" ... I am going to leave this level of testimony wonderful and terrible events that happened to me in my youth to assist ... "(from "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco).
It was dark outside, the family had finished dinner for more than two hours together as they prayed the rosary every night around the fire, every family in this country was no ritual, at the end of every hard day's work, as fatigue overwhelm you, you do not forget to pray together, were moments of silence, steeped in spirituality. Since Anthony had returned, with greater transport Filomena thanked God who had made it safely to his son, had much in debt due to pull out the family had not been easy for her after her husband's death had been numerous petty theft, the last 15 days before the theft of geese. But with the return of his son Philip had found a new strength, a renewed faith in the future. With all the money of Antonio's creditors had been satisfied. She was a woman who with pride, from a family of owners Corropoli (Di Monte) could finally have his revenge. The whole country must have known that his son had made his fortune in America, which was no longer the poor widow in debt up to his neck which aroused pity. But in so doing was arousing envy and evil thoughts in people.
Antonio was now a young man of 32 years, could hardly recognize his own mother, her boyfriend had gone through the American experience profoundly changed into the body and especially in the soul. That evening his brother had come back to haunt him and bombarded with questions, they wanted to hear the stories of America but Antonio did not like to talk about it much, was not a holiday its not a trip. In his mind floated so many painful memories, most of them.
The glimmer of the fire was fading, was not powered by new wood. It was going to bed and while in the house were repeated every evening as the preparations coveted resting on the outside and something terrible was heinous act. A gang of thugs was taking action. It was composed of six men headed by the husband of an elementary school teacher (some Biaxxx Figxxxxxx). He used to be a frequent visitor of the farm, often had bivouacked by the Creve and Antonio did not like at all. He had sensed in him something ambiguous and dangerous and urged her mother to move it away but the woman was not of one mind "It 's a type well, is the husband of the teacher, educated people, of good family has to honor his presence there Antonio." That lazy degenerate, however, was the snake that was within the mind of the criminal gang. There was also a mill worker, of course Maccxxxx; had happened once, trying to find Philomena, was introduced in the house while she was busy counting the money sent by his children and had been impressed and very upset. There were also two members, of which just one guy, a family of thieves repeat offenders in the area, a family of outcasts who lived by their wits and petty theft, some Murxxx. The other two components, Fraxxxx Urxxx and belonged to the neighborhood. On the latter, who came from a peasant family Terrabianca estimated, there is no absolute certainty, it was the only one who can produce a fairly convincing alibi. The same band was certainly the author of the theft of geese took place 15 days before perhaps because, as you know, those animals could have given the alarm and prevent the ugly floor.
(Baltimore rowhouses 1914 photo taken from the site www.kilduffs.com)
a rowhouse in 1914 valued at $ 1,200 could be purchased at a cost of 5 / 7 dollars a week (20 to $ 30 per month), expenses that included the installment for the purchase of the house, the rent of land, taxes, fees for water and insurance. After 8 or 10 years if the payments were made on time you became owners. These prices certainly had to affect the rental market so it is reasonable to think that Antonio and Umberto do not spend more than $ 30 per month for accommodation. With regard to the salary they received, we have no indication of the task being performed, but because the work required to emigrants, then as now, work is "not qualified", it is likely they were to "track", ie the railroad tracks, for 'just as trackmen. At the beginning of the century and before the war took a Trackman about a dollar a day, value remained almost unchanged since 1870. Before the war the rate of dollar / lira was equal about 5 or 6 pounds per dollar. An Italian worker at that time received an average salary of 2.5 pounds per day, then the United States to track earned more than double, but wages rose during the war. In 1921 the U.S. Railroad Labor Board reduced to 30 cents an hour the pay of trackmen reabsorbing the increase of 8 cents and a half that there was in May 1920. So from this we can deduce that the higher pay earned in that period was of 38 cents an hour and a half, totaling $ 3.08 per day, which converted into lire in 1920 (average 21.11 years lire to the dollar) is equivalent to 65 pounds per day against an average of 18 pounds Italian perceived by the worker in that same period, so the distances wage increased. Studies on the wages of the railway sector published in 1922 during the great strike of railway employees, summer, complaining about an increase in average sector wage higher than inflation over the period 1914 to 1921. In fact, over the period, consumer prices in the United States doubled, while in Italy because of the war were more than quadrupled that wages would suffer without increases in line with inflation itself.
In summary we can say that in his time spent Antonio receive a salary equal to twice in the beginning and then more than three times what they could earn in Italy. Wage increases exceeding the inflation rate, thanks the fact that the railway industry was paying more than others, allowed the time to increase capacity to save. In addition, his salary being paid in a currency stronger than the dollar note which was not even pulverized Italian inflation when the lira was converted into a nest egg saved.
(Chart taken from the website of the Italian Foreign Exchange) 
Umberto 
