The padrone system was infamous for profiting from poor Italian emigrants/immigrants. In 1885, the U.S. government passed the Alien Contract Labor Law (the Foran Act) in a failed attempt to stop it. The following reports, made by U.S. government officials, indicate that a staggering number of Italian immigrants were subject to padrones.
V.L. Ricketts, clerk of the House Committee on Immigration, made the following statement in the July 2, 1890 edition of the Waterbury Evening Democrat: “Probably the worst evil connected with our modern immigration is the Italian padrone system. Twenty-seven thousand Italian immigrants were landed at New York last year, and probably two-thirds of them are subject to a bondage almost as pernicious as the African slave system that prevailed in the Southern States thirty years ago.”
Carroll D. Wright was a Commissioner at the U.S. Department of Labor, and Oren W. Weaver was his Chief Clerk. In the March 1897 Bulletin of the Department of Labor, they wrote: “It is obviously impossible to state with any claim to accuracy what proportion of the Italian population of New York and adjoining municipalities is subject in some degree to the padrone system. One may not wander far from the truth by placing it at two-thirds, at least, of the male population.”
John Koren, a statistician for the U.S. Department of Labor, said this about Italian immigrants in the March 1897 Bulletin: “ . . . it is striking to note how many of those arriving after 1870 admit that they were brought here by padroni.”
If you search long enough, you might be surprised to find a padrone in your past, as I did.
the widespread Padrone System
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joetucciarone
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joetucciarone
- Elite
- Posts: 498
- Joined: 03 Jun 2012, 22:28
- Location: Cocoa, Florida
Re: the widespread Padrone System
The following is just one example of the countless illegal recruitments made by padrones.
On July 25, 1888, a select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives conducted hearings about alleged violations of the 1885 Alien Contract Labor Law. The report of their findings, Immigration: Testimony Taken by House Committee, July, 1888, can be found here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=7UJOA ... &q&f=false
On page 638 of the report is a table prepared by the Commissioner of Navigation, listing ships in violation of the Passenger Act of August 2, 1882. These would be likely incidents of padrone activity. The steamship Cheribon appears in the list at the bottom of the page. The ship arrived in New York on March 9, 1887 with 1,158 passengers, which was 419 over the legal limit of 739.
The March 10, 1887 edition of the New York Herald said this about the Italian passengers of the SS Cheribon: “It had been said that these Italians were imported by the railroad and steamship companies to replace strikers.” Padrones were infamous for defeating strikers by replacing them with Italian immigrants, in violation of the 1885 Alien Contract Labor Law.
On July 25, 1888, a select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives conducted hearings about alleged violations of the 1885 Alien Contract Labor Law. The report of their findings, Immigration: Testimony Taken by House Committee, July, 1888, can be found here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=7UJOA ... &q&f=false
On page 638 of the report is a table prepared by the Commissioner of Navigation, listing ships in violation of the Passenger Act of August 2, 1882. These would be likely incidents of padrone activity. The steamship Cheribon appears in the list at the bottom of the page. The ship arrived in New York on March 9, 1887 with 1,158 passengers, which was 419 over the legal limit of 739.
The March 10, 1887 edition of the New York Herald said this about the Italian passengers of the SS Cheribon: “It had been said that these Italians were imported by the railroad and steamship companies to replace strikers.” Padrones were infamous for defeating strikers by replacing them with Italian immigrants, in violation of the 1885 Alien Contract Labor Law.
