PALERMO.
Conditions at Palermo were only less desperate than at Catania. The refugees numbered about 11,000, of whom about 900 were in the hospitals. Nearly all of the remainder were in refuges, very few having been taken into private houses. All the barracks, the prison, half the schools, several convents, several theaters, and even a number of churches had been turned into refuges, of which the largest held as many as a thousand inmates. The city is larger than Catania, with more wealthy residents; it was therefore better off in many respects. But it suffered, like Catania, from the want of money from the outside, from the scarcity of intelligent workers, and from the particular dangers connected with the refuges.
I have already described the refuge system. If work is necessary for all the refugees, it is particularly necessary for those who live in these large communities. At Palermo their idleness had already turned to dangerous discontent. They complained constantly of their treatment, but refused to leave the refuges. No work for them had been organized when we arrived at Palermo. Enlightened by Miss Davis’ example, we immediately offered money for the institution of workshops on the same model as hers. The idea met with general approval. A beginning was made at once in one of the barracks and in the prison. Mr. Bishop, the American Consul, to whom we handed over the money for the enterprise, labored energetically to broaden the basis and extend the scope of the work. In a few days a ladies’ committee, of which the president was Mrs. Bishop and the vice-president Countess Mazza, wife of the General in Command at Messina, had founded workshops in five of the principal refuges, and another refuge, the Caserna Garibaldi, was organized on the same system by a parish priest, Father Trupiano, with the approval of the Archbishop of Palermo. According to the latest reports the Palermo workshops have been a success, like those of Syracuse. Some concessions had to be made to the inferior moral condition of the workers at the time when they were first employed. For instance, they had to be paid by the piece instead of by the day. But they have not proved idle on the whole, and such work as they have done has contributed directly to a most important object—the increase of the supply of clothing. Even if the Bayern committee had not been able to distribute 1,200 mattresses and 15 tons of food at Palermo, or to assist the municipal charities, their short visit of eight hours to the city would have been amply justified by the foundation of these workshops. With the cruise of the Bayern ended my direct participation in the work of relief. I have only a second-hand knowledge of the many other undertakings of the American Red Cross in Italy. But I have seen enough to have formed a few general opinions which may have a certain interest for Americans who have contributed to the various relief funds.