THE LAND REFORM AND ITS RESULTS UP TO THE PRESENT 12'^ 



In 1882-83 wages were as follows 



minimum: 11 lei per ha. 



1 : 28 )) » 



)) '. TO )) » 



i^'- Ploughing . maximum: 16.8 lei per ha. 

 2 "'^•Hoeing . . > : 44.8 » 



3'''^-Mowing . . » ; 22.8 » » 



4^'^Daity wages of peasants bringing their own draught animals: max- 

 imum : 5 lei ; minimum: 2 lei. 



5*^-Wages per day maximum: 2.50 lei; minimum i leu.: 



In 1906 wages, on the other hand, were as follows : 



jst. Ploughing - maximum: 16 lei per ha.; minimum: 8.4 lei per ha. 

 2"'^- Hoeing - r, : 36 » » ; « : 24 » » 



S'^'*- Mowing - ^j : 28 )) » ; >■> : 10 » » 



4*^- Daily wages of peasants bringing their own draught animals : max- 

 imum: 5 lei; minimum: 1.50 lei. 



5^''- Wages per day: maximum; 2.50 lei; minimum 0.80. leu. 



These figures, however, produce a much greater impression when tne 

 variation in wages in the same locaUty is considered. 



Thus, for example, in the district of Olt, wages for ploughing feU 

 between 1883 and igo6 from 44 lei to 24 lei per ha ; for mowing from 16 

 lei to 12 lei ; wages per day from 2.50 lei to i leu. In the district of Suceava 

 \\ ages for ploughing fell from 13 to 8.4 lei per ha ; for hoeing from 39 to 28 

 lei; the wages per day from i leu to 0.8 leu. And examples might be 

 multiphed indefinitely. 



Summing up then all that we have set forth in succession, we, may, there- 

 fore, say that since 1829, the year of the organic law, up to the revolts 

 in 1907, the general conditions of the Roumanian peasants became worse 

 and worse. On the one hand, feeble and incomplete legislation could 

 bring no remedy; on the other, the landlords and tenant farmers tried, 

 by continually increased oppression of the peasants, to make good their 

 own losses at the expense of the latter, reducing the benefits due to 

 them under successive agricultural laws. In other words, the laws of 

 1829, 1848, 1864, 1866, 1872, 1882 and 1893, which we shall not deal with 

 here, as they were only successive steps on an unprofitable course, repre- 

 sented, rather than an improvement a real aggravation of the general situ- 

 ation, which continually grew worse, tmtil it resulted, at the beginning 

 of 1907, in what was really a very serious revolt of the peasants. 



§ 2 The^lakd reforms of 1907. 



It is not our duty to give an accoimt of the peasants' revolt and we, 

 therefore, refer our readers to the excellent books on the subject, the names of 

 which are given at the head of this article. It is our particular business to 

 consider what reforms were granted by the Government in consequence of 



