][ 
 
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 The Italian's' 
 in America 
 
 Frederick H. Wright 
 
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The 
 
 Italians in America 
 
 By 
 
 FREDERICK H. WRIGHT 
 
 Superintendent 
 Italian Missions of the 
 Methodist Episcopal 
 Church 
 
 COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION OF THE ITALIAN MISSION 
 OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 150 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
 1912 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/italiansinamericOOwrig 
 
General Outline 
 
 PAQE 
 
 I. Italian Democracy 
 
 II. Taxes 8 
 
 III. Italians in the United States 10 
 
 IV. Sobriety 10 
 
 V. Poverty 12 
 
 VI. Crime 13 
 
 1. Jealous Guarding of Home Life 13 
 
 2. Statistics Not a Fair Index 14 
 
 3. Laxity of City Officials 16 
 
 4. Inherited Hatred of Governmental Re- 
 
 strictions 16 
 
 VII. Occupations 18 
 
 VIII. Italian Renaissance 20 
 
 IX. Religious Work 22 
 
 X. Social Opportunity 24 
 
The Italians in America 
 
 T he Italian has an intense love for 
 the land of his birth. He thinks 
 Italy is the most beautiful country 
 in the world, and there are many who agree 
 with him. “Come le piace I’ltalia?” — 
 How do you like Italy? — is one of the first 
 questions asked of an American by an Ital- 
 ian when he discovers that you have lived 
 in Italy. The American asks a similar ques- 
 tion of a visitor to this land. “How do you 
 like our institutions?” The Englishman or 
 German rarely asks such a question. His 
 national pride would not so degrade itself. 
 He thinks his country is all right, and your 
 estimate of it is a matter of positive indif- 
 ference to him. Perhaps in this attitude of 
 the Italian may be found the secret of his 
 unconscious affiliation with American ideas. 
 
 I. Italian Democracy 
 
 There is much in common between the 
 Italian and the American. A rugged democ- 
 5 
 
racy characterizes this dweller in his sunny 
 southland. He believes in the divine rights 
 of man, and a man-made nobility has small 
 value in his eyes. The Englishman loves a 
 lord, but the Italian idolizes a man of noble 
 character whether he be aristocrat or plebe- 
 ian. Victor Emanuel II., Cavour, Mazzini, 
 Garibaldi, are names to conjure with, and 
 while the two first-named were aristocrats 
 by birth, the favorite cognomen of the King 
 was “Re Gallantuomo,” which indicated his 
 bluff democratic spirit, and in diplomacy 
 Count Cavour was the plain man of the peo- 
 ple. A title of nobility was offered Gari- 
 baldi by a grateful king and nation, but like 
 the great commoner, Gladstone, he chose to 
 preserve his identity, and his name is hon- 
 ored more in Italy than any other earthly 
 name. There is not a city, town, or hamlet 
 in that fair land where the name of this 
 great man is not perpetuated in some way 
 or other. He is the Washington-Lincoln of 
 Italy. 
 
 This democratic instinct has molded the 
 life of the people, strengthened the family 
 tie, and developed an almost patriarchal 
 life. I remember a home in Sicily which I 
 have often visited, in which there lived to- 
 gether in perfect harmony a widowed 
 mother with four sons and their wives, two 
 unmarried daughters, besides the smaller 
 6 
 
children of the family, — I think there were 
 sixteen in all. A large round dining-table 
 accommodated more than a dozen at one sit- 
 ting, and the affectionate relations were de- 
 lightful. The dreadful earthquake at Mes- 
 sina swept away the entire family, except 
 one. That family represented a type of Ital- 
 ian life beautiful to behold. Any one famil- 
 iar with the life of the Italian in America 
 will know that the same spirit characterizes 
 them in the land of their adoption. Not 
 only the immediate relatives are cared for, 
 but uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, 
 brothers and sisters-in-law, fathers and 
 mothers-in-law are all united under one 
 roof. This means a generous hospitality, 
 suggestive of our own southland. It also 
 means a strong family affection. An Italian 
 father may punish his child, even severely, 
 but no father loves his children more than 
 the Italian. 
 
 The feudal system, although abolished by 
 law, is still practically in vogue. Most of 
 the land is the property of large land-hold- 
 ers, and absentee landlordism, as in Ireland, 
 is the curse of Italy. The Italian nobleman 
 usually farms out his land to a “piccolo pro- 
 prietario” for a certain sum, and then lives 
 in Palermo, Naples, Rome, Florence, or 
 some other city, on his income. The lesser 
 landlord then sublets to the “contadino” or 
 
 7 
 
peasant, and, of course, expects the lion’s 
 share of the proceeds. The peonage system, 
 also, is in practical operation, and many a 
 poor peasant is hopelessly in debt to his 
 landlord. 
 
 II. Taxes 
 
 Then there are the taxes, and it is gener- 
 ally conceded that Italy is the most heavily 
 taxed nation in Europe. A recent writer in 
 a prominent review insists that the national 
 budget is unjust. The poorer classes of 
 Italy are burdened with fifty per cent, of the 
 national tribute. The majority of luxuries 
 escape taxation, while the essentials — corn, 
 salt, petroleum, and like products — are ex- 
 orbitantly taxed. The “Lotto,” or national 
 gambling association — a heritage from papal 
 rule — nets about twenty-seven millions of 
 lire ($5,400,000) yearly to the state, deple- 
 ting the public pocket to the extent of nearly 
 seventy million lire ($14,000,000), coming 
 principally from the small wage-earner, and 
 the laboring classes. The duties on salt 
 benefit the Treasury from fifty- four to fifty- 
 nine million lire, or $10,800,000. Two hun- 
 dred and twenty pounds of salt which costs 
 the state about thirt}'-two cents is sold to 
 the people for $8.00. Petroleum which costs 
 the government $3.50 is sold at $13.00. 
 g 
 
The operative forces of the Italian strug- 
 gle for national independence and constitu- 
 tional liberty were essentially democratic, as 
 we have already indicated, and the national 
 sentiments and institutions are nominally so 
 to-day. Yet we find not only successive 
 governments but even the local administra- 
 tions of communes and provinces following 
 in practise a course diametrically opposite. 
 For example, in the South, the saddle-horse 
 and the four-in-hand of the rich aristocrat 
 pays no tax, because, forsooth, such luxur- 
 ies cost money but bring in no income. On 
 the other hand, the donkey of the contadino 
 or peasant, which carries his produce to 
 market or draws his antiquated plow, being 
 considered an implement of labor and conse- 
 quently a source of income, must pay the 
 tax. This is obviously unjust, and the ef- 
 fect upon the Italian laboring man, espe- 
 cially in the South, has been to cause him to 
 seek other lands for a living. 
 
 The enormous emigration to America is 
 the direct result of the deplorable economic 
 conditions of Italy, otherwise very few 
 would leave their fatherland. “LTtalia e’ 
 bella ma povera,” — Italy is beautiful but 
 poor, — the immigrant declares with tears in 
 his eyes, and it is easy to see that they would 
 stay there if they could ; indeed, many re- 
 9 
 
turn, after a few years’ sojourn in this coun- 
 try, to spend the rest of their days in “la 
 heir Italia.” Rarely, if ever, are they weaned 
 from their old love. 
 
 III. Italians in the United States 
 
 It is a very difficult matter to compute 
 the number of Italians who come to the 
 United States. There is an incessant com- 
 ing and going, but a recent official item from 
 Rome estimates that fully 3,000,000 are still 
 in the United States, and possibly 600,000 
 are in Greater New York. The rest are dis- 
 tributed throughout the New England 
 States, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, 
 Delaware, New Jersey, and California, 
 though it would be hard to find a State in 
 the Union where the ubiquitous Italian can- 
 not be found. Like his Irish prototype of 
 years ago, whose place he has in a large 
 measure taken, he is everywhere. As mar- 
 ket-gardener and farmer he is making vast 
 strides in the central States, and future years 
 will see greater developments than ever in 
 this direction. 
 
 IV. Sobriety 
 
 The moral, social, and religious condition 
 of the Italians in this country is an interest- 
 
 10 
 
ing study. In this brief outline there is not 
 space enough to enter into detail. But, in 
 general, we may unhesitatingly declare that 
 the social life is exceptionally good, at least, 
 when the immigrant arrives in this country. 
 His sobriety is worthy of note. The Strass- 
 burger Post has recently devoted space to a 
 comparative statistical study of the amount 
 of liquor consumed by the inhabitants of 
 various European states. The Dane leads 
 the continent, his average being 104 quarts 
 of beer, very little wine, but 24 quarts of 
 brandy each year. The Italian, on the other 
 hand, is the most temperate: he drinks the 
 least beer, a mere two quarts, and the least 
 alcohol, one and a quarter quarts. His wine 
 consumption is 98 quarts. No nation in 
 the U’orld has such a record for temperate 
 drinking. Time and again, during our six 
 years’ residence in Italy we remarked on the 
 decent aspect of the Italian laboring man on 
 holidays. It is a delight to see him coming 
 home after a day’s outing, with his wife and 
 family, — a jolly, laughing, good-natured, 
 sober crowd, — a striking contrast to his 
 American compeer. In the United States, 
 wine is expensive, and he resorts to beer 
 and whisky. It is sad to note that Italians 
 are developing a taste for strong drink. He 
 drinks beer because he sees his American 
 
 11 
 
fellow workingman doing the same. He is 
 very impressionable, and becomes a part of 
 all he meets. He comes in contact with the 
 poorer class of Americans, and patterns 
 after them. Yet withal, his record for so- 
 briety is noteworthy, even in America. 
 
 V. Poverty 
 
 The Italian is industrious. It is a very 
 rare thing to see an Italian pauper in Amer- 
 ica; they are too busy to beg. Those who 
 have been in Italy know that one of the 
 blights on that fair land is the trail of the 
 professional beggar. He is a common nui- 
 sance, and tries sorely the patience of the 
 tourist by his persistency. The American 
 sculptor. Story, tells of Beppo, the king of 
 the beggars in Rome, who became a very 
 rich man. The very genius of the Roman 
 religion encourages begging. Believing in 
 salvation through works, and that he who 
 “giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord,” 
 and heaps up merit to himself, the Italian 
 is sharp enough to see that there is a decided 
 business advantage in making his appeal for 
 charity in order to help to save the soul of 
 the charitably disposed ; hence the beggar is 
 much in evidence to assist men and women 
 to protect their souls. But this type of Ital- 
 ian is not in evidence in America, thus prov- 
 
 12 
 
ing that this undesirable class does not and 
 cannot emigrate. Jacob Riis is authority 
 for the declaration that among the street 
 beggars of New York City, the Irish leads 
 with 15 per cent., the native Americans fol- 
 low with 12, the Germans with 8, while the 
 Italian shows but 2 per cent. We are told 
 further that “in the almshouses of New 
 York the Italian occupies the enviable posi- 
 tion of having the smallest representation, 
 Ireland having 1,617 persons and Italy but 
 19, while the figures for the entire United 
 States are equally favorable.” When it is 
 remembered that the Italian population of 
 the metropolis is more than double that of 
 the Irish, the figures are striking. Perhaps 
 I ought to say that this comparison is made 
 not for the purpose of reflecting on the 
 Irishman, who has made his record, but for 
 the purpose of placing the Italian in the 
 right light. 
 
 VI. Crime 
 
 1. Jealous Guarding of Home Life. The 
 home life of the Italian is jealously guard- 
 ed, and no nation has a higher record 
 of social virtue. Their chief crimes are the 
 result of jealousy, — a fear that their home 
 life has been invaded. After all, it is a proof 
 of the intense love which dominates their 
 lives, for jealousy, at the last analysis, is in- 
 13 
 
tensified love, or love gone mad. Their 
 criminal record is not so bad as it appears. 
 The newspapers seem to take particular de- 
 light in exploiting their deeds, yet Dr. S. J. 
 Barrows, the expert criminologist states : 
 “There are vile men in every nationality, 
 and it does not appear by any substantial 
 evidence that the Italian race is peculiarly 
 burdened, though it has been unwarrantably 
 reproached through ignorance.” In August, 
 1911, in Wilmington, Delaware, with a total 
 population of 77,000, there were 350 of all 
 nationalities who had been sentenced to the 
 workhouse, and yet with an Italian colony 
 of 6,000, only 12 were inmates of that insti- 
 tution, whereas their proportionate number 
 on the basis of their population would be 27. 
 This is no exception to the rule. The Black 
 Hand gang and the blackmail scares have 
 created a prejudice in the minds of Ameri- 
 cans who have not studied the actual rela- 
 tion of things. 
 
 2 . Statistics Not a Fair Index. Professor 
 E. A. Steiner, known as the immigrant’s 
 friend, makes the significant statement 
 which follows, based upon his wide ex- 
 perience : “I have visited nearly all the 
 
 penitentiaries in the eastern and western 
 States ; not to ask how many foreigners there 
 are in jail, but to ask why and how they 
 were convicted, what their present behavior 
 14 
 
is; to look the men and women squarely in 
 the face and to converse with them. Let me 
 say here again, emphatically, that the statis- 
 tics are misleading, and that in spite of the 
 large number of Italians in prison, there are 
 by far fezver criminals among them than 
 the statistics indicate. In a large number of 
 cases, the crimes for which the Italian suf- 
 fers, have grown out of local usage in his 
 old home. None the less are they justly 
 punished here, lest they be permitted to per- 
 petuate themselves in the new home. Most 
 of the Italians in prison have used the 
 stiletto and the pistol too freely, just as they 
 used them at home when jealousy made 
 them mad, or when they were in pursuit of 
 vengeance for real or fancied wrongs. 
 There are not a few real criminals who have 
 used the weapon for gain, but in the major- 
 ity of cases the stabbing or shooting was 
 an affair of honor with those concerned, and 
 even the aggrieved parties preferred to suf- 
 fer in silence and die, bequeathing their 
 grudge to the next generation, rather than 
 bring the affair before a sordid court. Tes- 
 timony in such cases is very hard to get, 
 and I have seen many a wounded Italian 
 bite his lips, inwardly groaning, and suffer- 
 ing in silence, unwilling to let strange ears 
 hear the proud secret of which he was the 
 15 
 
keeper and the victim. Italian burglars 
 have not reached proficiency enough to have 
 a place in the ‘Hall of Infamy,’ and bank 
 robbers and ‘hold-up’ men need not yet fear 
 serious competition from that source. The 
 prisons contain many Italians who trans- 
 gressed out of ignorance as well as from 
 passion ; numbers suffer because they do not 
 know the language of the court, and did not 
 have enough ‘coin of the realm’.” 
 
 3. Laxity of City Officials. An unfor- 
 tunate reason for the apparent prevalence 
 of crime is too often found in the laxity 
 of the city officials. So long as the 
 Italian kills his own kind, the American 
 representatives of justice take little time and 
 trouble to sift out the crimes, and accord- 
 ingly many go off scot free, and crime is 
 thus encouraged. Not so when he kills an 
 American : then he is hunted to the death 
 and glaring headlines tell of the awful crime. 
 
 4. Inherited Hatred of Governmental Re- 
 striction. The Italian has an inherited hatred 
 of all governmental restriction. For genera- 
 tions he has been the slave of the conquering 
 nations which in turn dominated his fair pen- 
 insula, and he has ever been a rebel. This 
 explains his attitude to all authority, and 
 accounts somewhat for his criminal record. 
 Lillian Betts, herself a Roman Catholic, 
 blames the ignorance and bigotry of the im- 
 
 16 
 
migrant priests who have set themselves 
 against American influence, and knowing, as 
 she does, these Italians both sympathetically 
 and critically, her words have considerable 
 weight. She says: “In New York, the 
 streets the Italians live in are the most neg- 
 lected, the able head of this department 
 claiming that cleanliness is impossible where 
 the Italian lives. The truth is that prepar- 
 ation for cleanliness in our foreign colonies 
 is wholly inadequate. The police despise 
 the Italian except for his voting power. He 
 feels the contempt, but with the wisdom of 
 his race he keeps his crimes foreign, and 
 defies this department more successfully 
 than the public generally knows. He is a 
 peaceable citizen in spite of the peculiar race 
 crimes which startle the public. The crim- 
 inals are as one to a thousand of these peo- 
 ple. On Sundays watch these colonies. The 
 streets are literally crowded from house- 
 line to house-line, as far as the eye can see, 
 but not a policeman in sight, nor occasion 
 for one. Laughter, song, discussion, ex- 
 change of epithet, but no disturbance. They 
 mind their own business as no other nation, 
 and carry it to the point of crime when they 
 protect their own criminal. Like every other 
 human being in God’s beautiful world, they 
 17 
 
have the vices of their virtues. It is for us 
 to learn the last to prevent the first.” 
 
 VII. Occupations 
 
 The Italian in this country belongs to the 
 laboring class, and chiefly to unskilled labor. 
 Nevertheless, he is moving up, and in New 
 York alone, there are fifteen hundred or 
 more lawyers, five hundred physicians, be- 
 sides a growing number of merchants, bank- 
 ers, and business men. The young Italian^ 
 are flocking to our higher schools of learn- 
 ing, and are making an enviable record. Last 
 spring (1911) a new system was established 
 in Columbia University, of graduation with 
 honor. The first and only man to graduate 
 under the new rule was an Italian. He 
 stood an oral examination before the profes- 
 sors of the various departments, in which he 
 took honors. Yet with all these good indi- 
 cations, there is no use disguising the fact 
 that the crowded condition of our little 
 Italics is a menace to our nation. Sociolo- 
 gists have done a great deal to ameliorate 
 the awful conditions which obtain, but much 
 more will have to be done to avert a dire 
 calamity. Socialism of a revolutionary type 
 — suggestive of violence, and something 
 more than a suggestion — is rampant among 
 the Italians. It is an inheritance from the 
 
 18 
 
homeland. The spirit of discontent, nur- 
 tured by the unfortunate economic condi- 
 tions there, has a freer scope in this land of 
 liberty, and unless some high moral and re- 
 ligious restraint is brought to bear upon it, 
 the results may be disastrous both for the 
 Italians and for this country. 
 
 A great many have the impression that 
 the Italians who come to this country are 
 chiefly of the riffraff element, but this is 
 very far from the truth. They are the 
 brawn and muscle and undeveloped brain 
 of Italy. The proof of the first is seen in 
 the mass of unskilled labor which lays our 
 suburban tracks, digs our ditches, tunnels 
 our subways, and builds our railroads. What 
 would we do without them? The proof of 
 the second is seen in the wonderful progress 
 they make in our public schools. The in- 
 variable testimony of teachers is to the alert- 
 ness of mind of children of the first gener- 
 ation. I remember visiting an Italian Sun- 
 day-school in New York City a short time 
 ago. The Secretary-, a young lady, was born 
 in Southern Italy. I thought she was an 
 American, she had so absorbed her environ- 
 ment. In conversation with her I found that 
 she was studying typewriting and stenog- 
 raphy, that she had made good progress, and 
 I have since learned that she occupies a very 
 responsible position in the city. She was 
 19 
 
the daughter of a New York City street- 
 sweeper and her parents could neither read 
 nor write. America had produced that 
 change in a life by the larger opportunity, 
 and all in the first generation. In a certain 
 city of the East, settlement work was taken 
 up by a Christian church. Italian boys of 
 the immigrant class frequented the settle- 
 ment. One of the boys is now judge of a 
 juvenile court, another is an instructor of 
 Italian and Latin in one of the well-known 
 universities, another is a successful physi- 
 cian, while still another is a lawyer of prom- 
 inence and a graduate of Harvard. In com- 
 mercial life they are forging their way to 
 the front, and in the professions they have 
 already won their place, thus demonstrating 
 their virile qualities. The story of the de- 
 cadence of the Italian people is the story of 
 the rise of the papacy, and with it the sup- 
 pression of free thought. 
 
 VIII. Italian Renaissance 
 
 In the eleventh century Sicily was the cen- 
 ter of culture and refinement, then came the 
 fall of Constantinople and the subsequent 
 development of the so-called Holy Roman 
 Empire with its domineering hierarchy. All 
 tendencies to mental and religious liberty 
 
 20 
 
were checked with an iron hand, and though 
 there were many who resisted even to death 
 the encroachments of a tyrannical ecclesi- 
 asticism, little by little the papal Church 
 throttled free speech and free thinking, and 
 developed in its own territory a nation of 
 ignoramuses, until in 1870, when the record 
 of illiteracy was fully eighty-five per cent. 
 The Italian Renaissance saved Europe, but 
 Italy itself was cursed by the dominance of a 
 medieval priestcraft and remained in abject 
 poverty and despair. Symonds has well 
 said : “The history of the Italian Renais- 
 sance is not the history of arts, or of 
 sciences, or of literature, or even of nations. 
 It is the history of the attainment of self- 
 conscious freedom by the human spirit man- 
 ifested in the European races.” The three 
 R’s of the Middle Ages were Renaissance, 
 — the new birth, the era of Medicean influ- 
 ence and Florentine elegance; Reformation, 
 — the struggle of Luther and Zwingli 
 against scholasticism and papal supremacy; 
 Revolution , — the culmination of the irresist- 
 ible forces of Renaissance and Reformation 
 in the European life and thought. Italian 
 Renaissance, Lutheran Reformation, and 
 French Revolution, form the trinity of influ- 
 ences begun through a domineering yet de- 
 cadent ecclesiasticism. 
 
 21 
 
The Italian of the twentieth century — the 
 immigrant to the new world — is the product 
 of an effete hierarchy. A child of the coun- 
 try which saved Europe and then the world, 
 he himself remained a victim of a world- 
 bound papacy, and as he touches our Amer- 
 ican environment so many are ready to de- 
 clare him a degenerate son of a degenerate 
 people, but the thoughtful observer will look 
 into the philosophy of history and draw a 
 conclusion juster and truer, namely : that the 
 modern Italian is the undeveloped product 
 of a degenerate Church. Breaking away 
 from the traditions of the past, this same 
 Italian breathes the free air of a Protes- 
 tant environment in the new world, and rises 
 to his old-time power and influence. 
 
 IX. Religious Work 
 
 Something must be done to meet the im- 
 mediate needs of the Italian immigrant. 
 American Protestants for a long time did 
 nothing, believing that every Italian was a 
 Roman Catholic, but after careful investi- 
 gation it was found that a vast number had 
 no affiliation with the mother Church except 
 by tradition and baptism, and that if nothing 
 was done for them by Protestantism, they 
 would come under no religious influence 
 whatsoever. 
 
 22 
 
The socialistic element of Southern Italy 
 is decidedly anticlerical. It knew nothing 
 but the Roman type of Christianity, and the 
 revolt from that was spontaneous and posi- 
 tive; hence it became antichristian. It was 
 the swinging of the pendulum. Contact with 
 American life has brought larger views on 
 religious thought, and these erstwhile anti- 
 christian Italians cannot resist the force of 
 Protestant ideas. Protestantism has made 
 its greatest inroads in the socialist camp, and 
 thousands are now rejoicing in the light of 
 the gospel of Christ, who, without such in- 
 fluences, would have been completely sep- 
 arated from the Christian Church. 
 
 We have no quarrel with the Roman 
 Church: we are simply trying to reach the 
 vast majority of Italians who for one reason 
 or another have lost faith in her. This is 
 not the place to discuss the reasons for this 
 lack of faith : the fact is undeniable. Apart 
 from the socialistic element, which is ag- 
 gressively antichristian, the greater number 
 of Italians in this country are absolutely in- 
 different regarding Christian faith and life. 
 The almost tragic relation of the state to 
 the Church is lamentable. The fiftieth an- 
 niversary of the unity of Italy was cele- 
 brated in 1911 with great pomp in Rome 
 and Turin, but not a prayer was publicly 
 23 
 
offered up for the blessing of the God of 
 nations. This total disregard of Christian 
 teaching augurs ill for a people who in their 
 natural tendencies are religious. The emo- 
 tional dominates their lives, and yet the cold, 
 bare facts reveal a complete absence of in- 
 terest in everything which is Christian. 
 
 The Italians in America, under the pres- 
 ent environment, are fast becoming an un- 
 godly people, and this is our danger and 
 theirs. The various denominations are active 
 in establishing churches in their midst, and 
 the response they have received indicates 
 that these happy-hearted children of Italy 
 are not impervious to the teachings of 
 Christ. 
 
 X. Social Opportunity 
 
 Evening classes in English and instruc- 
 tion in United States Government, together 
 with the presentation of the New Testament 
 type of Christianity, can be made splendid 
 channels of propaganda among the Italian 
 immigrants. Naturally, they are suspicious 
 of unselfish effort in their religious behalf; 
 they have been so used to ulterior motives 
 that they stand on guard, but as they begin 
 to see the disinterested spirit which prompts 
 evangelical Christians to point them to the 
 Lamb who taketh away the sin of the 
 24 
 
world, their hearts become responsive to the 
 truth, and their simple, childlike, yet withal, 
 strong and stalwart natures, assert them- 
 selves and prove the power of their intellect 
 and the warmth of their hearts. 
 
 Americans must break away from the 
 silly prejudices of the past and that unrea- 
 soning ignorance which destroys Christian 
 bonds and creates a, chasm between races. 
 By a mutual sympathy and Christlike 
 spirit, we, as Protestant Christians can do 
 mighty things for these lovable people, 
 whose forbears, long years ago, gave our 
 fathers the gospel, and who now themselves 
 need the same old gospel of mercy, compas- 
 sion, and love. 
 
 Italy has played her part well in the his- 
 tory of the world. Notwithstanding all the 
 suppression of free thought, she has pro- 
 duced some of the greatest representatives 
 in literature, science, art, and religion. 
 Dante, Petrarch, and Tasso sing as sweetly 
 as any poets. She has produced a Mondino, 
 the father of modern anatomy, a Falloppio 
 who preceded Harvey. Galileo studied the 
 heavens and turned astrology into astron- 
 omy. The barometer, the timepiece, the 
 improvement of the mariners’ compass are 
 the gifts of Italian genius. Galvani gave us 
 the first principles of electrical science, fol- 
 25 
 
lowed by Volta and Meucci with the 
 telegraph and telephone, while Marconi 
 crowned the whole with his wireless mes- 
 sages. Michel Angelo, Raphael, Andrea del 
 Sarto, Perugino, Carlo Dolce, Giulio Ro- 
 mano, Da Vinci, Titian, and Fra Angelico 
 peopled the galleries of the world with 
 matchless art. Bellini, Verdi, and Donazetti 
 discoursed to us sweet music, while Paga- 
 nini and his associates reproduced in instru- 
 ment and song the masters of Italian sym- 
 phony. Her roll of statesmen and generals 
 is no mean record. From Julius Caesar 
 down to Garibaldi and Napoleon Bonaparte 
 she has shown masterful generalship, and 
 from Lorenzo to Cavour she has produced 
 men of state and giant nation-builders. In 
 the religious world she has developed her 
 resourceful and intrepid missionaries who 
 went forward and won our Anglo-Saxon 
 fathers to the Christian faith, and even Ire- 
 land pays its tribute to Italian evangelism in 
 the person of her patron saint Patrick, him- 
 self the son of Italian parents, who was 
 Christian without being Romanist and Cath- 
 olic without being Protestant, and who in 
 his “Confessions” insists on justification by 
 faith only. 
 
 This is the story of Italy. What a debt 
 we owe her ! As her sons and daughters of 
 26 
 
yeoman blood, illiterate yet virile, undevel- 
 oped yet brainy, crowd upon our shores, let 
 us give them our heartiest greetings and an 
 unstinted welcome, and by the grace of God 
 they will do for our America what they have 
 done for their glorious Italy. 
 
 27 
 

 
 
 
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