If they become
worse in America than they were when they came, we ought to take heed to
the sins of greed, and not put all the blame on the aliens.
[Sidenote: Crimes of Assault]
In crimes against the person the Italians are at their worst, but the
affrays with knives and pistols are confined mostly to their own
nationality, and grow out of jealousy or rivalry or resentment at
fancied injuries. "There are, no doubt," says Dr. S. J. Barrows,[56]
"murders of sheer brutality, or those committed in the course of
robbery. There are known instances also of blackmail and dastardly
assassination by individuals or bands of ruffians. But such outrages are
utterly at variance with the known disposition of the great mass of the
Italians in this country. There are vile men in every nationality, and
it does not appear by any substantial evidence that the Italian is
peculiarly burdened, though it has been unwarrantably reproached through
ignorance or prejudice." This is the opinion of an expert in
criminology, who has traveled extensively in Italy and knows the people
on both sides of the sea.
[Sidenote: Italians not all Unskilled]
It is a fact of importance that the great majority of the Italian
immigrants, while classed as unskilled, have had some experience in
farming or gardening or home industries of some kind.
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