Show AN SIDELIGHTS ON ITALIAN LIFE j BY FREDERIC FREDERIC J H HASKIN SKI N I Ir N V VP r P rt 1 IW w of Dir Iho Royal Palace Country Road Near Rome A Government BUilding In Ro Rome e eI F I r i i I J I Et 1 I j I 1 t i I r U LI r rI I I iL 1 t i A I Ik k 4 fr L 1 TJ f 4 fl 4 t vs I IC r C 4 4 u the th provinces of Italy l tr under ndEl one government the they y the country meant little more moret t expression and andi i e stilt still so ro many differences in hit bit and that it is lt to speak of the inhabitants as a whole The Thein ma from Piedmont may not be as 1 i t from the Neapolitan as s he Js Is from tie Frenchman b but t the is almost as great In many re t domestic habits of the housewife of Florence are as strange to the woman of Rome as are those of ofa ofa a resident nt of London and the man of a SicilIan are as amusing to the Inhabitants of Milan as the be havIor of an American Every province c bas haa rt It own styles nc Quite as Independent of its neighbors as if they were foreign foreigners ers To suddenly unite this eople un detone derone government and make all class classe e amenable to one code of laws was wasa a most difficult undertaking Great as O were recognized to be the knew that unity not only ti q t the e danger of their being dis ted by the powers but afforded them their Only chance of welding an another another other nation from the fragments of the old Roman empire White While there are many Inny discouraging features connected with th reorganization the undoubtedly ly join in the opinion that the coalition must be continued In the thee thea a e Of aU all difficultIes The Burden of Taxation One thing which the people of united italy share in common Is the burden T of heavy taxation for the state takes i O per cent of the Income of the people whIch Is a larger proportion than ts is assess assessed q by the government of any country NothIng escapes taxation and land foodstuffs and necessities of life Ufe are levied upon most heavily Land assessments are EO high that the small owner hesI tates t to im improve h his IS P property for fear of e n n h is ta taxes eR That this thia thise e ls Is necessary ry is shown by th f ct that the land tax alone 7 to 20 or 2 per cent and when the inc tax is added to this it fre runs as high a 40 and nd 50 per percent percent t cent Some of the rules of taxation are very For example in many communes in the southern part ot of the saddle horse of the landlord 1 a red exempt but no provision is CV nade to exclude the peasants doney Aside from the heavy drain land foodstuffs and personal I property the government maintains I mon ot of snIt salt matches and to bacco Armed guards patrol the whole length of the seacoast to protect even the tho water of the ocean from the peo people pie of whom mIght manufacture manufacture ture salt alt by carrying off a bucket of id allowing it to evaporate It t is to have two kinds of ta taxes against one article Any cf r public document or commer commer cIa has to be stamped and paper that must be used Is subject c to an additional fee One must pay more for a railway ticket than is In on the face of it Assessor Asks the Neighbors On Oni the worst features of this system of taxation is the method of ass assessment There is no rule or order to it An n ignorant assessor comes to the house looks over the furniture in inquires quires how bow many servants you ou keep how many horses etc after this he inquIres ot of your neIghbors a about out your habits and upon the information gained in this haphazard manner he makes an estimate of what your in income Income come to be and fixes your as accordingly It goes with without without out saying that by such a system he blunders continually and rarely places the valuation at anything like what it should be Some families pay too hiie the majority of household householders ers 1 upon A more expensive Rive sive system could not possibly be in invented vented The returns for one commune sh shOwed wed that where 1000 had been raised by taxation it had cost to levy and collect the same Agriculture has long been the main mainc c curea of wealth in Italy and the bur burden burden den of taxation falls faUs on the people who engage in this industry Wheat Is h lr principal crop but they are unable to raise enough to feed the populatIon t large larse quantities are d every year ear Italy Is second only to Prance a a wine producing I country and leads both Austria and spaIn in this respect Italian wino wine is good for ome consumption but Is un and does not tra well It is only recently that the e grower could be induced to adopt methods to improve its and lasting qualities but he heis heIs is nOw OW beginning to contribute to the eXp export rt trade Most or of the Italian HaHan wIne leaves the country is sent to southern France where it Is s put through ili a process and converted into B t Ux of la laborers and the In Incon Incomes con comes s of professional men in Italy are ver The daily wage for skilled from cents to a adol dol r n a 1 half while unskilled labor ru twenty c cents to a dollar In I some of the more Prosperous parts of the cOuntry farm hands receive better P f in southern Italy wages are frequently as low as ten cents a day In 11 Jatter caSe there are often otten I ei In the way of tree free lodIn To secure a government kInners frequently work for one Qt ears for nothing Among all officials including am a i 4 r t G e t tL t J w x k kp p I I I ite 4 1 P 4 si 4 I 2 J 5 4 z 21 A Z k 4 44 4 I I I j j k l L 7 5 4 Two L I Italians there are only a hundred and ten who are paid more than two thousand dollars a year Where Poverty Is Mocked The contrasts in Italian life stand standout standout out sharply on account of the mode of living While large fortunes are few one Js Is impressed by the lavish show made by those who possess even a moderate income The rich live In such proxImity to the poor that the misery of the latter js is thrown Into sharp re lief The family will occupy the first floor of a large house bouse while all around them upstairs and down will be a congestion of poverty strIcken tenants under the same roof The rich richand arid and Poor not only live in the same house but there is no Quarter which is POPulated by one rank alone Every distrIct and every block has Its dIvision of classes the slums reaching even to the gates of the royal roal palace Itself A poor family living in a cellar with scarcely enough clothing to hIde their nakedness and barely enough food to keep them alive can hardly es as escape cape a feeling of envy when splendid carriages arrive and depart from their very ery doors and costly viands are sen served ed so near that they can smell them No wonder that anarchy breeds where the I uneasy sleep of the poor is disturbed by dance music for merrymakers who revel while their neighbors starve stan e eThe The Italian have been the subject of much comment because they seem to have a dislike for any kind of work except looking after land The professions and commercIal pur pursuits pursuits suits are little frequented by those who are referred to as the aristocracy It is considered more gentlemanly tobe be idle than to engage In some honor honorable honorable able Pursuit and have an income The manner in whIch the younger genera generation generation tion is brought up offers little hope of improvement in this regard Parents will not allow a boy to go to work If the they can possibly rake and scrape enough to dress him smartly and main maln t fAin ln hIm as a In cafes and a at the theaters the Mark He gets nothing more than a smatterIng smattering in the way of education but his equipment for life is to be am ampIe ampie pIe if he turns out to be e a good dancer a crack shot and a good mount It may be convenient for him at time if he Js Is also an expert card player The worst result of the effect of this class of idlers is that the average Italian who Js Is poor and who sees these nothIng dandies swaggerIng around the thoroughfares only wishes that he had money enough to do the same thing Instead of being tilled filled with disgust at atthe atthe the spectacle afforded by these social leeches he strives to imitate them Italians as a class have pronounced gambling instincts The lottery and the therace therace race course are universally patronized The dull old town of Siena comes to life Ufe on the occasion of the semiannual horse race in the piazza This sport sportIng sportIng Ing event is unlike My thing known in inan Inan an American community There are seventeen wards in Siena and each one makes an entry In the contest A more unsuitable place for a horse race could not be conceived The course is over cobblestones and turns two sharp cor corners corners ners Aside from these disadvantages one side of the street Is lower than the theother theother other The horses are ridden bareback and each jockey carrIes a whip big enough for a slave drIver At each corner a number of contestants InvarIably ably go down to defeat and disaster I but the populace Is fairly frantic at the finish The excitement is so great that the winner has to be protected from both his friends and hIs enemIes Italians Have No It is significant that the word home I is not contained in the Italian lan Ian language guage This is accounted for by the tact fact that the 1 eople spend most ot of their time In the streets Men women and children go to the cafes to drink coffee and gossip with their neighbors You will wUI be surprised to tb find people who wear elegant clothes living in the smallest and plainest of apartments They prefer tf tc spend the major portion I of their income for outside display rather than to invest in costly or even comfortable furnishings for theIr habitation habitation tation There is an Italian saying to the effect that people can see what you have on your back but no one can tell what goes into your stomach In ac accordance accordance with this argument the mem hers bers of many a family parade In silk garments arid and subsist on f food od as scant ant and plain as that tha y the lower classes I In many respects the social rules of the he ItalIans are most exacting They are certainly victims of the visiting i icard card habit Introductions b between tween mt men I must be followed an exchange of pasteboard on th the 8 spot Ot and the man I who falls fails to leave his card at the home homp of a married woman within I hours after atter he has been Introduced i is supposed not to know the first rudi rud rudiments i I ments of good form The presentation may of the most casual char I acter he may not even have haye spoken to her beyond her name as i he raised his hat but even th does not excuse him from the obligation One must also guard against pa paying j marked attention to a young lady lest I there be rumors of an engagement I Men are expected to be exceedingly I II au in making remarks to unmarried ned ried girls but they can be less le gu guarded I I il ii their speech to an Italian married woman than If they were talking to an American matron r i Popularity of t the e Theatre At the full fully half vi of the boxes belong to private and the family attends the nance night after night They receive their friends there and a 8 call on a lady in her box is equivalent to a formal visit to her home hom The theatre Is the favorite pas time of Italy It it I said that there is I not a single town In the country that does not have a hall ball suitable Ie fO for r giving theatricals Wealthy persons who Are II familiar with the in Eu European European centers will go to th theatre night after night and seem to I enjoy the crude acting fully as much muchas I as if they had never seen anything bet ter Opera Is performed everywhere and all classes are familiar with the I masterpIeces The admission to the I best class of entertainment is exceed cheap One can hear a good play for fifty cents but the manner of ing is different from that in our coui try You first pay Day for admission and after that yoU visit the boxes stand up or b buy y a seat as you prefer The papers of Italy are very ordinary They are not newspapers in the sense of giving the news because more atten tion is paId to other things They are generally published to promote some political or private Interest a and d derive their revenue from subsidies instead of from advertising and sUbscriptions as In our country They have small cir circulations and make no impress on pub lie lic life Ufe as do the publications of the United States No attention Is given to y in even news events The accounts art an so changed to meet the rf fancy that they read Y c more like fiction than chronicle The pages fairly bristle with horrors and there is a shiver in line I am sure that me extracts from these queer papers will be as amusing to my renders readers as to those engaged In the I business Suggestions for the Craft Here is a suggestion for the American Black Chronicle of I Deeds of Blood by Human WIld Beasts If the feature writer on an I American should turn In a two column story about the experience of a servant girl who lost an umbrella in an omnibus the editor sit UP and say things The young lady in charge I of the society department ma may find I S a novelty In referring to matrimonIal announce announcements announcements I ments How is this for a An elderly gentleman possessed with Ideal health an elevated soul and light humor would be willing to alliance I himself to some spinster or widow who has sufficient of that whIch the thor y way That fellow evident evidently ly wants mone money r but is too much of a gentleman to say so right out FREDERIC J HASKIN |