Connecticut western news., 1882-11-08
THE FRENCH PEASANT.
HOW HE LIVES AND THE COST OF
 HIS LIVING IN FIGURES.
The Efforts Which the Peasant Puts Forth
 to Save Money and Buy a Home.
From the New York Sun. ]

From the New York Sum-
 It is well known in a general way that the French peasantry have immensely profted by the revolution~of '89, but 1t has not been easy heretofore to obtain detailed information which would enable us to compare their present situation with that of the rural population in other countries. The want is now to some ex- tent supplied by a careful study of the condition of agricul laborers in the north and northeast of France, whose results are communicated by distinguished economist, M. Henri Baudrillart.
 We shall mainly confine ourselves to the data which exhibit the earnings and mode of life of the unlanded portion of the peasantry, the agricultural laborers pure and simple, who depend upon their hands for support, as distinguished from those who own the house they live in, to- gether with piece of ground. What IS true of the landless workman will also be true c fortiori of the peasant proprietor. According to M. Baudrillart it is pre- cisely this lowest category-the lowest if classes are to be graded by the amount of capital possessed-that has made the most progress during the past fifty years. The rise in the rents paid to landholders, the increase in profits made by tenants, cannot for moment be compared to the advance in wages, which have nearly tripled. On the other hand, the cost of the articles consumed by the agricultural laborer has by no means been augmented in corresponding degree. Clothing is less expensive, bread is no dearer, and
 agricultural products, which constitute
 such an important part of workman's
 nourishment, have not risen very much in price. The minimum pay of an
 agricultural laborer in Picardy, Artois, and French Flanders is 25 cents day,
 and he is invariably fed by the employer. | In summer the wages are much higher,
 ranging from 55 to 75 cents day, while | in the harvest season 8 reaper often earns
 $2. Farm hands, who are lodged as well
 as fed, receive from $60 to $40 year.
 These rates seem very low, when con-
 country, but they are far higher than
 those which formerly prevailed in France,
 and the purchasing value of the wages
 will be made clear when we point out the
 cost of lodging and clothing, and show
 what considerable savings are made by l oI, 1a1o e411 1o
 receives.
 Bread still holds the most prominent
 place in the nourishment of the rural
 population, but it is of much better
 quality than formerly. The black, tough,
 and often indigestible bread of half
 century ago is now seldom seen. Again,
 during the last generation the only kind
 of animal food eaten by the rural culti-
 vator was salt or smoked fish, and pork
 in very limited quantities. At the pres
 ent time not only has the consumption
 of pork so much increased that it has be-
 come an article of daily food in most families, but beef and mutton, which
 formerly were almost unknown, are now
 frequently added. Thus at Amiens,
 where, thirty years ago, only fifty or sixty
 horned cattle were consumed daily, there
 is now market for five times as much
 butchers meat, half of which must be
 credited to the adjoining villages. By
 way of exempGfying the nourishment of
 agricultural laborers. M Baudrillart cites
 the case of large farm where every man employed was given every three days
 seven pounds of bread, besides an ample
 allotment of soup, and, in addition, sev-
 eral ounces of butchers meat twice 8
 day. The usual beverage in the north and northeastern departments is cider or beer; wine has almost wholly disappeared from the workman's table in these parts. and the culture of the vine has we'll nigh | ceased in Picardy.
 For the cost of clothing, M. Baudril- t lart has recourse to @ monograph which sets forth all the disbursements made for 5 this purpose by the family of a peasant ) who was only slightly raised above the v category of agricultural laborers by the s ownership of tiny plot of ground. Like k them, however, he wore wooden shoes, l costing twenty-five cents, on week days y reserving his leather shoes, costing $2. 4O a for Sunday. The total cost of his work s day clothes amounts to $24OO, and thai s of his Sunday garments to $48.OO. The s outlay for his wife's clothing is computed s at 1922. % for everyday garments, and $17. ;, % for those of Sunday, the latter includ t ing merino gown and pair of gloves d The disbursements on account of the so1 @ and daughter combined are estimated a d $46. % for working-day and Sunday ap n parel. It must not be supposed, however If that this outlay represents an annua e charge. On the contrary, most of th, IT articles are made to last many years s Neither must we imagine that the cost o o clothing the whole family falls on tn n head of the household. Among the agri k cultural laborers the wife tolls as sturdil, Il as the husband, and the children are SC l, to work at an early age
 1T The rents paid by rural cultivators il 'e the north of France are still quite mode1 Is ate, and the inhabitants are less open t e objections on hygienic grounds than the 'e once were. A cottage of the smalles 1T size can be hired for from BIO to $16 'e year, while for from 1925 to $3O lahore y can obtain a four-room house and the us d of small garden.
 d The furniture IS still meagre enough ss though here, too, there are signs nroorress within the last half can+,7rv