| Households, per cent. | Land, per cent. | |
|---|---|---|
| Ranenburg | 91.6 | 86.9 |
| Dankoff | 83.8 | 73.8 |
[47] Cf. the Table of the Distribution of Arrears, in the Appendix to this essay.
[48] In addition a tax assessed per capita is levied upon the lands of the peasants for the expenses of the State.
[49] Cf. Reports, Vol. II., part I., preface, p. 7.
[50] Cf. above page 16.
[51] The maximum of arrears reached, in three communities, the enormous sum of 65 rubles to an average household. This means complete destruction of independent farming. Let us quote some examples, by way of illustration:
1. The community of former serfs of Mr. Balk, village and bailiwick Karpofka, district of Ranenburg: The arrears amount to 67.90 rubles from each householder. Out of the total number of 51 householders there are but 24 who cultivate their lots personally. Only three among them have two horses, the rest must do with one, and 26 (one-half) have no working animals at all. One householder among these 26 has a cow; the rest have neither horse nor cow. There are likewise only 13 cows to be distributed among the 24 better-off householders who personally cultivate their farms. Only one pig is raised in the village, and 87 sheep—that is to say, less than two sheep, upon an average, to each household. This means that the peasants have no meat on their tables, and most of the children no milk. 10 “householders” (one-fifth of the village) have neither houses nor land; they lease their lots in order to pay their taxes, and, in all probability, seeing the coincidence of the figures, they have no cattle either. The yield of rye is to the seed as 3 to 1, and that of oats as 2 to 1 (loc. cit., Vol. II., tables, pp. 56-61). In 1864 many peasants’ chattels in this village were sold for arrears. The majority of the peasants go a-begging (App., pp. 286-287), and certainly are very little afraid of public sale for où il n’y a rien, le roi perd son droit. Neither is flogging endowed with any creative power. Yet, inasmuch as the community is responsible in solido for the payment of the taxes, it was the minority who had to pay, in addition to their own arrears, those of the beggars. Seeing the extent of their wealth, it is not perhaps too pessimistic to presume that in this year 1892 perfect equality reigns in place of the old distinction between minority and majority.
2. Community of former serfs of Mr. Novikoff, in the same village, in arrears for 46.30 rubles to each household, i. e., for about three terms of payment. Soon after the emancipation two great public sales of their chattels took place, the sales being to satisfy arrears in the payment of the taille. Year in and year out, from 20 to 30 householders have their cattle and buildings sold at public auction to satisfy arrears of taxes. 23 families out of the whole number of 245 (i. e., 9 per cent.) have lost their shanties; 105, or 43 per cent., have no horses; and 84 among them, or more than one-third of the village, have also no cows. 123 families, i. e., one half of the village, do not cultivate their lots themselves (or cultivate only a part), either hiring their neighbors to do the work, or leasing their lots for the mere payment of the taxes. The wealthier half numbers but 60 householders (i. e., one-fourth of the village), who own two or more horses, and can be regarded as belonging 10 to the type of bonus pater familias (hozyaïslvenniy mushik). The rest have but one horse, and some of them no cow. “They live but poorly,” explains the Appendix (l. c., p. 286).
3. Community of former serfs of Messrs. Muromtzeff, village Durofshtchino, bailiwick Vednofskaya, of the same district. The arrears amount in an average to 42.70 rubles to each householder. The community may serve as an example of the astounding capacity for growth of the Russian peasant’s wool after he has been shorn like a sheep, as the great Russian satirist has it (Playwork Manikins, by M. E. Saltykoff). Indeed, in 1881 all the cows in the village were sold for arrears by the mir; in 1882 the statisticians found 38 householders, each of whom was again in possession of a cow. However, notwithstanding this capacity of accommodation, in which the Russian peasant approaches the lowest zoölogical species, the village in question is still far from prosperous. Among the 64 families there are 12, i. e., about one-fifth, who own neither house nor cattle, and hold no land, having either returned their lots to the community or leased them for payment of the taxes, which comes to the same thing. On the other hand, there are but 27 households, i. e., 42 per cent., who maintain a normal standing, i. e., have not less than two horses and one cow, and cultivate all the land in their possession. (Cf. Tables, pp. 194-199. No. 29; App., p. 329.)
[52] Ibid., Vol. II., part I., p. 264; part II., p. 197. There are in both districts only ten communities in which the taxes absorb the entire rent, and only seven communities of former serfs (out of 562) in which the taxes exceed the rent. On the other hand, there are only 17 communities where the difference is above three rubles; and the maximum reaches 13 rubles in a community of former State peasants who own a tract of forest in the district of Dankoff (Ibid., pp. 31, 210, No. 8). The proportion of taxes to rent in this community is as 9.5 to 22.5, i. e., the taxes absorb 42 per cent. of the rent in the most favored community. What would the New York landlord or the American farmer say, to such a rate of taxation?