The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-17
RUSSIAN PEASANTS.

Liberty is a boon to those who can
appreciate it and utilize its advantages.
| There are some men who do the best
when working for themselves, and
others who are utterly helpless unless
acting under orders and direction.
When the slaves of the south were
liberated they were glad at first and
started out for themselves, but many
/ of them went back to their old masters
! in a little while and asked for their
guidance and protection.
The condition of the serfs in Greater
Russia has grown steadily worse, in
stead of better, since the emancipa-
ton act of Alexander II. There are
several reasons for this, chief of which
is the tax which they have to pay as
freemen. Another is the change of GUS
| toms coming with the change of con-
dition. Formerly the peasant families
We're closely united and lived together,
the cattle, agricultural implements and
crops all belonging to the community.
The money earned by each member of
this community was deposited in a
common treasury. But of late years
the young married couples of the Mir
have gradually built farmhouses of
their own. thus doubling their ex-
penses and dividing their strength. AS
a result. when the year has been a
bad one and the crops fail, the peasants
who have saved nothing, and with no
one TO help them, fall into abject pow
erty.
Under the old system the landlord
often mistreated his serfs. it is true,
but the peasant did not die of starva-
ton as thousands do every year since
the emancipation. After all, there was
as little cruelty in the old days as there
is now. The masters took care of their
laborers, for they not only brought in
revenue because of their health and
strength, but they represented a prop
erty value great or small according to
When the moujik, or servant, fell i'll,
his master nursed him; if he died, the
lord of the land cared for his widow
and reared his children.
But today it is different. According
to men who have investigated present
conditions in Russia, the peasants are
being literally ruined by their former
masters, who sell to them at exorbi-
tant prices articles of food which were
formerly given them for nothing. The
moujiks often do not even have wood
for fuel in winter, for at the time of
the emancipation act and the division
of land they received no share of the
forests.
Slavery has given way to starvation
The manacles of serfdom have been
stricken off to show the equally gall
ing manacles of poverty and ignorance
Famine is among the peasantry now
1t is one of the most perplexing prob
lens with which the government has
to contend. These occur every year
since the liberation of the serfs. They
have not been the result of chance cir
cumstances, but are due to the lament
able condition of the peasantry, down.
trodden and burdened with taxation.
The mortality among the peasantry,
particularly among young children, has
greatly increased during the last few
years, owing to insufficient nourish-
ment It has been calculated that out
of 900 male children born, only lit
tie over 500 are still alive at the age
of ;.
In all probability it viii be a century
before the moujik can be made capa-
BILE of sustaining himself under the
most favorable conditions to be pre-
scribed. But he will continue to so
from bad to worse unless the govern
ment taxation is largely decreased,
and the gold standard, urged upon Rus
STA by NJ. White, the minister of finance,
is abandoned. These twin policies of
enrichment for the few at the expense
of the masses-exorbitant taxation ard
appreciated money-are heavy burdens
on intelligent and naturally prosperous
people. On the newly emancipated
peasants of Europe, they constitute an
intolerable burden.