The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-11-16
Covered with Straw and Eat
Porrfdge Which They Wash
Down with Brandy.
fgrKeIAL no me TrLroP.L.l

tGrKeIAL 70 THE TELEoRhHl
WASHINGTON. Nov. 16.-The re-l
port from Amsterdam that Emperor
Francis Joseph intends to grant toI
Galicia the right to manage its affairs
independently, at the same time that
Poland is reconstructed an independent
kingdom, gives timelincss and special
interest to the following war geo
graDhy bulletin issued by the National
Geographic Society, in which peasant
life in Galicia is strfkingly described.
The bulletin, which is based on com
munication to the society from will
liam Joseph Showalter, says:
in many parts OF Galfcia the Polish
peasant lives in a log hut covered with
straw; he breakfasts dimes and makes
his supper of porridge, washing i'll
down with bad brandy; and IN general
leads life full of want and empty
OF pleasure. The peasants who farm
for the mobiles receive no money in
payment, but only share OF the crop.
Crop Shares Small.
The usual division, all over Europe,
ranges between half and fourth,
and even In Russian Poland It never
goes below the latter proportion. In
Galicia the peasant now receives no
such proportion. The mobiles estates
are either owned outright by absentees
full-Yalue mortgages, and they have
combined to force down the peasant
farmers share, with the result that II
now is frequently as low as one
twelfth, a wage OF slow starvation
which is largely responsible for dis
ease known as 'P1ica PoIonica' CON-
tracted as tho result of insufficient
nourishment
The lot Of the Polish peasant is
always hard, whether he lives IN Rus
STA, Germany or Austria. HIS food is !
simple. If not poor His whole family
must toll from the hour that tho sun
peeps over the eastern horizon to the !
hour when twilight falls into dusk, /
If he can say that his wife works like
a horse, he has bestowed the acme of /
praise upon her. Hard work, many
cares, and much child-bearing COM
bine to take all pride out OF the wife's I
heart and give to the women of peas
ant Poland haggard look even be-
fore the third decade OF their lives is I
closed
Work as Section Hands.
You may even see them working /
as section hands on many of the rail-
roads, and they. are reputed to make /
good ones. 1t IS not exceptional toll
see them carrying mortar for brick
layers and p1asterers or to find them
painting or paper-hanging in the cities.
Every peasant wants his daughter
married of as soon as they reach /
womanhood. and little hands are
drawn upon the Intel of the door TO /
Indicate to the world that there is a |
marriageable daughter inside me
house. And the wedding day among
the peasants IS about the one bright /
spot in a girls life. Where the chill
dren OF the United States roll eggs
on Easter MopdaY. those OF. Poland
pour water over one another In a spirit |
OF fun
Poland was a republic OF andown-
ers. in which the scrf did not count. |
Tho man who owned land. or whose
ancestors owned land, was noble.
He might match poverty for poorness,
tween his feet and the ground, hel
might have only rusty old sword to I
his girdle. and only ptebald blind /
horse to drive. and that a hired one,
but ne still was noble IL ownership |
of land had ever set its approvingI
stamp upon him or his family. n
Worms of the Dust.
With him the peasants were as but
worms OF the dust. The Russian noble |
Is proud OF his peasants, the Germany
noble was proud Of his. and the Aus
TRAN noble had nought but words lof
praise for his; but the Polish noble
was not proud OF his.
Nothing illustrates better how the |
Polish peasant felt toward the Polish I
noble than the Instruction OF the
Poles OF Austria IN 1846. That was 4
movement OF the mobiles. The governs
ment did nothing to check the out
hurst, and it is said that the loyalty
of the peasants to the government.
and their hatred Of their dristocrattc |
brethren caused the uprising to die |
aboruipg,
Whatever may be said about the |
the hospitality Of the former has AL
ways been whole hearted and sincere.
Tact uness as ma raj Tn tnsl
MOBILES as taiEfug to the water rs nat