New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-31
COLUMBIA COLLEGE STUDIES
PUBLICATIONS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE.

wichs essav on The Economics of the Russian VII
lagen The recent famine led him to think OF maNhS
use OF his Russian education for the benefit oil Anerl-
can readers. Aside from the sympathy which Inc
suffering, NJ the peasants aroused throughout the
world he looks upon the famine the turning point
in Russian economic history The cause Oh caI'ihi-
ty of this sort in Russia Is, ne remarks, always the
same the and lneficacy Of farming methods
When the surface OF the soil Is exhausted the peas
ants wooden plough is useless for subsoiIhs. MS
lack OF drauGht animals IS also against him III MS
struggle with the land. deep ploushin5 he says
sententiousy, ais impossible with only one Morse anu
that horse fed straw" But exactly the same
defects that ruin the peasant his own holding
decrease the productveness OF the landlords heids'
for these are In the main cultivated With the peas
ants stock and implements. The key TO his whole
argument Is found in his concluding sentences Fam
fly cooperation village community, nobility, ana nat
ural economy-such was the economic constitution OF
Russia In the past. The Russia OF the days to come
win have for It's basis peasant bourgeoisie rural
proetarlat and capitalisc agriculture" The tradi-
tional cry Of the peasants that the land was
theirs though they belonged to the gentry. The la
ter, they maintained, owed service to tie Car ana
II was the peasants part to furnish them with the
means OF performing this service. The abolition OF
serfdom was unsatisfactory to the serfs themselves
inasmuch as the other and more Important hall OF
their demand for Gland and liberty" was neglected.
AS serfs under certain well-defned circumstances,
the peasants had real possession Of the land while
the nobeman only had the legal ownership y dlS
tinc,ion between the land of the lord and that OF
the peasant really TO be found only where the
duties Of the to the master We're discharged IN
compulsory labor. The natural desire for money
with rural gentry usually pressed for cash tended 10
enlarge the number OF those willing TO replace com
pulsory labor by compulsory payments.
For the origin of the Russian village community
DR.. Hourwich goes back to the supposed primitive
state, In which there no division In the tribe
hold hat Tho Drinc of
I'm the exchange of labor between the members oil
community proves that Russian mir as known 10
history had already passed from the stage OF trioi
communism to that marked by dissolution OF 'he
commune into individual households. In this form
the peasant community became the instrument OF po'
ntical evolution first toward slavery and then away
from It, At the outset communal ownership was
matter Of course. Then came conquest and the sub
seouent restriction of the rights OF the conquered pE
which the whole territory became the properly Oh
the monarch In payment for service portions OF the
land were set off the OF such persons as the
monarch chose. The tendency of these holdings was
In become hereditary and the tendency of the peasant
community was attach itself to an hereditary noble
man who could be relied on to protect 1t. Doubtless
this tendency FASTENED by the competition In Ia
Dor of prisoners taken in and by the necessity
on the peasants part of dscharsinG his debts by ep-
Shaving himself Slavery even for n term OF years
was certain to become perpetual. 1t has always
been possible for the STAKEHOLDER to devise conditions
which the slave cannot meet As tie hereditary
hndbolder gradually frightened his hold upon the serf,
Ae also at the time evaded little by little the
duties he owed the state That is. ownership which
was at the outset conditional or later became
absolute What had happened in other countries as
q natural process was FASTENED In Russia by the acts
of Peter the Great. He "efaced all the distinctions
that we're Characteristic Of the preceding epoch by
compelling every landholder TO enter the service OF
the State, and by establishing uniform law OF in
halo inn Tho
he merged In one patrmonies and fees On the DINER
hand bv imposing the poll tax upon peasants, ano
By mailing the landhOld"r responsible" Tor the exact
paymrnt Of this tax. hc PIT slaves ahi '0ris upon
common footing. and made the latter personally de-
pendent upon the landlord The meagre rights OF
the serfs were sti restricted BY his SUCCESSORS
rh,,e the service the lord for his lana was
soon abolished. II all this had taken place IN umeS
when sertdom common throughout Europe inc
peasaps would doubtless have forgotten Their prm-
tive freedom. As 1t was, the agitation began ano"s
them almost at once, and II one would Know upon
what volcano the Russian bureaucracy rests ne mas
only 10 read tie history Of peasant in'urrecuolS III
the eighteenth century. II the seriS had not pee"
emanclpaed by Imperial decree, they wouid dopueS'
have persevered until they enancpatcd themselves
In the latter case Russian history would again nave
assumed a likeness that Of the West But @naiH
nation coming as 1t did defeated the hopes OF the
agricultural masses without going to the Limit which
had been reached 10y gradual emancipation In other
countries where the peasant found himself personally
free but robbed OF his traditional rights In the lahd
Instead OF the naturalization OF the land. mat Is
return to Imperial ownership AMI peasant possession
such rs the people dreamed, the Government salts
fed itself with Offering to every community the choic"
of agreeing to pay the redemption tax for inc nor
NAL lots. or of taking In lieu thereof the So-ca'u
donated lots extending onefourth Of the normal
lois and free from redemption tax" IN either case
the lands thus taken became the property OF ,ne
lakers Where the traditional communities exlsteu
they were dealt with as communities. In" proceSS'
OF taxation which. in Oriental countries, treateu
the communities units tended to strengthen 'he oiu
communisn but on the other hand tn" diminnton
of land under cultivation by the peasant forced MIN
TO seek employment laborcr while the rise Oh
rents nullifed the confessed influence OF ovcrtaxa-
ton in perpeuating the conmuncS. The natural
result should have been the rapid disintegrauoh OF
the mir but again an artificial barrier was set up
nv laws that practically confined the freedman to the
soil lest the landlord should be in want OF laborers
Among the strongest Of the bonds that hold the peas
ant TO his land, have been tho arrears OF taxes ana
though the rise OF rent is By no means blessing
for him. partly tenant partly agricultural as laporer
as he is, yet the benefit hc gains as taxpayer IS
the possibility of disposng OF his labor by leasing his
plot TO any one willing TO pay the taxes thereon
Thus economic evolution has loOsencd the legal bonds
which formerly chained the Russian peasant TO the
soin But the possibility OF renting brings to the
surface OF the communal society the individuals VINO
rent, while on the other mana the III
ability 10 make the land maintain him drives the farmer
into be market as an individual labcrer for wages. Tn
dor such conditions the man with small holding who
.tes out his living by outside work has manifest
advantage over the still poorer man Who has lost his
land The latter Is forced by competition to pauper
Ger, or tn exile from his village. The number OF sncl
eyiles IS yearly on the increase In the place OF the
,.riarchal family passing thus toward dissolution rises
the class OF farmers who can afford to hire one or
,,ors laborers, and who gradually buying up the
-, -, ,,an, With m rise OF this class have
come improvements in the methods OF farming. against
whb the old fashioned arstocratc iandhoider str"S
,os In vo,n He too Is disappearing and in his place
omss In greater numbers year BY year. the man with
l.sl ,,,o l. ahle 10 carrv agricultulc prOnlaDy