The Italian Colony and Its Problems.

In his speech, at the banquet given the Stella D'Italia Society, Chevalier Dr. Volini cited some of the problems confronting the Chicago Italian Colony.

According to the latest statistics, so he said, Chicago contained 43,280 Italian minors, of which more than 5,000 were born in Italy and 3,700 were born in America of Italian parents. As the figures indicate, the third generation of Italian-Americans are not included and that number would run the total to about 50,000. The problem was to find a way in which to preserve for the future descendants of this group the best that is to be found in Italian literature and culture by teaching the language, and in this way make effective the program of the National Dante Alighieri Club. It means fighting for the right of having Italian taught in the public schools, the same as German, this to be accomplished by a seriously planned program in which the entire Colony actively participated. Not of less interest and perhaps more urgent is the problem of organizing an effective charitable 2group for the relief of the less fortunate in the Colony. The burden of this has been to some extent borne by the Italian Women's Social Welfare Society and to a lesser degree by the Maria Adelaide Society. But their methods are antiquated and funds collected hardly make a dent on the problem.

The Jews with a population equal to ours are in this respect the best organizers. They subscribe annually to a fund amounting to $500,000. Seventy-eight individuals contribute sums varying from $1,000 to $25,000 each year. This enormous sum is spent on the Michael Reese Hospital which receives about$100,000, orphan asylums, scientific research institutes, homes for the aged, and the T. B. Sanitariums in Colorado. The Italian Colony does not boast as yet of multi-millionaires as is the case with the Jewish group in Chicago, but it does have many wealthy owners of real estate, and prosperous professional and business men. What a field for the philanthropist, to join with that small group of women, who at the present are directing the only existing social welfare activities in the Colony, and help in this noble work of relieving the suffering of the less fortunate in our Colony.