Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1885 — A CLIME CLIME [ARTICLE]

A CLIME CLIME

Which Brings Naught but , Misery to Iti People. Sadder than most of the recitals ol the want, degradation, poverty, suffering, sickness, and death among the agricultural population of western Ireland is the account given of the condition of the farm laborers in central Italy by Mr. Beauclerk, one of the secretaries of the British Legation at Borne. The materials for this report were obtained chiefly from the official report of the Italian agricultural commission, appointed to inquire into the agricultural condition of the and to recommend improvement to be undertaken by the State. The statements in this official report are confirmed by the personal observation of Mr. Beauclerk. Tossy that the farm laborers, who embrace the largest proportion of the population, live and are treated like cattle, would be giving their condition much better than it really is. Cattle in most countries are housed in winter, and protected from storms during other seasons of the year. But in central Italy the farm laborers do not enjoy the protection afforded by barns and stables. In the Campagne district there are but 556 bouses for 22,754 inhabitants. Some live in huts and wigwams, others in caves and grottoes, or in the ruins of ancient buildings and tombs, whilst “many have no roof above them but the heavens, and no bed beneath them but the grass.”. In one commune 704 persons lived during all last year without a dwelling to call home. When the day’s work in the field was over, men, women, and children ate their rations under a shed ejected for the purpose of protecting mules, and then thre w themselves on the ground to rest. Here children ■were born, middle-aged women suffered from fevers, and old men died. Many were glad to obtain the sort oi food given to hogs, and to find shelter during a storm under a shed built to protect beasts burden. The condition of farm laborers is better in some parts of Italy, but it is very bad everywhere. The average wages of adult male agricultural laborers are less than SSO per year. On the large estates they work in gangs of several hundred each. They can be seen starting out in the gray mist of the early morning toward the. fields where they are to work, always accompanied by an overseer, who rides on horseback. They work in the fields till sunset, never leaving them to eat food. Such as is allowed them is brought and dealt out to them on the grass. During the entire day the mounted overseer rides among the laborers, who are of both sexes, to see that no one shirks or neglects his task. Here is the picture Mr. Beauclerk draws of them: “Men and Women bending to the ground, shivering in the chill mist of morning, Coiling in mournful silence, they might be but a herd of human cattle, resembling their fellows, but belong to a different and degraded race of captive helots.” It is certain that no one ever had the temerity to represent the condition of the serfs of Russia, the coolies of Borneo, or the slaves of any country as bad as this. Still the worst is not told in this horrible recital. That is contained in a report that in some districts half the agricultural laborers were taken to hospitals during last summer, and in the order from the general government “that dead animals be burned or buried in quicklime to prevent the peasants from digging them up and eating them, as often happens.”

The condition of the present proprietors is hardly better than that of the hired laborers. In the country 122,633 have farms that contain less than two and a half acres each. The soil is dug with a rude spade. There would be the reverse of economy in usingdraft animals, if the farmers could obtain them. Men are cheaper than horses, and woman than mules. The beast must be shod, but the human beings can go barefoot. It seems to be no great wonder that the jnembers of a family lament the death of a goat more than they do that of a near relatiye. This is the “free, united, and rejuvenated Italy” about which we have heard so much during the past few years. This is the land of flowers and ' sunshine, the country “where every prospect pleases,” the ancient home of art, literature, and science. Here Virgil, Horace,’and Tasso sung. Here are the grandest monuments of architecture the world contains. Here the finest painting and the most beautiful statuary of both ancient and modern times were produced, Here a civilization was established that, extended over three great continents, and a literature was produced that promised to endure through all time. Here a language was perfected that was the basis of the most of the tongues now spoken. This is the country whose agriculture 2,000 years ago was the wonder of the world. Here, according to Pliny, reaping machines drawn by horses were in use twenty centuries before McCormick was born. _,Now the agriculture of Italy is worse than that of Iceland; there are few machines for cultivating tbe soil or for harvesting crops. Human muscle is cheaper than rods of steel.— Chicago Times.