CONTENTS Page. Living conditions and environment of Greek aliens laboring under the system. Effect of system on aliens, mentally, morally, and physically THE GREEK PADRONE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES. The United States Bureau of Immigration has been conducting for some time an investigation aimed at the suppression of the "padrone" system in so far as it violates United States statutes. The Immigration Commission therefore deemed it unwise to inaugurate a new investigation, but decided to secure a brief report from one of the inspectors of the Bureau of Immigration. This report was prepared by Mr. A. A. Seraphic, who has been employed by the Bureau of Immigration on the padrone investigation for several years. PADRONE SYSTEM AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERM. The term "padrone " is originally an Italian word signifying proprietor, boss, or master, or a person who has either legal or moral power over others. A wife in Italy often refers to her husband as the padrone, and the father, or head of a family, is known as the padrone of his household. In countries where the laboring classes are wholly under the control of their employers, the term "padrone" s applied to the manager, superintendent, foreman, or proprietor of any mercantile establishment, and signifies that in the person desigated as padrone absolute authority is vested to control employees. He has the right to prescribe the character of the work that each aborer shall perform, to increase or decrease at will the hours of Fork and the wages received, and to punish him physically at times. By custom and usage the padrone is regarded by laborers as the ightful person in authority, so that when quarreling among themelves, or when having disputes or differences to settle, they apply o the padrone, and generally abide by his adjudication of their ffairs. RIGIN OF THE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES AND APPLICATION OF THE TERM. In the early period of Italian immigration, ignorance of the Engsh language and of the conditions of labor in the United States mpelled laborers of that race to depend entirely upon their emoyers, who were, as a rule, contractors of the same race and fairly miliar with the language and labor conditions here. (Some of these ployers boarded the laborers in their charge and paid them a cerin stipulated amount as wages, with the understanding that anying received above the said amount on account of their labor should to the padrone. Among Italians the term padrone was used by e laborers to designate their employers, and the term "padron or" came to be applied to all workmen who were exploited by their leaders or padrones and who submitted to conditions which laborers fully comprehending their rights would not be likely to tolerate. In this way the term "padrone system" came to embrace laborers of other nationalities among which conditions existed similar to those found among the Italians. EXTENT OF SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES AND RACES TO WHICH IT IS AT PRESENT CONFINED. The padrone system in the United States is at present confined to races or peoples that have little aptitude in acquiring a knowledge of English. Ignorance of the language naturally impedes the progress of such alien races, and in many cases they do not have an opportunity to improve their standard by contact with American workmen. As a rule, during their first few years' residence in the United States they live in an atmosphere almost as foreign to American standards as if they still lived in their own country. During the earlier Italian immigration movement to the United States the padrone system flourished among laborers of that race in this country, but as more progressive colonies were established the evil diminished rapidly, and now only a few sporadic cases are found. These cases as a rule are confined to children, women, or men employed as organ grinders. Contact and association with the American people were chiefly responsible for the practical disappearance of the padrone system among Italians in this country, although the Italian Government and various organizations of Italians were also influential in this regard. Among Italians the padrone system was mostly confined to laborers employed on railroads and by Italian contractors, but this phase of the system has largely disappeared. The system was also in operation for a number of years among Syrians, and the padrones had under their control a considerable number of people of that race engaged in peddling notions and dry goods in large cities and in the country. The peddlers were usually controlled by merchants who furnished them with peddling boxes and merchandise and sent them out daily to peddle. Usually these peddlers were paid a monthly or yearly salary, but some worked on a commission basis. They were lodged and boarded at the expense of the merchants and lived generally under insanitary conditions. This exploitation has in recent years been abandoned, for peddling has ceased to be as profitable as it was in the past. The old peddlers have learned enough to refuse to submit to such control by others of their race and the Syrian immigrants now coming to the United States usually prefer to work in factories and on railroads rather than to attempt to earn their living by peddling. The padrone system was also operated in the past among some of the Austrian races or peoples, but now it is found only in a few isolated cases among Italians, Syrians, or Austrians. The system at the present time is operated in the United States among Bulgarians, Turks, Macedonians, Greeks, and Mexicans, and, as previously stated, in some cases among Austrians and Italians. Among Bulgarians and Turks it is confined to the New England States, the States of Illinois and Indiana, and some other sections of the West, and while now on the decline, it still affects to some extent |