"We are being classified," a friend said to me. "Someone is being paid to make a study of the Italians." And it is true. The local press is attempting to analyze certain manifestations of Italianism, classfying us into North, Northwest, West and South groups. Yes, it's a game, a hunt with the Italian as the prize. A game that is becoming more accentuated every day, and with it are increasing the ways and means of discouraging and expelling the Italian. The Immigration Law, the Naturalization Law, and the no less vicious, Prohibition Law were created, it seems, to strike at the Italian. A glance at the list of victims will alarm you.

Is the majority of prevaricators among Italians? Homes of Italians are those most frequently visited by the forces of law and order, even at the risk of their lives.

The situation is alarming and our people do not fully realize its gravity. They thoughtlessly go on as before, alone, disorganized in their fight for existence, in their daily trials humiliated by others, deceived by those among them, who should be their guides and, instead, are their betrayers.

The mass of our people is eternally infantile and thoughtless. The majority come from the small towns of Italy, where life is confined to the customs and habits within the shadow of the "Campanile" and to the veneration of the patron saint, a veneration that is carried over to this country and is pictured on the standards of the mutual benefit societies organized for that purpose. Thus one can observe, at a glance, in the outstanding foreign sections of the city, the various groups, compact and typical of their small town or district. In this way we have made the distinction, even though from these groups there is a continuous falling away of those, who have allowed themselves to be assimilated into the American melting pot.

We say, "American". The distinction is made by our own people to whom anyone, who does not speak Italian, is an American, He might be Jewish, Croation, Polish, Irish, and so forth, but to us he is an "American." And this ingenuous distinction which we owe to the dull observation of the newly arrived, finds an echo in the Italophobic press, which reports with accentuated emphasis the deeds of Italian character and those which it refers to as typically Sicilian.

The problem has many complications, especially for anyone who desires to throw the bright scientific analysis on the situation. But we cannot give this problem the time which it deserves, and can only give a few practical suggestions even at the cost of having some boor burst into jeering laughter.

The fault lies in our excessive Italianism. We wave the Italian flag at a reckless height over a land which we do not dominate, be it by numbers, by inheritance, or for any other reason. That flag we must keep in our hearts. It is unwise to wave it in the face of a native element that, though having reverence for our ancestors, is intolerant of a people which is competing with it in the economic field.

The local Italian press can teach the newcomers as well as those who have had a longer period of residence, one very important point, that in America one must do as the "Americans", just as our ancestors said, "When in Rome do like the Romans."

The Italian quarters should disappear, as they are disappearing, though very slowly. With the Italian quarters dismembered it will be easy to eliminate that odious classification, which is applied to our people.

Discard your old country loyalties and your enemy will be left without a target. In fact I am sure that only in this manner can we obtain the dissolution of all animosities. Because your foe is not that which you have imagined him to be, the antithesis of all things Italian. On the contrary he,whom you call an enemy, is the true friend to the Italian.

The "American" desires the Americanization of the Italian, developed and interested in the community, as an integral part and not like a worm that slowly gnaws into its peace and future.

The Italian who knows how to act will never find any animosity directed against him. On the contrary he will be respected. America, in the main has learned to appreciate the Italian, to understand and to hold him in high esteem when he merits it. But it aims to rid itself of all those Italians who know not how, nor want to respect, the laws and customs of this country which has been so hospitable and generous.

The American press in many cases goes to extremes, makes mountains out of mole-hills and seems to agitate against the entire Italian race. Against these abuses we are powerless for various reasons. We cite the principle; to us there is something wanting in a newspaper that is purely "American". The Italian press does not fill the need. Its voice does not carry where it should and where it does reach, it tends to make the situation more difficult. The times require a different reckoning. The older generation of laborers, or of a promiscuous existence, is disappearing and is being replaced by a better class. The new generation issues from the educational institution and invades the industrial and professional field. Therefore it has no time for the Italian weekly newspaper, or the daily, which is two days behind in reporting current news. The Italian press has exhausted its reason for being. It would be a meritorious action if our weeklies were to consolidate into a powerful Engish daily fighting the battle for Americanism, while maintaining the rights of Italisns on a par with those of others.

This brief outline of conditions in Chicago can be applied to any locality where Italians are to be found in large groups and the few suggestions here stated can apply to all communities throughout America.