Before reading the “Il Carroccio” October 1925 magazine article about Ralph Ciluzzi, background context is necessary. First appears below an August 1924 New York Times article explaining remarks made by Harvard Professor East and then the September 1925 “Il Carroccio” article which is referred to in the October 1925 article about Ralph Ciluzzi.
Ralph Ciluzzi (1884-1939) was born in Staletti, Italy, and emigrated to New York City at the age of 14. He married Theresa Paterno around 1914 and they were married approximately 20 years. After separating, Ralph returned to Italy, remarried, and lived the remainder of his life there. Together with the Paterno Brothers, Ralph helped build 164 buildings in Manhattan.
New York Times • 4 August 1925
GARFIELD REBUKES EAST ON ITALIANS
Politics Institute Chairman Says Professor’s Statement Pained Count Cippico.
JUSTICE COTILLO RETORTS
Defending Italian Immigrants Here, He Calls Dr. East “Rash and Antagonistic.”
Special to The New York Times
Williamstown, Mass, 3 August 1925 – Dr. Harry A. Garfield, President of Williams College and Chairman of the Instititue of Politics, at today’s open conference rebuked Professor Edward M. East of Harvard for the statement Professor East gave to the press on Sunday, urging Italy to adopt birth control as a solution of her overpopulation and characterizing Italian immigrants in this country as “the dregs” of Italy’s population.
Dr. Garfield said that Count Antonio Cippico, Italian Fascist and Senator, who has been lecturing here about Italy’s overpopulation problem, had been “pained” by the interview.
“No one who is an American,” said Dr. Garfield, “who appreciates all the advantages that have come to America from the strong arms as well as the excellent heads of those who have come to us in the past years, will fail to give due credit for what we have received from Italy, although we sometimes say that our Italian citizens in certain quarters have driven out the Americans and by their industry have become farmers, as in the Connecticut Valley and elsewhere. It would be doing scant justice to these newer citizens of ours if we did not take occasion to say in an assembly like this that we owe them much, that they have contributed much to the wellbeing of the commonwealth.”
Dr. Garfield suggested that any member of the institute who had anything to say about the subjects being discussed here should say it at a meeting of the institute, where it could be said and answered face to face.
Count Cippico said to a reporter, on being asked how he felt with regard to the interview with Dr. East as reported by the papers, that he had nothing to answer to an article couched in terms so offensive and in a manner so discourteous. As such he felt it to be beneath contempt.”
This article continues below….
Cotillo Says East is Biased.
[Side note: Judge Salvatore Albert Cotillo (1886-1939) was born in Naples, Italy, and was the first Italian-American to be elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1923. In 1926 he married Ida Sophia Berthold, mother of Helen Laura Ritzmann whom Judge Cotillo adopted as his own daughter in 1929. Helen Cotillo married Carlo Paterno in 1934. Carlo Paterno was the son of Dr. Charles V. Paterno, brother-in-law of Ralph Ciluzzi.]
Supreme Court Justice Salvatore A. Cotillo issued a statement yesterday defending American immigrants from south Italy. The jurist’s statement was in reply to Professor East.
“If the statements about southern Italians attributed to Dr. East of Harvard University in the morning papers are quote correctly,” said Justice Cotillo. “I cannot help but express my amazement and indignation. Ordinarily, when a man of Dr. East’s profession and reputation makes an assertion one pre-supposes that it is based upon a study of the subject discussed, even though the conclusions derived therefrom may be erroneous.
“In the present case, however, I am afraid that Dr. East has allowed his bias and prejudices to get the best of him. Such remarks as that Italy would be “well rid of” southern Italian as of a ‘cancerous tumor’ and that southern Italians are ‘incompetent and lacking in intelligence’ and that Italian names do not appear in Who’s Who in America indicate no calm and studious reflection but rash and antagonistic thought.”
Justice Cotillo pointed out that Italian labor made possible the subway and the skyscraper. He said that in Italy itself the natives of the south had done much to make modern Italy great. As for the criticism that Italian names were few in Who’s Who in America, the jurist pointed out the tide of Italian immigration to this country began comparatively recently and that the immigrants had had no time “to achieve such distinction” yet. He doubted, however, whether inclusion in Who’s Who was a test of a race’s desirability.
Points to Italians’ War Record.
After calling attention to the fact that Italian-Americans were everywhere forging ahead in commerce, Justice Cotillo added:
“In reference to Dr. East’s remark as to the Italian soldier from southern Italy in our American army, I desire to call to his attention that there were 30,000 Italian-speaking soldiers of this city in the American army. This represented nearly 10 per cent of the total American military forces. While the Italians constitute only 4 per cent of our population, they were found to be in the American army to the extent of 10 per cent. Their casualties amounted to 12 per cent. General Pershing said of the Italian soldier, and most of them were from the southern part of Italy, that there was no braver soldier in the American army.
“I further desire to call to the attention of Dr. East that there are many institutions in the southern part of Italy where there are tubercular sanitariums which I personally visualized during the war, and the inmates of which come from our factories and sweatshops, and after giving all that they had to make this a greater America, they return to their motherland with a dreadful disease and ultimately die.”
Il Corroccio • September 1925
This letter by Ralph Ciluzzi is from the September 1925 issue of ‘Il Carrocci’ which was a monthly magazine of Italian propaganda and defense culture in America, directed by Agostino De Biasi.
ANOTHER LETTER
My Dear Professor East –
Your answer to Senator Cippico in the New York Times of August 2nd is an insult to the intelligence, integrity, principles, and the very soul of America. Your expressions are like those of your half-naked, barbarian, ancestors.
Fifteen millions of loyal Americans of Italian birth and extraction are asking: “Who is this Professor East that dares to throw insults at us?”
The greatest city in the world (New York) where one of every four people is of Italian origin and mostly from the South of Italy, wants to know if Professor East is engaged by England to spread propaganda, or what is his motive for such insults.
Railroads, coal mines, subways, entire cities, have been and are being constructed, and all American industries are largely carried on by these Italians, classified by you as “Grade D and E,” and of whom you say “they are not wanted here.”
For your information, Professor, they are mentally, physically, and otherwise of a better stock than your Nordic decaying relatives.
The average Italian becomes a loyal American within a comparatively short time, and is quick to love and appreciate the “great privilege.” It took your English friends centuries to become americanized, and some of you are still in the service of King George.
These hard-working, honest, Italians, of whom you say “they are not wanted here,” are the kind of immigrants that America actually needs. They are the very foundation of our industries and not your Nordic decaying English loafers who reach our shores with a high hat and walking stick as their only credentials, and who possess no ability or strength to produce anything, but who expect to live on the good-nature of the American people.
You say, “Look over Who is Who In America for Italian names and you will find them very conspicuous by their absence.” You also mention the War intelligence test records. Why, Professor, you are absolutely blind, you cannot hear, and surely you are not sane.
Italian names are among the most important in America and among the bravest in the World War. Hundreds of thousands of these very names are Americanized and slightly changed in the spelling, perhaps, and require a little more intelligence than you possess, in order to recognize them.
Have you ever heard of the Bank of Italy, of San Francisco, California? This institution is one of the largest financial organizations in the world. It has been created by these same people that you classify as “Grade D and E” and of whom you say “they are not wanted here.” I ask of you, Professor, what grade do you belong in? In my honest opinion, I would classify you in Grade Z, which is the remains of nothing.
I, with a large number of my immediate family, originated from the extreme south of Italy and – what do you think, Professor? – we are, today, the largest and greatest building organization in the United States, and we have, for the past forty years, constructed thousands of monumental apartment houses in the greatest city in the world (New York) where hundred of thousands of American families dwell.
So you see, we are continually contributing to the greatness of America and that is much more than an accidental five-thousand-dollar-a-year professor is doing.
You say that people below Rome are not Italians, but that they are of a different race. I say that you do not know what you are talking about. You probably know more about your half-naked barbarian ancestors than you do about the people that civilized the entire world.
Senator Cippico’s statement is sane and sound and there is no doubt that fair-minded Americans will appreciate Italy’s position and in due time will do justice to the nation that has given the world more than any other, especially to us, this wonderful land and the greater name that the university has ever known – America!
You say that Senator Cippico has brought with him sugar-coated pills. I agree with you. These pills are of the same stock that Columbus brought with him, and from the same origin that the name “America” came from and from the same people that civilized the entire world.
When Senator Cippico states that there can be no peace in Europe as long as England grabs everything and Italy starves, he is sincere in his statement and he is also sincere when he begs America to prevent another catastrophe in Europe.
You say that Italy does not send her Galileos, Dantes, Michelangelos, Verdis, Napoleons, Puccinis, Da Vincis, Garibaldis, Mascagnis, Ciceros, Columbuses, Vespuccis, Raffaellos, Savonarolas, Marconis, Carusos, and Mazzinis. These men need not travel. They are forever present in the mind of every intelligent man in the world and they are the very soul and inspiration of real men of today.
Could you point one of your ancestors and claim the same pride that I can? NO! a thousand times NO! They are “very conspicuous by their absence.” There is nothing in the world of which a man can be more proud of than being an American of Italian origin.
We have here many English propagandists, who unfortunately it seems through their cunning diplomacy, advantages of language, etc., have been able to connect with some of our educational institutions. However, they cannot fool the American people. We are all “wise” to England’s game and her clever propaganda.
Evidently England is worrying at the increase of population in Italy. Italy! – that has been glorified for thousands of years and which produces such geniuses, cannot remain dormant. Some day she will be able to demand reckoning and bring the murderers and thieves to justice.
You remember, Professor, once upon a time, England received a severe thrashing administered to her by America. Some day we may have to repeat the same “stunt” and permit me to inform you, Professor, if that day comes, the “Grade D and E” men, as you term them, will do their full duty and make a thorough job of it, as they did in the World War.
Thank God! that, as usual, Italy periodically brings forth a genius and makes the world take notice. Since the World War Mussolini has saved European civilization from anarchy, and the claws and abyss of Bolshevism, and is now showing Europe the only way to recovery.
In concluding, my dear Professor, I must say that my ancestors tried their best to civilize your half-naked barbarian ancestors, but the more I read of you, the more I am convinced that they made a bad job of it.
Ralph Ciluzzi
Builder, 2067 Broadway, New York
Il Corroccio • October 1925
This article is from the October1925 issue of ‘Il Carrocci’ which was a monthly magazine of Italian propaganda and defense culture in America, directed by Agostino De Biasi.
A Builder Ralph Ciluzzi
Who is the writer of that very vibrant letter addressed to Professor East which appeared in the last Carroccio; sharp, crude letter, written in a single impulse of indignation and so responsive to the general sentiment of the Italians? Who is Ralph Ciluzzi? And why at the bottom of the signature did the Direction of the Carroccio leave the title of “Builder,” with the address?
“Builder” means “builder.” Therefore, we wanted the publication not to have meaning only for itself – as a literal expression – but that the recipient received it as a demonstrative document of the blunder he had taken, denying value to the Italian emigrant and insulting him. We wanted to point out that whoever refuted and demolished it was a builder of our lineage, visible daily creator of what we are used to today to consider the most tangible expression of American grandeur: the majestic building that makes New York more and more imposing – an Italian builder, who builds gigantic palaces with designs by Italian architects, with Italian labor – and for this he wins the competition from the boldest and most powerful Americans.
Ciluzzi himself in his letter introduces himself with these words to the East: – I, with a large number of members of my family, come from the extreme south of Italy and – what new do you think, Professor? – we are today the largest building organization in the United States, and have, in the past forty years, built thousands of monumental apartments in the largest city in the world (New York) which house hundreds of thousands of American families.
Who, if not one of that majestic group of Italian-American industrialists individualized in the names of its greatest exponents: Paterno-Campagna-Ciluzzi?
Ciluzzi – our collaborator – in a fit of indignation dictated the letter to his stenographer and entrusted it to the press as an expression of his Italian soul, of Calabrian stamina.
It seems that these pretentious and overbearing Americanists find it all to not get the result they propose. As far as we are concerned, there are countless Italians who, between business necessity, good sense of adaptation, sentiment, culture, education, have placed themselves among the Americans, advanced points of our quiet and systematic penetration. Penetration, perhaps, is not the right word; we will say cohesion, because it better responds to the ultimate goal: the understanding between the two peoples, harmonious cooperation, perhaps the fusion of blood and interests. These elements of ours operate on an equal footing with the Americans, equal among equals. They first took a prominent position; now they keep it. It is not known why everyone recognizes that America is made by the effort of all the emigrated nationalities, and when it comes down to distinguishing between them, only the Italian must remain in the shadows, forgotten if not insolent. So, what do the diligent as well as insolent East Americans do?
They really go to step on the calluses of those who can give them excellent kicks. And when they have the bad inspiration to attack, they provoke the reaction in the same element that could be considered anything but a participant in American life in its most typical expressions. If we did not appreciate the sincerity and loyalty with which so many of our emigrants keep to the American way – and we did not realize the special position in which the vicissitudes of life with foreigners have placed them – we would bless these American nationalistic excesses which cause sudden and vehement return to the love of Italy of those who apparently seem distracted by it.
It is not exactly the case of our Ciluzzi, but generalizing it is like this: Americanizationists have the mission of breaking the threads of the plot that is naturally weaving, over the years, here in America, between natives and us and between us and other foreigners . The more they inveigh against Italianism, the more Italianness flourishes, this reawakened more roaring in consciences that have already become American.
Born to a builder father, in Staletti, a village on the Ionian Sea, in the Catanzaro area, he emigrated very young in 1900. Well-off, he wanted to study. He was at the University of Buffalo where he earned his Doctor of Medicinal Chemistry degree. He opened prosperous drugstores in New York State and New Jersey; but he gave in to her immediately. The building fever intoxicated him; he acted the pressure of the kinship that took the leadership of the construction of the large “apartment houses” in the metropolis.
Ciluzzi was a partner of his brothers-in-law Paterno and Campagna; then he created his own company.
What he did in short years of work is revealed by the large buildings he built and owned. Ralph Ciluzzi loves that an Italian owns the house where the Americans stay; owning a house means many things, mainly that of making the tenant understand that, after all, he is not the “owner,” even of American stock….
Brief: Ciluzzi has built over 15 million dollars of buildings to date. The illustrations we publish tell what it is about. They are the most solid, best built and furnished, most comfortable, most comforting buildings that can be found today. There is no detail of improvement that Ciluzzi does not find and apply. It is he who controls the construction of the buildings, from the rock of the foundations to the roof, then the administration of the rents. This means that man, from his command post and of feverish responsibility, maneuvers thousands of workers, artists, technicians, clerks-simultaneously-because construction is rapid and each department is linked to another. Thrown down the old factory, ripped open the rock, braked the spring currents that often meet in the subsoil and require very expensive brake works – it is necessary to provide, in a single moment, for the cement, the stone, the bricks, the sand, the steel, iron, timber, piping, bathrooms, light, radiators, coolers, locks, glass, marble, decorations. There are hundreds of contractors that need to be educated and supervised; they are fantastic amounts of daily spending.
Ciluzzi is there, providing everything. The best building material used in New York is what Ciluzzi and his friends employ. Being able to make purchases for millions at a time, they combine reduced prices with excellent quality.
When Ciluzzi “operates,” the “real estate” market immediately senses the importance of his initiative. Last summer, the purchase of four buildings on West End Avenue at 89th Street made the city news: four buildings in good condition to be torn down to make way for a 15-story building, costing over one million dollars. What the competent admire in Ciluzzi is the clear vision that he has of his plans and the certainty with which he implements them, with infallible luck.
With all this, Ralph Ciluzzi also finds the time to… write to Professor East.
A remarkable thing for those who, in full American activity, have not lost any sign of their belonging to Italy. In America, besides the buildings of his industry, he owns houses and villas for his own use; but he also loves to have them in Italy, in the land of his fathers. The unquenchable passion of Italy!
Lately Ciluzzi gave a wash house to Staletti; first act of public charity performed in his country; first of an unmissable series. Soon the electric light system will come, then….who will live will see. Because whoever has the noble and firm conscience to rise up – as with the Carroccio letter – against a professor of an American University, and to summarize in his voice the voice of an entire nationality, and the pride of being able to say: “I” show you with “my” work that you are false and a liar, he cannot fail to be one with the earth that saw him born.
Il Carroccio mentions Ralph Ciluzzi on the agenda of the gratitude of all Italians.
