I

One of the most important phenomena in modern Italy is the emigration of its people. This phenomenon is important for the number of people involved, for the social issues involved and for the economic evils of which it is a symptom. According to statistical data, Italian emigrants living in the American Republics total over two million: more than one million in the Republics of the South, more than 400,000 in Brazil, and the rest in the vast regions of the Americas, especially in the North. New York City alone has 85,000. During the decade 1880–1890, two million people left Italy: one million temporary emigrants – a veritable ebb and flow of human beings that gives the European labor market our intelligent and hard working manpower and brings back to Italy praise and money – and one million permanent emigrants, namely, people who cross the ocean in the hope almost always disappointed of returning; a mass of people that scatters throughout the young American republics, in the North and the South, in the largely populated cities, in the deserted “pampas” and unexplored forests, bringing everywhere their appreciated and esteemed activity.

(There follows a brief statistical presentation of emigration to the various European countries in the years 1887–1888).

These figures speak for themselves. They state clearly and eloquently that, during the two-year period, 1887–1888, more people left Italy than France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland all put together; that our emigration is four times higher than the Russian; three times higher than that from Germany – which, as a matter of fact, also has a very substantial emigration – and, by a few thousand, surpasses that of the United Kingdom which has very flourishing colonies and dealings throughout the world.

Gentlemen, please note that emigrants from almost all other countries are much better off than ours, because the French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch, outside of their homeland, find vast regions where their national flag is waving and the laws of the land are those of their country. In other words, in their colonies they find another homeland, along with what are its most cherished values: religion, laws, language, and customs. At least, they find other homelands where the spoken tongue is the one they learned in their childhood, the one they imbibed along with their mother’s milk. But our emigrants do not enjoy these blessings that gladden the heart and give people strength and courage to stand fast in the struggle of life, abandoned, as they are, to their truly magnificent talents and spirit of enterprise, of which we are rightly proud.

The figures are shocking. However, gentlemen, it seems that the phenomenon of emigration has not yet reached its peak, because, despite the stringent conditions laid down in the law enacted two years ago, which puts restraints on the activity of emigration agents; despite the disillusionments and cries of sorrow that, now and then, reach us from across the ocean, to our anger and shame; finally, notwithstanding the Government’s prohibitions, the sad exodus is still going on. Gentlemen, the fact is that Italian emigration – which has increased and is still increasing because of our country’s poor conditions, especially agricultural, and which has been stimulated and is still being stimulated beyond all proportions by emigration agents and by the need for manpower as a result of the emancipation of the slaves in Brazil – does fulfill a real need of the Italian people and is commensurate with the annual population increase. So we are not dealing with a temporary phenomenon but with one that has all the characteristics of a permanent emigration. Italy is a nation with the largest annual population increase. It increases at a rate of 11–12 per thousand and is surpassed only by Holland which has a 13 per thousand population increase of births over deaths.

This is why, despite mass emigration, the population of Italy is increasing and why, in a few years, our beautiful cities and towns will reach their maximum density.

According to reliable projections, if the population increases as fast as during the past twenty years, in a century there will be 100 million Italians. Even allowing for the possibility that, through internal migration, Italy will absorb another 10 million people within its national

boundaries and thus reach a population of 40 or 50 million (which is how many Italy could feed, if all regions had the same population density of Lombardy), still there will always be another 50 million people scattered around the world in the coming century, driven by an irresistible force: the struggle for survival, 50 million people, gentlemen, scattered around the world like leaves driven by a gale. Even granted that the phenomenon of emigration were to stop and that the new African territories were to become in the future the prosperous and happy garden where Italy could deposit its surplus population, without having to resort to other countries’ hospitality, always self-centered and often cruel, granted all this — and this is only a vague and distant hope — even then, given the present situation, we would betray religion and country if we were to completely neglect our overseas emigration. Gentlemen, emigration is the law of nature, whereby a living organism, born in a certain place, reproduces, spreads, changes, and evolves into something new, and the organism’s unfolding, which half a century ago seemed a whim of nature, is now seen as a powerful expression of a law written on the nature of things by the Creator. Gentlemen, if emigration is viewed as an expression of the natural law, it is an inalienable right; if viewed from the point of view of the individual or of a country, it can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the way it is carried out.

It is undoubtedly a good thing for both those who go and those who remain, a true safety valve, relieving the country of excess population, opening new avenues for commerce and industry, blending and perfecting civilization, broadening the concept of motherland beyond physical boundaries, making the whole world man’s motherland. But it is always a very grievous evil, from a personal and patriotic point of view, when it is allowed to take place without laws, limits, guidance or effective protection. Emigration, in this case, would not mean lively and intelligent forces working for the good of the individual and of society, but forces in conflict, often destroying one another in turn. It would mean exploitation of the emigrants to their detriment, and shame and to the detriment and shame of the land of their birth. It would not mean life giving waters, but torrents without banks which lose the riches of their waters among boulders and thistles and destroy the cultivated farmland.

Gentlemen, we must now look at how the phenomenon of emigration is taking place in Italy. Let us see where this flood of human blood comes from, where this enormous mass of people is heading (it has

reached 200,000 persons per year, and last year touched the 294,000 mark). Most of them, unfortunately, do not know where they are going. They are heading for America, the land where those who leave home in search of fortune are heading. They are heading for North or South America, for temperate or tropical regions, for wholesome or unwholesome climates, for fertile lands or lands more sterile than those they left behind, for populated centers or for deserted places, they don’t know. Yes, they are going to America, often with the added handicap of a blank contract that puts their work, if not their person, at the mercy of an ordinary employer.

It was in this way that emigration agents channeled a very large number of emigrants to Brazil, to supply the manpower that was already in great demand in agriculture and that is now in even greater demand because of the abolition of slavery, as I said. This is why in New York the so-called “patron” system – now condemned by a bill of the United States Senate – brought hordes of emigrants to that city, lured there by a thousand promises, shamefully exploited and then dumped, only to make room for newcomers, fresh victims of filthy lucre. This is why in Chile, not to mention many other cases, thousands of our emigrants are living in abandonment and misery, after having been lured there by glittering lies. And just as ignorance makes them victims of emigration agents here in their own country, so down there isolation and poverty make them easy preys of exploitation, which is always and everywhere ruthless, down there more than elsewhere. So instead of suitable and well-remunerated work, instead of abundant and wholesome food, those poor wretches find harsh work – if any at all – and a compensation which, compared with the fatigue, dangers, and cost of living, is so ridiculous. They find that better eating habits are dearly paid for by privations of what we call civilized life.