ATDTDA 724-747 Italy

[Glenn Scheper]

Part 2 of 9.

Besides the delta of the Po and the large marshy tracts which it forms, there 
exist on both sides of it extensive lagoons of salt water, generally separated 
from the Adriatic by narrow strips of sand or embankments, partly natural and 
partly artificial, but havin openings which admit the influx and efflux of the 
sea-water, and serve as ports for communication with the mainland. The best 
known and the most extensive of these lagoons is that in which Venice is 
situated,

Among the chief industrial plants is tobacco, which grows wherever suitable soil 
exists. Since tobacco is a government monopoly, its cultivation is subject to 
official concessions and prescriptions.

The relations between owners and tillers of the soil are still regulated by the 
ancient forms of agrarian contract, which have remained almost untouched by 
social and political changes. The possibility of reforming these contracts in 
some parts of the kingdom has been studied, in the hope of bringing them into 
closer harmony with the needs of rational cultivation and the exigencies of 
social justice.

Latifondi farms are very numerous in Sicily. The landlord lets his land to two 
or more persons jointly, who undertake to restore it to him in good condition 
with one-third of it interrozzito, that is, fallow, so as to be cultivated the 
following year according to triennial rotation. These lessees are usually 
speculators, who divide and sub-let the estate. The sub-tenants in their turn 
let a part of their land to peasants in mezzadria, thus creating a system 
disastrous both for agriculture and the peasants. At harvest-time the produce is 
placed in the barns of the lessor, who first deducts 25% as premium, then 16% 
for battiteria (the difference between corn before and after winnowing), then 
deducts a proportion for rent and subsidies, so that the portion retained by the 
actual tiller of the soil is extremely meagre. In bad years the tiller, 
moreover, gives up seed corn befote beginning harvest.

The industrial progress of Italy has been great since 1880. Many articles 
formerly imported are now made at home, and some Italian manufactures have begun 
to compete in foreign markets. Italy has only unimportant lignite and anthracite 
mines, but water power is abundant and has been largely applied to industry, 
especially in generating electricity. The electric power required fcir the 
tramways and the illuminatiQn of Rome is entirely supplied by turbines situated 
at Tivoli, and this is the case elsewhere, and the harnessing of this waterpower 
is capable of very considerable extension. A sign of industrial development is 
to be found in the growing number of manufacturing companies, both Italian and 
foreign.

The match-making industry is subject to special fiscal conditions. In 1902-1903 
there were 219 match factories scattered throughout Italy, but especially in 
Piedmont, Lombardy and Venetia. The number has been reduced to less than half 
since 1897 by the suppression of smaller factories, while the production has 
increased from 47,690 millions to 59,741 millions.

The jewellers art received large encouragement in a country which had so many 
independent courts; but nowhere has it attained a fuller development than at 
Rome. A vast variety of trinketsin coral, glass, lava, &c.is exported from 
Italy, or carried away by the annual host of tourists. The copying of the 
paintings of the o~ld masters is becoming an art industry of no small mercantile 
import. ance in some of the larger cities.

The condition of the numerous agricultural laborers (who constitute one-third of 
the population) is, except in some regions, hard, and in places absolutely 
miserable. Much light was thrown upon their position by the agricultural inquiry 
(inchiesta agraria) completed in 1884. The large numbers of emigrants, who are 
drawn chiefly from the rural classes, furnish another proof of poverty. The 
terms of agrarian contracts and leases (except in districts where mezzadria 
prevails in its essential form), are in many regions disadvantageous to the 
laborers, who suffer from the obligation to provide guarantees for payment of 
rent, for repayment of seed corn and for the division of products.

In Venetia the lives of the small proprietors and of the salaried peasants are 
often extremely miserable. There and in Lombardy the disease known as pellagra 
is most widely diffused. The disease is due to poisoning by micro-organisms 
produced by deteriorated maize, and can be combated by care in ripening, drying 
and storing the maize.

The peasants somewhat rarely use animal foodthis is most largely used in 
Sardinia and least in Sicilybread and polenta or macaroni and vegetables being 
the staple diet. Wine is the prevailing drink, The condition of the workmen 
employed in manufactures has improved during recent years.

The number of industrial strikes has risen from year to year, although, on 
account of the large number of persons involved in some of them, the rise in the 
number of strikers has not sUlk always corresponded to the number of strikes, 
During, es. the years 1900 and 1901 strikes were increasingly numerous, chiefly 
on account of the growth of Socialist and working-class organizations.

The greatest proportion of strikes takes place in northern Italy, especially 
Lombardy and Piedmont, where manufacturing industries are most developed. 
Textile, building and mining industries show the highest percentage of strikes, 
since they give employment to large numbers of men concentrated in single 
localities. Agricultural strikes, though less frequent than those in 
manufacturing industries, have special importance in Italy. They are most common 
in the north and centre, a circumstance which shows them to be promoted less by 
the more backward and more ignorant peasants than by the better-educated 
laborers of Lombardy and Emilia, among whom, Socialist organizations are 
widespread. Since 1901 there have been, more than once, general strikes at Milan 
and elsewhere, and one in the autumn of 1905 caused great inconvenience 
throughout the country, and led to no effective result.

Although in some industrial centres the working-class movement has assumed an 
importance equal to that of other countries, there is no general working-class 
organization comparable to the English trade unions. Mutual benefit and 
co-operative societies serve the purpose of working-class defence or offence 
against the employers. In 1893, after many vicissitudes, the Italian Socialist 
Labor Party was founded, and has now become the Italian Socialist Party, in 
which the majority of Italian workmen enrol themselves. Printers and hat-makers, 
however, possess trade societies. In 189? an agitation began for the 
organization of Chambers of Labor, intended to look after the technical 
education of workmen and to form commissions of arbitration in case of strikes. 
They act also as employment burcaux, and are often centres of political 
propaganda. At present such chambers exist in many Italian cities, while leagues 
of improvement,, or of resistance, are rapidly spreading in the country 
districts. In many cases the action of these organizations has proved, at least 
temporarily, advantageous to the working classes.

A law came into operation in February 1908, according to which a weekly day of 
rest (with few exceptions)was established on Sunday in every case in which it 
was possible, and otherwise upon some other day of the week.

Mutual benefit societies have increased rapidly, both because their advantages 
have been appreciated, and because, until recently, the state had taken no steps 
directly to insure workmen against illness. The present Italian mutual benefit 
societies resemble the ancient beneficent corporations, of which in some 
respects they may be considered a continuation. The societies require government 
recognition if they wish to enjoy legal rights. The state (law of the 15th of 
April 1896) imposed this condition in order to determine exactly the aims of the 
societies, and, while allowing them to give help to their sick, old or feeble 
members, or aid the families of deceased members, to forbid them to pay old-age 
pensions, lest they assumed burdens beyond their financial strength. 
Nevertheless, the majority of societies have not sought recognition, being 
suspicious of fiscal state intervention.

Co-o ra- Credit co-operation is represented by a special type of association 
known as Peoples Banks (Banche Popolari). They are not, as a rule, supported by 
workmen or peasants, but rather by small tradespeople, manufacturers and 
farmers. They perform a useful function in protecting their clients from the 
cruel usury which prevails, especially in the south.

The number of persons unable to read and write has gradually decreased, both 
absolutely and in proportion to the number of inhabitants. The census of 1871 
gave 73% of illiterates, that of 1881, 67%, and that of 1901, 56%,

Thus a large all-round increase in secondary and higher education is 
shownsatisfactory in many respects, but showing that more young men devote 
themselves to the learned professions (especially to the law) than the economic 
condition of the country will justify.

Libraries are numerous in Italy, those even of small cities being often rich in 
manuscripts and valuable works. Statistics collected in 1893-1894 and 1896 
revealed the existence of 1831 libraries, either private (but open to the 
public) or completely public. The public libraries have been enormously 
increased since 1870 by the incorporation of the treasures of suppressed 
monastic institutions.

Libraries and archives are under the superintendence of the Ministry of Public 
Instruction. A separate department of this ministry under a director-general has 
the charge of antiquities and fine arts, making archaeological excavations and 
supervising those undertaken by private persons (permission to foreigners, even 
to foreign schools, to excavate in Italy is rarely granted), and maintaining the 
numerous state museums and picture galleries. The exportation of works of art 
and antiquities from Italy without leave of the ministry is forbidden (though it 
has in the past been sometimes evaded).

Yours truly,
Glenn Scheper
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