I enjoyed Cyndi Amato’s Maine Voices column (Feb. 12). One of the writers who cleverly welcomed the Italian immigrants in the early 1900s was T.A. Daly (1871-1948).

The late 1800s and the early 1900s was a period of substantial Italian immigration. The Irish, because of the famine, had generally preceded the Italians, and had secured political power and the better jobs – bosses, firemen, policemen, etc. The Italians dug ditches, worked stone, sold peanuts, etc., had trouble with the language and suffered the discrimination of most recent immigrants.