“Here the children learn much in the schools and in the settlements, but much more in the streets. In the schools they learn that the United Stales is the greatest nation in the world, and on the streets they learn that Italy is a despicable nation. So they think that everything Italian is to be thrown away. There is no family life, so the children acquire awful habits.” Not in the school or settlement, but at home, said Professor Racca, we learn not to steal and lie. In Italy and Russia the home, he said, is the center of the intellectual and moral life. Therefore the responsibility is America’s if in America these homes crumble and the morals of the children crumble with them. To prevent family disruption the adults as well as the children must be adjusted to the new environment. This adjustment is to be made, he declared, through the right kind of settlement. And this is what a social settlement should be: “It should be a small institution for all the poor, not merely for the children. At its head should be one boss—a man. He should be married or a widower, and have varied experience. He should not be a minister, for if he is of the same religion as the people he would duplicate the work of their minister, and if he proselytizes, the people will run away. He should not be a professor, because he sees through narrow academic spectacles, and he should not be an amateur who goes into the work for a few years. He ought to be a practical sociologist, not necessarily acquainted with the theories, but he should know the facts. He should be a psychologist. He should know America thoroughly. If he is working for Italians he should have lived at least two years in Italy in the very provinces from which immigrants come. He should know dialect. He should not think that he can learn to know the Italian and his traditions by “doing Italy”—by visiting museums, art collections and churches. He should work in a narrow field and should take the place of the priests in Italy. “He should visit every person every day, and in this way really be their friend, father and brother. He should be connected with all their organizations, so that the settlement could be the bridge between the organizations and the workers. If he thus knows everybody, the bad elements would dread this headworker. He would know that certain men were not working, and he would know that if they were nevertheless getting a living they are probably blackmailing. He must know individuals so well that he can handle each in his own way; one through an appeal to pride, another through a command, and so on.”