ITALIAN AND OTHER LATIN IMMIGRANTS. 343 



supplying the workmen with food and shelter while working was often 

 in the hands of the same man. Sometimes the padrone was also 

 banker, and, if so, he charged exorbitant rates for sending the laborer's 

 meager savings to Italy. He also counted on the chance, which came 

 to him in a majority of cases, of making a profit on their return tickets 

 to Italy. 



Later these agents, or padroni, became independent of the Amer- 

 ican contractors. Instead of procuring men for the contractor and 

 depending on him for their remuneration, they became wholesale im- 

 porters on their own account and induced large numbers to emigrate 

 from Italy, by promises which seemed to open fairyland to the Italian 

 'cafone.' They always insisted on a contract for one to seven years. 

 The men were farmed out to whoever would pay the padrone for their 

 labor, usually as laborers with pick and shovel. The padrone boarded 

 his people, charged them for all necessary things at exorbitant rates, 

 and at the end of the year the laborer had very little coming to him. 

 Nor was the system of slavery confined to men. Women were in- 

 cluded and frequently placed in houses of prostitution. Little chil- 

 dren were brought here in the same way and forced to black boots or 

 sell newspapers, flowers or fruits, for the benefit of the padrone. 



The traffic in helpless humanity, as carried on by padroni twenty- 

 five years ago, has been gradually checked. The importation of women 

 and minor children was first stopped by governmental action, aided 

 by philanthropic societies. The wholesale importation of labor was 

 not stopped, however, until after the passage of the first contract 

 labor law in 1885. The enforcement of this law, aided by the hearty 

 cooperation of the Italian government, finally ended the degrading 

 practise. The padrone system, as it once existed, is now a matter of 

 history. The skeleton of the padrone exists, but he is now nothing 

 more than an employment agent, a high-priced and unlicensed em- 

 ployment agent, it is true, but with less of the absolute power over the 

 peasant, which in the past made their relations those of master and 

 slave.* 



Probably the so-called Italian banks are as potent a means of 

 extortion as the padrone system itself. The padrone is sometimes a 

 banker, and, if not, is always in league with one. Between them they 

 take advantage of the child-like credulity and ignorance of the Italian 

 laborer, and fleece him of his last dollar. 



The southern Italian concerns us most in considering the desira- 

 bility of the Italian immigrant. His northern brother need give us 

 no more concern than the representatives of the United Kingdom, 

 Germany or Sweden. The most striking feature presented by Italian 



* The padrone system as it exists to-day is graphically described by John 

 Koren, Esq., in a bulletin published by the Department of Labor. 



