New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-07-15
IAN INFAMOUS LAW ?
Plugging and Prison to Preuent
Peasants Starting for 4merica.

American interests involved in the con-
-. which mas been raging for some time Vast he
-, Emperor Francis Joseph and the Nationalist
administration q Hungary. conflict IN which the
,...s- stands for tyranny and reaction while the
800 monarch who has already introduced uni
zeal suffrage in the Austrian moiety OF his en-
80. champions the cause Of democracy and the
80 NJ the people. Just ut present TIE Hun
Ia government and parliament are endeovoriag
= re face Of the o-rositon Of the Emperor 10
- an the Magyar statute book = law which
-+r-,ary re-est2b shes serfdoIn. and which has for
,tS arowed object TO check the iow of Hungarian
eulErants 10 lhe 1tlted states by hncng laoorers
"a the land"
Tie provisions Of the law are almost incredible
q f civilized country in the twentieth century II
makes Il penal offence for laborer or for any
member Of his family 10 leave farm without per
mission. or Tor a peasant tenant any member OF
his family quit the estate without the authorize
lion Of the land owner II is an offence to fail to
perform on Sunday work considered urgent by the
employer and The law moreover coufers upon agr!-
cultural employers the right 10 iniict corporal
chastsement upon lahorers. both male and female
VINO are still ninors-that is to say under twenty
one years Of age This logging already exists.
Girls Of eighteen may be publicly 1ogged trivial
offences even for offences Of which they them
srves innocent, hut which have been COM
1nitted by their parents relatives The law in
question now gives legal sanction 10 the foseing,
and thus it may be seen that the employers Of
agricultural labor in Hungary-that is TO say. more
especially the land owning classes-are endcRvor-
!ng arrest the exodus Of the pea santry OF Hun
gary and OF Croatia 10 the United states by not
merely fines and imprisonment but also by the
public hogging Of the grown up sons and daughters
Of the peasaniTy providing they are under twenty
one years Of age.
This extraordinary law. which has passed
through both houses Of the national legislature at
Budapest without serious opposition and which
The London Times and other organs Of the for
eizn press describe infamous and the
most reactiOnary piece Of legislation conceived for
decades in Europe" is being held UP by the En-
peroT. who declines TO give that royal sanction
which alone convert IL into law Of the land
True from strictly constitutional point Of view
i would be his duty TO sign it but here is where
Gespotism finds itself the side of the rights Of
Ire people. He declines 10 reduce to absolute
slavery not only the Magyar peasantry. which con-
sttEtes the bulk Of the Magyar population. but also
al the great agricultural population Of that Croa-
tia which has always been denied any representa-
ZION 70 speak Of in the parliament Of Hungary. to
which II IS subject although its population is nu-
Ine-ically far superior TO that Of Hungary.
Emperor Francis Joseph is insisting upon the
inauguration Of universal suffrage in Hungary and
Croatia. which would give Croatia and also
tae downtrodden Hungarian peasantry political
rights and voice IN the admin istration of
the-r destinies that has hitherto been denied
them. Francis Joseph rightly argues that the
legislature now constituted at Budapest does
not represent the views and the wishes OF the
Hungarian kingdom as a whole. That is of
the chief sources Of bitterness between the old
Emperor and the Hungarian government lust at
administration realize that their oligarchy will be
al an end as soon as Francis Joseph gets his
way and introduces universal suffrage in Hungary
e. he has already done in Austria. and II cannot
Be sufficiently made known here in America that
n his fight with the Hungarian government he is
chalnplonlns the cause Of the people. while the
Nationalist Hungarian government stands for me
olseFai tyranny, serfdom and reaction.