IV. Causes and Destinations of Emigration

Among the causes that give rise to emigration and cause it to increase year after year, we find general and particular ones either of a moral nature or of an economic nature. These reflect material well being as well as that feverish itch for quick gains that has infected Italian society from the upper classes down to the lowest class at the bottom of the economic ladder, made up of the enormous mass of the poor.

The changed conditions of our times and of social life, improvement in ocean travel, easy access to transportation, the needs that have increased without corresponding available resources, the natural desire to improve one’s lot in life, the crisis that for years has been weighing down on the shoulders of the peasants like a lead cape, the truly enormous burden of public taxes that overwhelms agriculture and small industries and crushes them: these are the causes of emigration. To these must be added the fire that the three sinister flames, mentioned by Dante, have ignited in the hearts of people. I simply wanted to allude to these causes, because

the purpose of this publication is not to find a way to stop emigration but to bolster, enlighten, and guide it with advice and support, so that it may be an advantage, a benefit, to the emigrants and a source of pride for our country.

At this point, it might be useful to look at the destination of our emigrants.

By and large, everybody knows that the mecca of Italian emigration is America. Those vast untilled plains – either leased by various Governments or societies or granted outright for almost nothing in comparison to the real worth of these lands – exercise a veritable fascination on our peasants. What irresistibly attracts all those emigrants who seek their fortune through a stroke of luck is the feverish activity of North American cities, where all ideas find a home, all projects find capital, where fortunes are made and unmade in the twinkling of an eye. In a word, it is there in the Americas, either in the infinite silence of the pampas or in the hustle and bustle of the cities, that honest, unlucky or restless individuals, unfortunate or guilty persons, forced to leave their birthplace, look for prosperity, peace, glory, oblivion and sometimes rehabilitation.

Everybody knows the situation: statistics confirm it with mathematical clarity and precision.

These are the departures of Italian citizens for America in the past ten years:

Now, if we compare these figures with those given above, we see that, except for very small percentages, almost one hundred percent of our permanent emigration goes to America.

Table 2

Departure of Italian Citizens for America, 1876–1885