Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1881 — Decline of the Italian Race. [ARTICLE]

Decline of the Italian Race.

One of the reasons for the deformed, rickety, dirty, wretched, thievish inhabitants of Italy is the total absence of proper sanitary arrangements in Italian towns and villages, from the palace to* the hovel and room tenement. Italy—the land of sunshine, art and song—is a land of filth and vermin. There are marble palaces, art galleries and blue skies, but neither sewers, drains nor adequate scavenging. Hence strangers who are tempted to visit the world-renowned cities pay a fearful penalty in risks from fever and certainty of mosquito stings, as also of punishment from other domestic torments. There is not one Italian city properly sewered, drained and scavenged. The best hotels use cesspools, out of which pass foul gases and putrid fluids to contaminate both air and water. Ironclads with 100-ton guns, Royal Cuirassiers, Royal Carabinieri, customs officers, excisemen, police, municipal guards and Jesuits will avail Italy nothing’ in removing the fearful causes of disease and human distortion. When will statesmen learn that the greatness and strength of a nation are not alone in magnificent cities, palaces, ironclads and standing armies, but in the health, comfort and content of the people ? The further lesson also requires to be learned, namely, that, where the mass of the people are allowed to grovel in filth and misery, there can be no true security for property. A whiff of wijjnot cure such disease.