Following the double murder of Tony Lombardo and Ferrari, we are again witnessing moral murder which is committed against the entire Sicilian community by the English newspaper. The Chicago Tribune, as well as Italian newspapers of shady reputation.

Painful and sad is the situation created by a small group of our countrymen. It is unfortunate, but it does not give those who have always hated us the right to vilify an entire people, using every pretext to strike at us.

This is not the first time certain newspapers (usually the same one), have thrown mud at the Sicilians, and we clearly understand that the motive is not to accomplish a moral purification or to free the City from the criminals but, rather to disorganize our colony, especially the Sicilian organizations which represent considerable strength and are a deciding factor in local political struggles.

Yesterday's topic for slandering the Italians was the "Nobile" affair, on which enough mud was thrown to blemish the reputation of all members of the expedition.

Today the topic is the Lombardo murder, and tomorrow? God knows!

Certainly we would like to see human society freed from the criminal; but at the same time, we do not wish to see the slanderers and misinterpreters allot to themselves the right to give lessons in civilization to a people as generous as the Sicilians, who are an open-minded and loyal people, one whose glorious achievements can not be lessened by such isolated episodes of criminality.

The amateurs of journalism should know that the 50,000 Sicilians of Chicago can not be held responsible for the crimes and illegal acts of a few members of their race.

The Sicilians were always leaders of the civilized world, and much can be said of their origin and of their history, which goes back to fifty centuries before Christ.

Palermo, under the rule of Frederick the Second, German Emperor and King of Sicily, was the center of the Italian language and in 1282 the Sicilian Vespers attested to the proud character of the islanders.

It is fair to remember that the unity of Italy would never have been accomplished without the revolution of 1860 when the Sicilian youths with Garibaldi, as leader, overthrew the despotic "Kingdom of the two Sicilies".

No other people is as attached to home and family as the Sicilian, who does not know the law of divorce.

It is too long a story to tell the source and the consequences of criminality.

Instead of making so much useless noise over the crimes committed by Italians, the press should feel by duty bound to find the real cause for the corruption of justice.

It is true that there are police and magistrates, but it is also true that 4they are controlled by politics and that their activities are always paralyzed by personal influence or bribery.

Why, then, do they not take the time to campaign for the reform of these two institutions? That is the question! Make the police and judges free and independent of politics, as in all other European countries, in order to check crime in general.

The institution of the gangs is not an Italian specialty; but a product of a wrong political system encouraged by politicians who are using these gangs in their political campaigns.

These politicians are the slanderers of the Sicilians!