Fascist and Anti-Fascist Propaganda in America: The Dispatches o ...

First, passports should be issued with absolute preference for employable men. Second, only those men who could send money back home immediately would be sent overseas. To prevent a decrease in the money sent home from emigrants in America, elderly persons, women, and children should postpone their emigration—and their reunions abroad with relatives—in favor of able-bodied males. These tactics were inten­ded to alleviate the burden of unemployment at home and to accelerate the flow of money from abroad into the Italian treasury—money important for the government as well as for private enterprise.

The effect of the restrictive law on the nation seemed very bound up with the effect on Italian maritime interests: “The most important problem,” reported De Michelis, “is to find out how the Italian shipping companies can bear the consequences of the law.” Fourteen national ships were under contract for transportation of passengers to North America. The new law compelled these ships to limit the number of emigrants to 600 per trip, a mere half the number they had carried previously. The financial loss would be too great for them to remain in operation. These companies, in a meeting held at the Emigration Bureau, suggested mothballing half their ships, rather than operate them at a loss.¹¹

The suggestion, if accepted, would have deprived half the currently employed shipping personnel of their jobs and would have made Italian unemployment even more acute. Bureau and government representatives deemed this move politically unwise. The government supported De Michelis’ suggestion of raising passenger and freight rates to compensate for the loss of revenues. This solution would have simplified the task of the government, which was more concerned with the problem of unemployment. Of course the emigrants, who were already in financial difficulties, would carry most of the economic burden. The normal rate of freight had been 1,600 lire (over $500). The suggested increase to 2,600 lire would compensate for company losses. Since the increase was considerable, the head of the Bureau urged the government to persuade maritime unions to share the financial burden. The Bureau feared that if the emigrants carried the increased cost entirely, many would have to give up the idea of emigrating.