE II 0 ........ ;t-l 0* I .... I-l '* ITALIANS O F r.YRR HE /I /A II 5 t: A § Nilll t'"' "'" t-l .... '" I I I .... '" ex> "'" I-l ;. '* 'C!l. I» :: CLEVELAND I -r A L Y. Percentage <strong>of</strong> Latin Americans to total population
THE ITALIANS O F CLEVELAND clergy to stratify into ecclesiastics, orthodox servants <strong>of</strong> the church, and free thinkers. To these should be added the peasantry (contadini), exploited and forgotten workers <strong>of</strong> the soil who form the base <strong>of</strong> the pyramid <strong>of</strong> Italian society, and support the whole superstructure. In the North they own the land, live comfortably, take an interest in education, and participate actively in political life, so that their lot is not intolerable. In the South, however, the peasant's life is quite the reverse. He seldom owns the land. He labors hard, until within the last two decades for 15 or 20c a day, since which time the wage has risen to 65 or 70c. He lives abstemiously and is measurably content. Meat is an article <strong>of</strong> diet with him only on New Years or other holidays ; bread <strong>of</strong> chestnut or rye flour and vegetables with light wine when procurable comprise his daily fare. He is honest, patient, thrifty, pious to the point <strong>of</strong> superstition, and generally light hearted despite his poverty. It is from this latter stratum <strong>of</strong> Italy's life we are now receiving four-fifths <strong>of</strong> our Italian immigrants. <strong>The</strong> Economic Burden In the Wars <strong>of</strong> Independence before 1861 when the kingdom was proclaimed, an enormous public debt had been contracted. This burden was multiplied when the new State found itself under the necessity <strong>of</strong> quickly building up and equipping an army and navy, schools, ports and f:l.ilwayi', in order to approximate the level <strong>of</strong> other European nations. This poor but plucky little state, 1l1II1st have built on a sound financial bc,sis, for, at the outbreak <strong>of</strong> the Great War in 1914, besides her splendidly modern army and navy, she had an annual revenue <strong>of</strong> $15,000,000 beyond her last national expenditure. This has required, however, a heavy burden <strong>of</strong> taxation, which, added to the increasing expense <strong>of</strong> the leisure cIa ses, has produced a growing di content among the Southern Italian peasants. And thi , more than any other one thing, has been responsible for their American exodus. <strong>The</strong> causes <strong>of</strong> the immigration might then be summarized as oppression, by taxation, which fell hardest on the agriculturalists <strong>of</strong> Southern Italy, as over against the abundant and remunerative labor <strong>of</strong>fered by America. <strong>The</strong> over-population <strong>of</strong> the Iberian peninsula, for its births have exceeded its deaths by 400,000 yearly, and the stimulation <strong>of</strong> the Steamship Companies, added to the glowing reports <strong>of</strong> returning <strong>Italians</strong> who have "done well in America, and are not loathe to tell their less fortunate countrymen about it. <strong>The</strong> Immigration Stream <strong>The</strong> few who came to America before 1871 need not concern us here. <strong>The</strong>y were from Northern Italy, mo tly refugees, business men, students and adventurer . Garibaldi was a refugee in America for two years. Caesare Botta was here when he wrote his splendid History <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong> American Revolution. Such cases were few as the American Immigrants to Italy. In 1871 the Southern Italian began to come. By 1880 when the tales <strong>of</strong> American opportunity had been carried home, America was receiving 5000 every year. This stream has gradually grown in volume until between 1906 and 1916 more than 2,000.000 arrivals are recorded. <strong>of</strong> whom 1,700,000 have remained. In that decade one-quarter <strong>of</strong> our immigrants from all countries were <strong>Italians</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y have distributed themselves throughout our various states in the following manner: 7