The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 10, 1894 Page: 3 of 16
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PAUPERIZED ITALY.
The People of that Once Happy
Conntry in a Most Deplor-
able Condition.
The Effects of a Gold Standard aid
Contraction. The United States
Fast Approaching the
Same Goal!
We were all brought up to think
that the unity of Italy was to be its sal
vation, and that the formation of the
kingdom marked the victory of a great
popular cause It is true that of late
disquieting reports have reached this
country of the great armaments and the
oppressive taxation which are burden
ing the people; but the thoroughgoing
disciples of Mazzini in England are
disposed to put these down to the ac
count of the monarchy, and to declare
that all would have been well if their
leader's idea of a united Repub
lican Italy had only been carried out
without compromise. A representative
of the Daily Chronicle had an oppor.
tunity the other day of discussing the
Italian question fully with Signor
Ferrero, who occupies the chair of
Sociology at Bologna University. The
professor has followed the social and
political movement in Italy with keen
and sympathetic attention.
"Things are indeed black with us,"
he began, "and it is difficult to explain
to the people how complex is the situ-
ation. You read about results; you
are told there is much expenditure on
military and naval matters. Well, it
is true; and it is a great evil. But it
is only one amongst many. Italy has
a parliament closely resembling your
own. The king does not interfere, with
the Senate,as a rule, but leaves it to do as
it pleases. The fact is, that the people
do not know how to make use of their
legislative body. It has given no pro
tection, nor has it appealed to them as
a means of reform. Where are they to
turn when misery and poverty come
upon them? They see no way of
light, and hemmed in year after year
by more wretched conditions, their
spirit is sinking,and they are becoming
less and less able to undertake the
work of self-government. Under these
circumstances legislation has no or-
ganic relation to the country; its meth
ods are corrupt, and no one pays any.
attention to the laws when they aro
made. If we had a republic to-morrow,
it would not lift the country out of its
profound helplessness."
"You say you have no political life.
How are your elections managed?"
"Our elections! That is soon told.
We hare what is called a 'grand elector'
in each division. He may be a large
landlord or a contractor, and he sways
the electors. The people do as he tells
them, for what do they know, most of
them, of political issues? If they should
offend a grand elector, that is far more
serious to them than that this man or
that man should hold office. It is
understood when the elector's candi-
date is returned that his patron in the
constituency shall secure the gover-
ment's favor. Very likely he will be
exempted from paying taxes; public
works will be undertaken which will be
to his advantage, and so forth."
"Have you manhood suffrage in
Italy?"
"The franchise admits every adult
man who can read and write, but this
restriction has important consequences
In Sicily, tor instance, 80 per oent of
the potential voters are excluded as
illiterates, and in other distriots it is
very considerable."
"What about the condition of the
political parties?"
Signor Ferero shrugged his shoulder
"We have not what you call parties
There is Right and Left, but as to any
real distinction between the two, there
is none. One set may criticise what
the other does, but only the most lan-
guid interest is shown by the deputies
in the proceedings of the Chamber, and
as for the country, it cares still less
As every Italian knows, it makes no
difference what laws may he parsed by
the Chamber, for no one takes any ac
count of them. Signor Crispi is called
a great statesman; nearly every week
he brings in some measures, but as to
the carrying of them out, that is an-
other matter altogether. The machin-
ery does not exist, and the law has
become mere pieces of writing with the
State seal."
"But you have a socialist party, have
you not?"
"If you can call ñve men a party,
yes. That is the whole of their strength
in the Chamber, though in the country
it counts for something. As lor the
radicals, they are going the way of the
Freisinnige in Germany, and of the old
school of the radicals in your country,
so far as I understand matters. They
please neither the rich nor the poor,
and between the conservative and re-
actionary forces, on the one hand, and
the mass of discontent and wretched-
ness on the other, they fall to the
ground. But the socialist propaganda
is undoubtedly gaining ground, and I
confess I can see no other way out of
the desperate embarrassments—politi
cal, social, ecomonic and financial—
than in the growth of this party. My
opinion is that there lies in the making
of an effective and practical party of
opposition, which is what is, most
wanted—opposition to the cruel taxes
which are crushing the life out of
Italy, to the huge costly and wasteful
bureauocracy which could well be cut
down 50 per cent, and to the militarism
which eats the heart out of the coun-
try."
A practical progressive party, and
nota scientific school of socialism?"
"Well, if you take the utterances of
the leaders, I admit that you will find
the counterpart of the German propa-
ganda with its right methods; but, on
the other hand, the direction of this
propaganda is highly practical. The
movement against the taxes amongst
the small proprietors is an instance of
this; these men are even in a worse
position than the laborers!"
"I wanted to ask you about the
taxes?"
"It is something incredible. There
is first the land tax, which brings into
the government every year 96,000,000
francs. Next comes the municipal
land tax which the commune is em-
powered to raise. In 1892 this over-
tax, as it is called, brought in 78,847,-
504 francs. There are 8,110 communes
in Italy, and out of these only 147 ab-
stain from imposing the over-tax. Then
we come to the provincial tax, the
province being the administrative di-
vision which lies between the central
government and the local municipali-
ties. The provinces raise money for
public work, roads, canals, and so
forth, and in 1898,84,280,608 francs
were extracted from the land for this
purpose. If you add these two amounts
together you will have some notion of
the burden that falls upon the peasant
proprietor; in the province of Cesenza
it represents sixty per cent of the pro-
duction, in Piedmont and Lombardy
from 15 to 25 per cent. But thiq is not
all. Tho building tax amounts to about
25 per cent of what the buildings would
let for. A family tax has to be paid on
every mejaber of the family—it ranges
from five francs in some communes to
nineteen in others; then, there are the
cattle tax, the dog tax, the horse tax,
the servants' tax, which last, a small
proprietor must pay if he employs farm
servants. You know, of course, of the
great hunger tax, as it is called in
Italy, the octroi, which is again both
communal and governmental. In 1892,
this brought in 211,110,198 francs.
The hunger tax falls most heavily on
the workmen in the towns. Bread
and meat cost more in Turin and Buch
places than in London. The waste of
time and damage done to the stock that
is kept waiting outside the gates, and
the general inconvenience and waste
caused by this imposition, are unspeak-
able. You must not forget another
matter, that is the land mortgage,
which at the end of 1892 amounted in
your money to $1,987,013,725. The
interest paid varies from 4 to 9 or 10
per cent, but the usual rate is 2 per
cent. The mortgages were increased
in 1892 by 200,000,000 francs. The
government draws every year for mort-
gage taxes 5,000,000 francs."
4 'And you say the socialist propaganda
is ¿aking root amongst that most con-
servative of classes the small proprie-
tors?"
"Yes, two out of five socialist dep-
uties are returned from one department
by these small proprietors, their first
mission being to protest against the
taxation. Then again, amongst the
co-operative societies, both for con-
sumption and production, which are
very numerous, there is a field for
propaganda by no means unfruitful.
My point is that the movement, so far
as it exists, is a continuation of some
effort made by the people themselves,
and not simply the mental assent to
some set theory. Much is being made,
too, I must tell you, of a plan of the
government acquisition of the waste
lands which form a seventh part of
Italy, and lie idle in the hands of the
great land owners, whilst the people
are being driven in multitudes to emi
grate. These lands lie mostly between
Pisa and Rome. And there are other
immediate and practical reforms in-
cluded in the propaganda. But it is
all far away, very far away, from rea-
lization, and what presses on one's
mind is the question, 'What is to be-
come of the people meanwhile?' There
plight is most terrible. The govern-
ment is against them wherever they
turn."
But, meanwhile, Signor, can the
people endure the state of things, or do
you expect a revolt?"
"Well, it is certain that the weight
is more than they can bear, but I do
not expect a revolution. The flame
that breaks out now and again, as in
Sicily and Carrara, is but a flickering
one. The people have not heart or
energy enough to revolt; neither can
they forever bear an intolerable bur-
den. No; I cannot tell you what will
happen. Perhaps the monarchy may
be made the scapegoat. The king is a
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soldier, and his removal would no doubt
lead in time to a safer military policy,
and to the withdrawal from the alli-
ance which has cost Italy so dear, and
given her nothing in return. But the
real rulers of Italy are those who go to
the Chamber to prey upon her, the
bourgeois who manage her local af-
fairs for their own interests and who
oppress the people far more than the
aristocrats did under the Bourbons in
the south,the bureauocracy who encum-
ber the land, the landlords who exact
a mercilessly large share of the pro-
duce of the country, and the money-
lenders. Unless the people assert
themselves, another alteration in the
form of government will do but little
for them. It is a piteous story that I
have had to tell you, but, alasl these
are the facts which my countrymen
have to face.—London Chronicle.
8S5at bock island route/
Chicago, Rock Island A Texas Railway
Is now fi rmly established in Texas.and
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Ask your nearest ticket agent for
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A
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The first edition of Cyclone Davis'
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Address Advance, Dallas, Texas.
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Park, Milton. The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 10, 1894, newspaper, May 10, 1894; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185560/m1/3/: accessed May 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .