New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-05-14

to ~ 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 1855 to 25C
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 quicksand-the harder
they worked and struggled the deeper
into debt they fell. Increasing arrears
have driven one-ifth of the inhabit.
ants from their houses. Every year
more than half the adult males lin
some districts three-quarters Of the
men and one-third of the women) are
forced to 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 "class distinction" was
more than rhetoric in Russia-it was
part of the chains, it handcuffed des-
tiny, bOlted the door of opportunity.
The great mass of the people. S1.6
per cent peasants; 10 per cent made
up the nobility; 0 per cent the
clergy; 9.3 per cent the burghers
and merchants; 6.1 per cent the mill
tary; thus 147 100000 Of the Russians
were peasants.
by law in 1909 was partly abolished
In 1861. The Act only pretended to
liberate the Serfs. Even under the
best landlords conditions continued to
be terrible. Household servants or de-
.pendents attached to the personal serv-
ice Of their masters were re-
They Joined the town pro-
|etariat. The peasants were given al
Of arabic land. These al
otments were not given to the indi-
viduals, they were given over to the
rural commune called the Mir. which
was made responsible as a whole for
he payment of allotments. 1t was a
of land communism. except that
he title did not pass even to the Mrs.
The enormous charge against the land
made them tenant serfs. The Mir
vas a mortgaged community. The re-
charge a not calculated
m the value of the land, but was con-
idered as payment for the loss Of the
labor of the serfs. The
nslavement Of the peasant was rec
gnized in the Act which pretended
Emancipation.
Peasants Systematically Cheated.
Many p%roprietors of land saw to 1t
hat the allotments did not give the
the needed pasture lands
round their homes. This c~raftily cal.
scheme compelled the peasants
} rent pasture land from the land.
,rds at any price. The landlords I
cid them up. I
1t was only as late as 1904 that the Z
lndlord was forbidden by law to In ,
let corporal punishment on the peas f,
Mt. Even this law was winked at
nd the practice Of treating human
ayes as brutes treat tired domestic :.
limals, continued. The peasant was :
chattel and the cheapest farm fix !,
ire. There were plenty of peasants. ),
Notwithstanding the barbaric life In =
ussia. the population continued to !.
'Ow. !
The peasants only participation in
,vernment was In the assembly
He'd the Mir. With its quaint GUS
ms, 1t is of i%mmemorial antiquity. A
he assembly of the Mir consisted Of
the peasant householders of the vii
&c. These elected a head man and
Hector of local taxes. 1t was the near
{ Russian peasants ever got to free r,
IN. u was the clearing house for n
e troubles, a socialism Of sorrows. >,
touch of local self government which
We no rights; 1t simply provided a :,
cans of cooperating In burden :,
airing. =.
opyright. 1920. Western Newspaper Union, "