The author divides the economic causes into direct and indirect. In speaking of direct factors he treats successively:
a. Large real-estate holdings. The landed proprietor rents his lands to the “gabelletto”, who in turn sublets them to the laborers. This system exhausts the latter. The proprietor rids himself of all expense by charging it to the “gabelletto”, and makes his profit; the “gabelletto” does the same by the laborer and makes his profit. The latter is always [[146]]the person that suffers. Then the “gabelletto” advances the necessary provisions to the laborer until the harvest comes in; but since he does so at a high rate, the laborer is bowed down by the burden of his debts. In consequence of this system the agricultural population is ill-nourished and degenerate. The consequences of this system as it affects criminality are apparent. In the province of Caltanissetta, where large land-holdings are the rule, crimes against property, and especially rural thefts, cattle-stealing, vagrancy, etc., are the most numerous.
b. Small holdings. However, it is not only the agricultural population dependent upon great property-holders that lives in poverty, for the small farmers also have a hard life. They raise chiefly grapes and citrous fruits. The price of citrous fruits has fallen greatly through overproduction and foreign competition. Wine also has gone down in price, and the cultivators have had enormous losses from phylloxera besides. Consequently the small farmers are crushed with debts; failures are the order of the day; their situation, then, is most unfortunate. But that of the non-property-holders is still worse if possible. For the small holder also often rents his land to others, and from this follows a kind of “sweating-system.”
At the end of these observations the author gives, in the following table, the movement of some prices in relation to criminality:
| Years. | Price of Wheat per 1000 Kilos. | Price of Wine per Hectolitre. (Sicily.) | Price of Meat per Kilo. (Sicily.) | Homicides Prosecuted. | Robberies, Extortion, Blackmail. |
| 1875 | 27.42 | 13.00 | 3.09 | — | 658 |
| 1876 | 28.78 | 21.62 | 2.91 | — | 1,039 |
| 1877 | 33.66 | 30.38 | 2.98 | — | 777 |
| 1878 | 31.43 | 29.04 | 2.89 | — | 1,110 |
| 1879 | 31.35 | 19.03 | 2.80 | — | 1,138 |
| 1880 | 32.27 | 29.65 | 2.74 | 1,063 | 829 |
| 1881 | 26.36 | 30.92 | 2.74 | 1,001 | 708 |
| 1882 | 20.42 | 28.35 | 2.80 | 938 | 560 |
| 1883 | 23.11 | 22.11 | 2.75 | 943 | 419 |
| 1884 | 21.52 | 17.95 | 2.77 | 949 | 340 |
| 1885 | 21.24 | 31.84 | 2.76 | 822 | 330 |
| 1886 | 21.28 | 35.63 | 2.42 | 859 | 418 |
| 1887 | 21.48 | 15.66 | 2.44 | 863 | 446 |
| 1888 | 21.50 | 11.85 | 2.46 | 899 | 485 |
| 1889 | 22.83 | 15.06 | 2.40 | 865 | 478 |
| 1890 | 22.63 | 22.07 | 2.46 | 869 | 547 |
| 1891 | 24.60 | 16.92 | 2.77 | 966 | 710 |
| 1892 | 24.32 | 14.32 | 2.87 | 1,117 | 677 |
| 1893 | 21.08 | 15.76 | 2.95 | 1,066 | 902 |
| 1894 | 18.77 | 18.38 | 2.98 | — | — |
| 1895 | 20.30 | 18.42 | 2.75 | — | — |
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c. The mining zone. The production of sulphur, formerly of great importance, when Sicily was the principal source of supply for Europe and America, has decreased greatly now that sulphur is manufactured from chemical products. The condition of the miners is pitiful. The mines are often exploited by middle-men, which makes the condition of the laborers worse. Degeneracy has consequently taken on enormous proportions. When we compare the change in wages with the number of thefts, we see that thefts decrease when wages rise, and vice versa, and that the price of grain also influences criminality. It is the provinces of Sicily where the sulphur mines are found that give the highest figures for criminality in general, and homicide in particular.
d. The class-conflict. The property owners, whose economic position is already very influential, also control the political forces, and consequently the case of those who have nothing is made much worse. Taxes, indirect for the most part, weigh most heavily upon the poor; public property is exploited for the benefit of the rich, etc., etc. Hence it follows that in the districts where the non-possessors are unconsciously struggling against the possessors, this strife of classes engenders class-hatred, and consequent crimes.
In the last part of his study the author speaks of indirect economic factors, among which he includes:
a. The increasing decline in the altruistic feelings. The miner and the laborer, both ill-nourished, humiliated, and despised, dwelling in miserable hovels, are pariahs far removed from any feeling for their fellow men.