Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-30
WAKEMAN'S TRAVELS.
A Glance at the Homes and Servants
of the Polish Nobility.
PETROLEUM FIELDS OF -GALICIA.
Laborers on the Estates No Better Than the
Serfs They succeeded.
TIE LOWLY FOLK OF AUSTRIAN POLAND
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE pIsPArcH.1

friend, the new petroleum fields of North.
eastern Austria, and incidentally to study
the Galician low]y. On first reaching
Cracow hasty trip by rail to Kolomea, in
the southeastern corner of Galicia, a hall
days walk from the frontier of barbaric
Bessarabia, demonstrated that there wa.
nothing of very great interest to write Of
these industrial developments.
An oil belt 800 miles in length and about
25 miles wide extends southeast from neal
Sanok, in Galicia, along the Carpathian
range of mountains. 1t then passes between
Bukovina and Hungary, and thence breaks
away into the Roumanian oil fields in de.
tached spurs of the Carpathians 1t is per-
haps 1000 miles in length, and altogether
forms what is known in the geography of
petroleum as the ''Galician deposits" and
territory of the "Austro- -Roumanian re-
6nerles."
Until 1881 the operations were of the
most primitive character, consisting almost
exclusively of ''hand digging" and the ttfree
fall' systems of sinking wells. At the date
named the Canadian system of 'pole tool
drilling" was introduced, and rapid de-
velopment, backed bv English capital and
operated by Galician Polish companies re-
All Ine steam power IacnlQeIy Is
imported from England. Engineers and
superintendents have been brought from the
Canadian oil fields, and the tools, formerly
supplied from Hanover, are now made in
Galicia
No Such Flow as Pennsylvania's.
The flow of oil is not to be compared with
that of the average Pennsylvania districts.
1t becomes most insignificant when the
great Russian wells of Baku are taken into
account, yet it is fairly profitable source
of supply; has given employment to thou
sands of Polish and Ruthenian peasants,
whose wages are 90 kreutzers, or about Sc
cents per day, with a daily allowance of two
sticks of cordwood for fuel; and find the
entire annual production of the Galician
petroleum fields equals two-thirds Of the
total consumption by all Austria.
In so far as these peasant employees, who
were too recently agriculturists, woodsmen
and mountaineers to have lost any of their
hereditary customs and characteristics, gave
opportunity of study of the Galician peas
antry. the large groupings of such lowly
had interest. But my researches among
the peasant class were chiefly carried on
upon the large estates and in the purely
peasant villages.
The acceptance of three invitations as
guest at the homes of two noblemen and one
rich gentleman farmer furnished opportu-
nifty TO know slightly the aristocratic
country landlords and to really see their
hinds or laborers and house servants as they
are. The latter differ in no important re-
spect from the laboring peasantry of the
villages, save that to me they seem even
more sOddenlv stupid and servile. At this
time of the year the outdoor laborer still
retains his winter clothing. He is curious
looking fellow. His hair is cut either
straight across his forehead, or to a spear
like point upon it, and grows like lions
name about his shoulders and neck.
Dressed Like a Robinson Crusoe.
His head covering is a NANCY fur hood,
often of squirrel skin with the tail dangling
loosely upon his shoulders, or of sheep or
goarskin with the fleece side next his head.
A sort of greatcoat or robe hangs loosely
from his shoulders to below his knees. This
is of the skin of some animal, with the fur
or hair next the body. The reversed exposed
side is covered with ancient LAYERS of grease
for protection against the snow and rain. If
he possesses undergarments of any sort, they
are shreds of rags stuffed with chaff and
straw.
He usually wears stockings Of the heaviest
and coarsest material, and high legged,
pointed shoes of huge proportions For not
only are the precious hose protected by
ropes of straw wound from above the knee |
TO the ankle, but enough chaff and wisps of |
straw participate in occupancy of his cav |
ernous shoes to provide sufficient warmth. |
Aside from this unique garb, his beard |
stands out from his face a massy, wiry |
cheyau1-de-frise, in which enough straw |
and chaff have lodged to provide an ade- |
quate comforter for his face and neck |
From dozen TO a score of these peasant |
animals seem TO be attached to every large |
estate. If they have quarters-except those |
who are married, who are provided with |
low, thatehed wooden huts, squalid and |
filthy beyond description-I was not able to |
find them. They are messed" like hogs |
from the great house kitchen in corners of |
the stables, and lie down at night among |
the other animals, with their straw ropes |
and hide coats for bedding, wherever they
are able to find most congenial and comfort
able stabling
Something Very Like SerFdom.
Serfdom is not supposed to exist in this /
land, but 1 have a well-founded suspicion
that something very like it is in vogue
The wages of such laborers do not ex-
coed an average of 80 kreutzers per day,
perhaps y cents, although they are glad |
enough to get this. Each estate is pro-
vided with a steward, or overseer who,
like the Irish agent, adjusts matters SO
that human effort is not permitted to pro-
duce more than this kind of human life is
to require. He has storehouse
filled with the rude requirements of these
estate laborers-coats shoes, hose, belts,
something that is called tobacco and snuff,
caviare and vile brandy. These are issued,
after the manner of our own eXquisltely
devilish "truck" system with miners, with
such discretion that the estate laborer is in
life long debt, and is subject to the prison
and lash if he attempts to escape his master
and his obligation.
And yet the households sustained by this
lovely adjustment of human equities and
ethics are as serene and sweet as l have
ever found. Wherever my host and l
moved about the estates these white slaves
first bent and kissed the hens of our great
coats and then stood with barred heads in
silence until we had passed. No doubt this
sort OF thing gives the master q grand
czar-like feeling, and it is lording it cheaply
besides.
So, too, within the mansions where the
servants are few in comparison with similar
esta blishments in other European countries,
when the somewhat better conditioned white
slaves, because better housed and led only,
are not etsrnally grabbing at ones sleeve or
coat skirts to perform this osculatory rever-
ence, they are continually, when entering or
leaving any apartment. or receiving an
order or serving you, calculating, with
ducked heads, 'Ich kuest die hand"
Eng ish Governesses for Teachers.
There are no schools or colleges for the
better class of girls, and at nearly all these
Polish aristocratic homes L fouEd bonne,
an English governess, or both, and a French
tutor. They receive excellent salaries, live
on something like terms of equality with
their employers, are usually broken down
gentlemen or gentlewomen with 'literary
.urn' like provident Mr.. Wegg, and are the
most glad and grateful people on earth when
,hance brings traveller like myself from