VII. What Has Been Done in Italy

What about Italy? Not only has Italy done nothing compared to all this, but, by unjustly and clumsily appropriating the goods of Propaganda Fide, it has frightened away from our country – I say this with deep disappointment – great amounts of money from all corners of the world and

managed to impoverish and constrain the freedom of action of an institution that by itself would honor an era and that has in its ranks hundreds of apostles and martyrs, an institution that sent its heroic messengers among the most inhospitable peoples to bring them to the foot of the cross and win them over to civilization.

From the already quoted statistics, from the separate accounts and facts reported from time to time in the papers, I note that our countrymen abroad are the least protected, that they often are victims, either through ignorance or good faith, of contemptible exploiters, and that they are the least likely to have recourse to consular authorities when they need to assert their rights or are in trouble. This may all be due to a spirit of independence or to the fact that Italians are not used to seeing the Government of their country as their natural and valuable protector. But it my also be a grave indication of mistrust, the product of the habitual neglect and impotence of our authorities, so that our countrymen have found that they could do better on their own than they could by waiting for a tardy and ineffectual defense from their distant fatherland.

By this, I do not mean to condemn anyone in particular nor even a whole class of very honorable public officials, who, I am sure, are zealous in their duty and conscious of the noble mission entrusted to them. I simply wish to point out a situation and deplore it.

Now, in light of this situation, what steps have been taken or even attempted to improve this state of affairs? I must state frankly, albeit with deep sorrow: the Government has done very little and private people have done nothing. Now and then, when some sad incident is brought to the attention of the public, there is a bit of excitement, some parliamentary inquiries, an occasional newspaper article. To the inquiries the Government responds that it will take care of the matter. The outcries of the newspapers are followed by the indignation of some kind souls, and then oblivion descends on everything, and everything becomes quiet and still once again, with the treacherous stillness of the waters that hide their victim in their deep currents.

We have been going on in this way year after year, as if nothing could be done for our distant brothers and sisters except to give them a great deal of talk, flavored with a little rhetoric, so as to distract those who are waiting for help and to divert the attention of those who, out of a sense of humanity and Christian charity, would like to apply the surgical knife to modern society’s cancerous wound: selfishness.

To say that nothing has been done to improve the conditions of our emigrants is not quite correct, because there has been a lot of talk and even some practical measures. I would like to give due importance also to talk, because all this talk reveals, if not a firm commitment, at least good intentions, and it proves that the issue I am raising for public debate has occasionally attracted the attention of the leaders of our country. Finally, from all this talk, people will realize how little we have done and how much more has to be done. And this realization will impel generous people, who are always around, to act quickly and effectively.

Ab Jove principium (from Zeus is the beginning): the Government has so little to claim in this regard that everybody is firmly convinced that Italians are the least protected of all emigrants. In fact, if Rossini were alive, I don’t know whom he would embrace, since he would judge the dignity and importance of his country by the importance and respect it receives abroad in the person of its sons and daughters.

It is true, I repeat, that Government and Parliament have had lengthy discussions on this vital subject. But interpellations by an occasional parliamentarian, the introduction of bills, the usual annual recommendations during the budget debate, the usual responses of the Ministers, the circular letters of the Prefects, the articles by pro-government newspapers are inadequate remedies. All these things are a waste of time if they do not produce decent laws.

Nor have private efforts been any more successful than those of the Government, and maybe more was not possible. A few years ago, a protective society for emigrants was established. But, with the best intentions in the world, it accomplished little or nothing and, because of its timid and cautious approach, was able to make itself known to just a very small number of people. Frankly, I don’t know if the organization is still lingering on or has gone out of existence through inaction. This should not come as a surprise, because it limited its activity to the negative aspect: it warned the emigrants about the dangers they might face and, at times, was instrumental in having the weak and ineffective sanctions envisioned by our present legislation applied against the frauds and swindles of exploiters.

If we page through parliamentary proceedings and through the archives of Prefectures and of newspapers, we would easily discover some rather eloquent data, facts and figures, a number of effective temporary measures, and a lot of useful observations on the general subject of emigration.³

But we would look in vain for a law in our code or an organization in the country that has taken those facts, figures and observations into account. Yet, without engaging in devastating conquests, Italy could find in America a vast field where it could develop its colonies, which, if politically not depending on the mother country, like the British and French colonies, could nonetheless be of great advantage in developing its trade and legitimate spread of influence.

As we have seen and statistics show, South America attracts most of our emigrants. Less populated than North America, South America lends itself very well to farming enterprises. Vast territories, crossed by long and deep rivers, still remain untilled and await the strong arms that can exploit their extraordinary fertility. The Republics of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and the other republics of South America are more or less in the same condition. For many years, for many decades, in fact, they have been opening their doors to thousands upon thousands of Italian emigrants, who have spread out in those regions, much vaster than all Europe. There they have founded villages, towns, and farming communities, some of which are prosperous and could be a continuous source of industrial activity for Italy.

We can easily understand why, for the reasons given above, Italy’s intervention could never equal, much less surpass, that of England and France in their foreign possessions. But this does not exempt Italians from remembering that they have there some brothers and sisters who belong to them in a special way and who in a special way need their help. Abandoning them to their own devices would mean breaking in them every bond with their mother country and putting their faith and morality in great danger.

Would it not be truly Christian and highly patriotic to help break the sad tradition of neglect inherited from the past and to improve the condition of our emigrants?