[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2417-E2418]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ENGLISH: LANGUAGE OF OPPORTUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______


                           HON. BILL EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 19, 1995

  Mr. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in order to share with the 
Members of this distinguished body and the good people of this country 
an account which reveals a great deal about legislation which I have 
introduced to establish English as the official language of the Federal 
Government. I have my good friend Mr. Tommy Macchiaroli to thank for 
passing along this story to me, and I am pleased to now present it to 
you.
  As you know, I have been a principal sponsor of legislation to 
establish English as the official language of the Federal Government 
since the 101st Congress. I have studied the official English issue at 
length and have explored its tremendous potential to contribute to the 
well-being and prosperity of this country. However, even though I have 
become very familiar with the comprehensive reports, the historical 
lessons, and the compelling logic which confirm the need for this kind 
of legislation, I am still struck by the experiences and 
straightforward wisdom of folks who have visited the question of a 
common language on the most personal of levels. Anthony Macchiaroli, an 
immigrant from Italy, is one of these individuals, and it is his 
inspiring story that I would like to relate to you today.
  It is my hope that we will learn from the dedication, the workmanlike 
approach, and the ultimate success of this proud American. His example 
tells us quite a bit about the economics of official English 
legislation, demonstrating 

[[Page E2418]]
the new members of this great democracy must have use of the English 
language in order to get ahead and become fully productive citizens. It 
is clear from the experience of Mr. Macchiaroli that the linguistic 
welfare of multilingual government is nothing short of a handicap to 
individuals entering our country. Regrettably, the handicap of 
multilingual government affects all Americans, resulting in severe 
social and monetary costs. I commend to you the story of Mr. 
Macchiaroli, as it appeared in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette on September 3 of this year.

                  I Worked Hard--But it Never Hurt Me

       Tomorrow we pause to pay tribute to the workers who built 
     this country. Many of those workers were immigrants, who came 
     to America seeking a better life.
       Anthony J. Macchiaroli is such a worker. The 60-year-old 
     North Versailles resident quietly operates his New Eastland 
     Mall store Valley Shoe Repair, where soles are mended Italian 
     style--by hand.
       ``Tony,'' who came to the United States from Salerno, 
     Italy, in 1953, says hard work has kept him in business at 
     the mall since 1963.
       Macchiaroli stepped off a boat in New York at age 17 with 
     35 cents. He went to live with an aunt and uncle in East 
     Pittsburgh, and later opened a shoe repair shop, got married, 
     and was able to send his two children to college. One of his 
     sons is a physician in Johnstown, the other an electrical 
     engineer in Florida.
       He doesn't plant to retire but says instead he'll shorten 
     his work week in coming years. ``I really enjoy what I'm 
     doing,'' he says. ``I don't think I'll ever retire because I 
     do enjoy talking to the people, and my customers need me too. 
     It's a lost art--fixing America was a dream. It was like I 
     could never come here. I used to pray a lot to God to let me 
     see that I could go to America. My uncle and aunt used to 
     send me letters with stamps of the Statue of Liberty on them. 
     Whenever I'd get those letters, I'd wonder if I'd ever really 
     get to see her.
       I've been here 42 years, and America has been good to me. 
     If you have ambition, you can do anything here. It truly is 
     the land of opportunity--believe me. If people set a goal 
     here, they can achieve it.
       I came to America March 10, 1953. I was not quite 18 yet 
     and was an orphan. My father died when I was 17 months old 
     and my mother died when I was 3\1/2\. Before she died, my 
     mother had written to her brother in Pittsburgh and said, 
     ``If anything happens to me, I'd like my son to come to 
     America near you.'' I still have that letter today. She died 
     in a hospital in Naples, and left me in a convent with nuns 
     until my father's sister could take me out. She raised me 
     until I came to the United States.
       I wanted to come here because it was a new land and I had 
     heard so much about the country, that it was so great. But it 
     wasn't like today where you can come right away or come as a 
     tourist. You had to wait. Three times my papers expired 
     before I could go. Finally my uncle and aunt, Vito and Anna 
     Parente, were able to get me. They had to guarantee me a 
     house and job, and they didn't have a house themselves and 
     had to buy one because of me. It was almost like they were 
     adopting me. I'll never forget them, that's for sure.
       In the small towns like Bellosguardo in Salerno, where I 
     grew up, you always learn a trade. I had bad feet from an 
     accident where I was burned as a baby, so I wanted to be a 
     shoemaker. In Italy, you sit while working as a shoemaker, 
     but here you do the work standing up.
       My first job here was in Homestead with a shoemaker. I got 
     $8 a day, six days a week, 12 hours a day. My boss justified 
     my wage by saying, ``You can't talk English and you can't run 
     the machines.'' We made all handmade shoes in Italy, so I 
     didn't know how to operate the machines. But here I could 
     still rip shoes apart, wash windows, shine shoes. . . I 
     worked hard--but it never hurt me. I learned a lot.
       Five years later, I opened my own shoe repair business in 
     the Great Valley Shopping Center. I was there five years and 
     moved to the Eastland Mall in 1963 when it was being built, 
     and I've been here ever since.
       I had difficult time at first because I couldn't speak 
     English. But people were wonderful to me, I went to night 
     school for five years to learn to speak English. I can read 
     good English, but I still can't write good.
       In 1957, I went to the hospital to have surgery I met a 
     nice girl, a student nurse Rosemarie Billey, from United, 
     near Mount Pleasant. And there was my fortune.
       We got married in 1959 and had two sons. In 1969 I brought 
     her and my children back to my hometown and traveled through 
     Italy for three weeks. While we were there, my wife asked me 
     if I ever wanted to go back there to live. I said, ``No, No 
     way.'' I'll never forget that I was born there, but America 
     is my country now, and I'll fight for it.
       In America there is so much opportunity. It seems 
     everything I wanted came true. I wanted to get married, have 
     a family and educate my children, and I did. I'm very 
     appreciative. If I die tomorrow, I'll die a happy man.

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