Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/217

 ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES 2OI

harmful effects. The cost of living in the northern states, and especially in the large centers, is very high, while the wages, on account of the greater competition, are relatively low. This lack of equilibrium imposes upon the Italian large material sacrifices which deplete him physically and lower him socially. The high rents force him to live in the worst quarters and in restricted space. In the Italian quarters of New York and Philadelphia can be seen the alleged lodging-houses, with seven or eight or even ten persons occupying one bedroom. Families of seven or more members crowd into houses containing only two rooms, one of which is the kitchen. This mode of existence, apart from the fact that it is fruitful in the development and extension of infec- tious diseases, renders the people vile in their personal habits, and, as has been alluded to before, makes them appear repulsive to the Americans. If these material conditions influence the Italians to feel no sincere or profound attachment to the adopted country, on the other hand they influence the native American to disdain the newcomers, thus causing a reciprocal psychologic state of mind which is a powerful obstacle in the way of assimilation.

But the influence of this agglomeration of the Italians goes still farther, for, besides the evils already spoken of t it furnishes an effective stimulus for the development and deepening of moral corruption. Among Italian immigrants, as among all others, there are certain elements which belong to no class, having lived the life of all, with no trade or capacity for honest work of any kind. Such people have no moral curb or scruple, and prey upon the others. They find in the swarming Italian quarters of the large American cities fruitful fields in which to exercise their baneful powers for the despoliation of their countrymen, who, ignorant and ingenuous, become their ready victims. In the guise of agents, solicitors, or journalists, they extort money. As found- ers of gambling dens and houses of ill-fame, they organize schemes of blackmail and other crimes. It is among these people that the ward politicians find their agents. The existence of people like these depends upon the crowded conditions referred to. The number of such individuals is not large, but they are