IX. How Can We Remedy the Situation?

We could say so many things in this regard, but I don’t intend to mention them all here. Experience will slowly teach us much. I will here simply and briefly offer some practical ideas in the hope that others will have the opportunity to develop them, so that these ideas can soon become a reality.

As we have seen, the needs of our emigrants are of two kinds: moral and material. I would like a protective society to be organized in Italy, which would be both religious and lay, so as to be fully responsible to the double need.

From the religious point of view, the field of action is very vast, but the economic one is just as vast.

The task of such an Association, as I have said already, should be to look after the spiritual and material interests of those unfortunate people who leave the land of their birth to cross the ocean. Hence:

1.     To keep the emigrant from falling victim to the shameful exploitation of certain emigration agents who, in order to make money, morally and materially destroy the poor wretches who fall into their nets;

2.     To set up an office that will do what is necessary for the employment of emigrants upon their arrival in American ports, so that any time an Italian emigrant would contact the Association, it may find him a useful occupation, or failing this, convince him not to emigrate in the first place;

3.     To provide help in case of disaster or sickness, both during the voyage and after arrival;

4.     To declare unyielding war, if I may use this term, on the merchants in human flesh who are prepared to use the most sordid means for the sake of money;

5.     To provide for religious care during the crossing, after arrival, and in the places where the emigrants are going to settle.

As for the first point, I would like that the Association, besides sponsors, should also have active members. The tasks of the latter should be diverse and well-distributed. First of all, committees should be set up in the main ports of the Kingdom as well as in foreign countries, where emigrants are embarking, to welcome them, watch over them, counsel and defend them. Other committees should be set up in the ports where the Italian emigrants are heading, so as to forestall those very same dangers and problems that all too often exist at the ports of embarkation.

To carry out the second point, the Association should not only be in contact with the Italian Government but also with the various American Governments, so as to give our emigration a logical and practical direction and thus prevent that, on arriving in America, the poor peasants not knowing where to go and who may make bad decisions that will usher in an endless chain of troubles for themselves and their families. In this way, we would enable our agricultural settlements to be more prosperous, better organized, and in a better position to receive help and protection from the national Government.

The third point is also very important and closely related to the previous two. The Association should make sure that, during the voyage, the emigrants are accompanied by a member of the Association or at least are entrusted to a responsible person who will help them in case of need. On the boat, there should always be a priest to minister to everyone, especially to the sick.

The Association should also make sure that where Italian settlers come together, the sick are not abandoned and that those who have been reduced to poverty because of accidents get the help they need. But to reach this goal, emigration should be better regulated and Italians should not spread out in small groups over the vast American continent, but settle in strong and well-organized communities.

The fourth point refers to the vigorous suppression of white slavery. To achieve positive results, the Association will need the effective support of the Government, which I believe will be forthcoming if the organization brings to light the wicked things presently going on, and that because of general apathy, are unnoticed.

Today, as I have already pointed out, all too often emigration agents with no heart and no conscience dupe families and lead their young ladies away, dooming them to moral disaster and disgrace. These truly heartbreaking cases are happening almost every day. The news media, which love to report the most trivial gossip of city life with gleeful interest, are silent about these abominable crimes; they ignore them or make off as if they don’t see them. An Association established for the protection of the emigrants must openly and constantly wage war on this commerce. Where it is unable to act by itself, it should resort to public force and, in public assemblies, try to stir up public opinion by denouncing the abuses and horrors committed against human and divine law.

In an age like ours that prides itself on its civilization and rightly takes satisfaction in having eliminated black slavery, we must make sure that whites are not valued less than the poor pagans of Africa and that Italian women and children are not exposed to such calamities any longer. No, Italy and its Government cannot and should not allow such indignities to go unpunished. In this sense, the work of the Association will be truly Christian, patriotic, praiseworthy, and will wipe away from our country a black mark, which greatly dishonors it also in the eyes of other countries.

I touched on the religious assistance to be offered the emigrants during the journey. But it is even more important to provide it after they have arrived in America.

Since this is the main purpose of this humble writing of mine, I am sure the reader will not mind if I dwell on this matter at some length. I will do this in the next two chapters.