The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-08-14
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST II.
LnndhoIding in France.

The recent "single tax" conference at
Paris ELECTED some curious information
concerning the present state OF land-hold-
ing in France, which was presented In a
carefully prepared statistical paper by NJ.
A. ToUBEAU 1t is commonly stated, and
has been accepted "a a fact, that there
were from twelve TO fourteen million
landed proprietors in our sister republic,
but VI. ToUBEAU utterly demolished this
supposition by showing that in the re-
viewed estimates renters were counted as
proprietors. The common impression as
TO the comparative size of holdings was
also overturned. Six years ago MAURICE
BLOCK, recognized authority of ability,
estimated percent. of the soil OF France to
beincludedin large properties, l94 per cent.
medium properties, and 744 per cent. in
small properties NJ. TouBEAU shows that
u per cent. OF the proprietors possess II
per cent. of the land. OF course, these
holdings must be classed as large proper
ties, while the % per cent. OF the soil that
is held by IS per cent Of the proprietors
includes the medium and small holdings.
After considering his figures, one is some
what prepared for his startling statement
that There is more land now in the
hands of big proprietors than before the
revolution, and very few Frenchmen
know this"
Equally startling is his comparison be-
tween the present and the period prior to
1898 as to the relation of the people to the
landed proprietors. We are accustomed
10 regard the ante-revolutionary period
as one of unexampled oppression OF
the peasautry, and the present as one
ofhappy prosperity for the laboring classes,
especially in the agricultural regions.
Historians are wont to excuse the ex-
cesses Of the revolution on the ground
that the masses had been so trodden I'M
der foot and subjected to tyrannyin every
conceivable shape that human nature
could endure no more, and that maddened
and brutalized by their treatment they
wreaked a blind vengeance on the class
that bad tortured them. Ii this be true,
and NJ ToUBEAU's statements be correct,
France must be a smothered volcano to-
dav. for he declares that the landlords are
more harsh and severe now than before
the revolution, and he gives a graphic
statistical picture OF the present misera-
be condition of the masses in the state
ment that 100000 of Frenchmen hardly
know what meat is, and 100000 live in
huts which have but one opening Pos
sibly it is the struggle to escape this con-
dition which seems so hopelessly fastened
on the nation that makes France coun-
try of unstable government.
4 third notable feature OF VI. ToU-
BEAU's paper is the record of the de-
crease OF the land tax. In 1890 200,-
100000 francs were raised on lands,
while to-day, notwithstanding the
enormous increase in the value OF realty
only about 100, OOO,OO francs are collected
from this source. This is treated as a
shifting of taxes from lands to industries,
but the position is not altogether tenable,
because the land tax of 1870 in fact fell
partly on industries, the vassals of the
various fiefs being taxed by their lords
without much regard to whether their
work was mechanical or agricultural.
The figures show, nevertheless, that the
landed plutocracy OF to-day is quite as
powerful as the landed aristocracy of a
century ago. and that through ell the gov
ernmental changes of France the rich have
solved the problem of how TO rule the