Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-06-05

to AZ acres. Therefore the peasants
were compelled TO rent land from the
landlords at fabulous prices. The
| aggregate value Of the redemption and
| land taxes often reached 80 10 2jC
! per cent Of the normal value OF the
! allotment not to speak of the taxes
for recruiting. the churches. roads and
! local administration. chiefly levied
from the peasants. The peasants have
! sunk deeper into debt every year. The
| scheme WAS a qujckSand-the harder
| they worked and struggled the deeper
| int" debt they frll. Increasing arrears
| have driven our-iifth of the iuhahit-
ants from their houses Every year
some districts thrcc-quarters Of the
men and onc-thrd of the womcm are
forced 20 quit their homes and wan
der throughout Russia in search of
work. In the governments Of the
black earth region the state of mat
tiers is hardly better.
The phrase "cIass distinction" was
more than rhetoric in RuSSia-it was
part of the chains. It handcufred des-
tiny, boltcd the door of opportunity.
The great mass Of the people SIG
per cent peasants; 10 per cent made
up the nobility; Q per cent the
clergy; 9.3 per cent the burghers
and merchants; 81 per cent the mill
tary; thus 1i7, 900. 600 Of the Russians
were peasants.
The slavery in Russia conSecratcd
by law In 1909 was partly abolished
i'm 1861. The Act only pretended to
Iibcrate the SerfS. Even under the
best landlords conditions continued to
be terrible. Household servants or de-
peudcut> attached 10 the personal scrv-
leased. They joined the town pro
lctariut. The peasants were given al
lotmeutS of arabic land. These al
lotmentS We're not given 10 the indi-
vidualS, they We're given over 10 the
rural commune called the Mir, which
WAS made responsible as a whole for
the payment of allotments. 1t was a
sort Of land communism. except that
the title did not pass even to the Mrs.
The enormous charge against the land
made them tenant serfs. The Mir
was a mortgaged community. The re-
demptiOn charge was not calculated
on the value Of the land, but was con-
sidered as payment for the loss Of the .
labor of the serfS. The
enslavement of the peasant was rec
ognized in the Act which pretended
Peasants systematically Cheated.
Many proprietOrs of land saw to It
that the allotmentS did not give the
peasants the needed pasture lands
around their homes. This Craftily cal
culated scheme compelled the peasants
to rent pasture land from the land
lords at any price. The landlords
held them up.
1t was only as late as 1904 that the
landlord was forbidden by law to in
fict corporal punishment on rhe peas
ant. Even this law was winked at
and the practice of treating human
slaves as brutes treat tired domestic
continued. The peasant was
a chattel and the cheapest farm fix
-ure. There were plenty of peasants.
the barbaric life in
Russia, the population continued to
grow.
The peasants only participation in
government was In the assembly
called the Mir. With its quaint Gus
toms, 1t Is Of immemorial antiquity.
The assembly of the Mir consisted of
all the peasant householders of the vii
lage. These elected a head man and
Of local taxes. 1t was the near
EST Russian peasants ever got to free
lom. 1t was the clearing house for
he troubles, a socialism of sorrows,
| touch of local self government which
gave no rights; 1t simply provided a
means of cooperating in burden
Fearing.
Copyright 1920 Western Newsnaner Irnton,