. Italian life in town and country . oa, Turin, and himself is a Genoese, and his wife has a mar-ried sister at Alessandria, and a cousin in themunicipio. What more can one want ? Irregularities of all kinds, as is to be expected,are rife in nearly every branch of the administra-tion, but they usually take the form of illicitpressure, favouritism, and jobbery, rather thanof direct bribery, although the latter is by nomeans unheard of. Guilty officials are not suffi-ciently punished, and even in the most flagrantcases they always find a number of people tochampion their cause and bring
. Italian life in town and country . oa, Turin, and himself is a Genoese, and his wife has a mar-ried sister at Alessandria, and a cousin in themunicipio. What more can one want ? Irregularities of all kinds, as is to be expected,are rife in nearly every branch of the administra-tion, but they usually take the form of illicitpressure, favouritism, and jobbery, rather thanof direct bribery, although the latter is by nomeans unheard of. Guilty officials are not suffi-ciently punished, and even in the most flagrantcases they always find a number of people tochampion their cause and bring forward the wife and family argument, and the act of oneminister will be rescinded by his successor. Ageneral reform of the system is urgently required,but public opinion has not yet grasped the factthat a poor country like Italy cannot affiard the 186 Italian Life luxury of an inefi&cient and dishonest civil serviceon American lines, and things are allowed todrift on in the bad old way, with no serious at-tempt at CHAPTER XI THE AGRICULTURAI, ITALY is Still mainly an agricultural country,and in spite of the great progress which in-dustry has made within the last few years, themajority of the people are engaged in agriculturalpursuits. Hence the necessity that the peasantclass should be prosperous and contented. Theyform the backbone of the country, and are, per-haps, the best element of the population. TheItalian peasant is patient, hard-working, kind-hearted, and by no means unintelligent. He maybe backward, ignorant, prejudiced, and supersti-tious, but in laboriousness and in the strength ofhis family affections he has few equals. Unfortu-nately, it is this class which has hitherto been themost neglected and oppressed in many parts ofItaly, and is the last to feel the relief of generallyimproving conditions. Agricultural systems and land tenure varyenormously in the different parts of Italy. Theeconomist. Count Jacini, wrote that AgriculturalItaly
Size: 1724px × 1449px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookiditalianlifei, bookyear1902
