342 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



migrant is seldom questioned. He usually leaves Italy through the 

 representations of friends in this country, and therefore comes here 

 with a definite purpose, and is not at the mercy of a 'padrone.' On 

 the other hand, the southern Italian, short of stature, very dark in 

 complexion, usually lands here almost destitute. His intelligence is 

 not higher than one could imagine in the descendant of peasantry 

 illiterate for centuries. He can seldom read and write, and invariably 

 is an unskilled farm laborer. He has little money and often has no 

 definite purpose, and naturally must depend on some one who speaks 

 his language. In this way he falls into the hands of the 'padrone.' 



The early Italian immigrants were of the itinerant class — rag- 

 pickers, organ-grinders, etc., but after 1870 these were succeeded by 

 the Italian peasantry of the south, who were forced by economic con- 

 ditions and poverty at home, to emigrate. They came here at first to 

 supply the demand for unskilled laborers, occasioned by the great in- 

 dustrial activity following the civil war. In a majority of instances 

 these immigrants were brought here and taken charge of by padroni 

 and Italian bankers and were sent by the padroni in every direction 

 where their labor was needed. The Italian peasant is peculiarly sus- 

 ceptible, by reason of his ignorance, to any system of blackmail or ex- 

 tortion. In Italy, for years the Camorristi terrorized and imposed 

 tribute upon the ignorant peasantry, and it was natural that, following 

 this experience, they should continue to be victims to the same 

 practises in another form. Italians of superior educational and intel- 

 lectual attainments in America have been as unscrupulous and vulture- 

 like in the treatment of their ignorant brethren, as were the Camor- 

 isti in the zenith of their power. The extortioners in America have 

 been known as padroni and bankers. Just when the padroni first ap- 

 peared in America is open to question. He was much in evidence 

 toward the close of the civil war, when the demand for laborers was 

 out of all proportion to the supply. At this time contractors and 

 manufacturers could contract in Europe for large numbers of laborers 

 without violation of law, by reason of legislation enacted in 1864. 

 This privilege gave the padroni their opportunity. Previous to that 

 time their importations were almost all peddlers, organ-grinders, 

 harpers and other itinerant musicians. 



In the beginning the American employer of labor, in his anxiety to 

 secure a large amount of cheap labor for some particular enterprise, 

 would apply to an Italian immigration agent for a certain number of 

 men. The agent, or padrone, in turn would secure the men through 

 sub-agents in Italy and have them shipped across on prepaid tickets, 

 for which he charged a liberal commission. Upon their arrival, the 

 agent, or padrone, boarded them at immense profit, pending their dis- 

 tribution here, and received his compensation from the American con- 

 tractor, who took it out of their prospective wages. The contract of 



