ITALY’S EMIGRATION PROBLEM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19845, 20 May 1927, Page 6

ITALY’S EMIGRATION PROBLEM

The number of emigrants from Italy, although it has decreased since the War, is a sore point with the Fascists, and for long they have been seeking a remedy. The problem is simple. Italy, which is two-thirds mountainous, cannot under present conditions support a population of over 40,000,000 with an annual natural increase of half a million. A proportion must emigrate or starve, and as it is invariably the most active and intelligent elements of the nation which go the loss is much greater than the actual numbers of the emigrants suggest. When that loss becomes a gain to nations which politically or economically are, or may be, her competitors, a steady increase in emigration can be almost a national danger. Fascism’s solution of the difficulty has been the subject of anxious speculation in many countries, but a recent speech by Signor Grandi, the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, to the Chamber of Deputies reads almost like a counsel of despair. He regards emigration as a necessity, and his suggestion of the diversion of it to Italy’s colonies is made in such a way as indicates that he regards it as impracticable. No such diversion is indeed possible except on a scale so small as to be ineffective. Italy’s colonies can only accommodate a few emigrants, and these agriculturists, and Italy ’s emigrants are increasingly skilled workmen. The colonies need pioneers and settlers, while the Italian emigrant normally goes out to America or France or Tunis with the intention to return. Perhaps the best hope lies along the lines of industrial organisation and development in Italy itself, but so long as the population continues to increase at its present rate the surplus will have to seek a home where it can.