ITALY
225
ITALY
which is found especially in the cities of more than
100,000 inhabitants. In 1907 there were 4-33 for
every 100 births, including those born dead. The
lowest averages of mortality are furnished by Pied-
mont and by Liguria (19-7) ; and the highest are those
of Lombar<iy (23), Apulia (25), the Basilicata (27),
and Sardinia (24). Tubercular and intestinal mala-
dies and pneumonia furnish the highest figures to the
death-rate, together with acute and chronic bron-
chitis and heart disease. In 1907 there were 1315
homicides (3-9 per 100,000 inhabitants) and 2312 sui-
cides (6-9 per 100,000 inhabitants).
(3) Emigration. — Italy is subject to this very im- portant sociological phenomenon, not only on account of over-population, as some believe, but, because capital does not promote industries, which is due to a moral as well as to an economic cause, the former being a lack of confidence between lender and bor- rower, and the latter, an exaggerated fiscalism antl the want of a protective tariff; it is due also to a social cause, namely the subverting theories with which socialism inspires the working classes. These are the true mediate reasons for Italian emigration that pro- duces a lack of labour, and, therefore, economical dis- order, which itself is the immediate cause of Italian expatriation; all the other causes, such as the example of relatives and of friends who emigrate, the cheapness of travel, the facility of receiving news and of return- ing home, and the propaganda of navigation companies are of little consequence, when they do not rest upon economic uneasiness — which has been the determining element of every migratory movement in the world — nor can any human power prevent its effects. The law of 31 January, 1901, regulates emigration, and it is to be hoped that its provisions will remain in force, be- cause the State should not promote, encourage, or guide the currents of emigration. Figures are clearer than words in these matters.
who had emigrated returned to their country, and
there was a suspension in emigration — only a suspen-
sion, because in the first six months of 1909 tnere
were 216,432 emigrants, of whom 187,086 went to the
United States, an increase of 152,320 and 151,406, re-
spectively, over the corresponding figures for the first
six months of 190S. The undesirable element in Ital-
ian emigration is not furnished by the illiterate ca/one,
who has given — and continues to give— actual value
to lands in the United States, but rather, by ungodly
educated emigrants who use their unfortunate fellow-
countrymen, as well as the native of his class, for their
own ends. Is Italian emigration a good or an evil?
For the economy of Italy it is a good, seeing that the
credit of Italians in foreign countries, on 31 December,
1908, in the savings postal accovmts amounted to 290,-
979,711-94 lire (.'$12,000,000 nearly), and the deposits
of emigrants for the period of 1 January, 1909, to 31
August, 1909, amounted to 21,702,004-20 lire. In
other words, there are nearly 4,000,000 Italians scat-
tered over the world, like the overflow of a prolific
and sober race, in search of better living; and over the
world is said advisedly, because the Italian emigrant,
overcoming all ob.stacles, as poverty and ignorance,
goes, exploited and little protected withal, into dis-
tant lands, among peoples whose customs are totally
different from his own, and whose languages are un-
known to him. This adaptability to climate and to
social life is indicative of liis cosmopolitan character.
(4) Language and Religion. — Although the popula-
tion of Italy is ethnically mixed, and although there is
considerable variation in its physical types, it is never-
theless different from that of all the other countries of
Europe in the astonishing unity of its culture, of its
language, and of its religion. That which is foreign
is soon absorbed; and the Italian nation lias the fur-
ther advantage that, although it has a population
of nearly 36,000,000 inhabitants, only 2,000,000 of
Total Emigration
Kmigration to Europe and to
Mediterranean Countries
Transoceanic
Years
ACTUAL
NUMBER
100,000
ACTUAL
NUMBER
100,000
INHAB.
PER 100
ACTUAL
NUMBER
100,000
inbab.
PER 100
EMI- GRANTS
1876-80
1881-S5
1886-90
1891-95
1896-1900
1901-05
1906
1907
1908
108,797
164,141
221.977
256,511
310,435
554,050
787.977
704,675
486,674
390
536
744 831 972 1683 2356 2094 1435
82,201
95,146 90,694 109,076 148,533 244,808 276,042 288,774 248,101
295
331
304
353
465
744
825
858
732
76
62
41
43
48
44
35
41
51
20,596
58,995
131,283
147,444
161,902
309,242
511,935
415,901
238,573
95
205
440
478
507
939
1531
1236
703
24
38
59
57
52
56
65
59
49
The difference between temporary and permanent
emigration is no longer taken into account in statistics,
for the very good reason that it does not show positive
facts, either because of the facility of translocation, or
because the emigrant, having found work and com-
forts at the place to which he has emigrated, may
establish there his home. In any case, temporary
emigration occurs more frequently from the provinces
of Venice, Lombardy, and Piedmont, and is directed
more especially towards France, Switzerland, Austria,
and the Balkans. Sixty-four per cent of the emi-
grants are farm labourers. The regions that furnished
the largest numbers to the total emigration in 1906
were Piedmont, Venice, the Marches, the Abruzzi,
Campania, the Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicily. With
relation to transoceanic emigration the largest pro-
portions per 100,000 were furnished bv Mie Marches
(2222), the Abruzzi (.3.593), Campania (2677), the
Basilicata (3764), Calabria (3953), and Sicily (3.390).
From 1 July, 1906, to 30 June, 1907, there emigrated
to the United States 285,731 Italians, neariy 43 per
cent of the total of emigration. In 1907, during the
economical crisis in the United States, 154,500 Itahans
VIII.— 15
them are subject to foreign governments. The Ro-
man conquests spread popular Latin, first, over Italy,
and then over the known world; it was at first slowly
altered by the linguistic habits of the various coun-
tries, and then, more rapidly, through the decay of the
Roman Empire and through distance from Rome.
Thus originated the Romanesque or neo-Latin lan-
guages, and the first of them, by its historical excel-
lence, is the Italian, which is the pure and clear con-
tinuance of vulgar Latin, because the latter, in Italy,
was unaccompanied by other tongues. Formerly it
was the principal commercial language known by
foreign peoples, especially by those of the Levant. At
present it is spoken by nearly 36,000,000 people.
The dialects that properly belong to the Italian system are the Tuscan, which is the typical and the literary language of the Italians, the Venetian, Cor- sican, Sicilian and Neapolitan, the Umliro-Roman, and the Marchisan. To the Gallo-Italic system belong the dialects of Liguria and of Piedmont and the Lombard- Emilian. Those are the principal dialects, spoken in the various regions after which they are respectively named, having themselves subdivisions that are due
