THE LAND REFORM AND ITS RESULTS UP TO THE PRESENT I3I 



succeeded in transferring by insensible degrees to the peasants an area 

 of 53,616 hectares formerly belonging to the large land owners. The re- 

 sult is not extraordinary, when we consider that it was a matter of six years' 

 work. It deserves, however, consideration, above all when account is taken 

 of the Roumanian agricultural situation before the institution of the Rural 

 Bank. Georgesco then considers that the Bank should be constituted so 

 as to be able to act as a general discount bank for the people's banks of 

 the country. 



With regard to the appHcation of the law on agricultural contracts 

 and its results, it may be affirmed that they were more than satisfactory 

 in the majority of cases, in the way of ehminating abuses, regulating pay- 

 ment of rent in money or on the " tarla " system, fixing the minimum wages, 

 etc. However, some objections may be made. 



First of all with regard to the formation of communal grazing grounds, 

 account must be taken of the fact than only "/j of the landlords have spont- 

 aneously offered their land, and there have been few cases of expropriation, 

 so that on January ist., 1913, (i) five years after the promulgation of the 

 law, there were only 903 communal grazing grounds, with altogether an 

 area of 118,531 ha. representing a value of 75,000,000 lei. The average 

 value per ha. of this land would, therefore, be about 630 lei, a little more 

 therefore, than that assigned to it by Creanga (500 - 600 lei) and reproduced 

 by us in our calculation of the charges for grazing. If, however, v/e 

 remember that capitalisation at 5 % is nowadays a liberal estim.ate 

 especially in the case of landed estates not farmed intensively, we find that 

 the average grazing charge per head of Hvestock is about 7.80 lei. And this 

 is stiU a very great gain for the peasant over and above the fact that he is 

 now free to sell his labour to the boyar, as he judges best. A practical 

 attempt is now being made to transform the grazing grounds into fields of 

 1 ucem, which, however, is not without its difficulties, above all owing to 

 the conservative spirit of the peasants. 



As regards the obhgation imposed by the law on the landlords and ten- 

 ant farmers only to make contracts w ith the peasants in writing, Georgesco 

 recognises that, if progress has been made, still the old and deep rooted 

 habit has not yet been abandoned. 



The minimum wages and maximum rent were fixed as we saw before, 

 by regional commissions, of which the agricultural inspector was president. 

 The minimum wage is not the minimum necessary for life, but an average 

 taken of the rates paid for labour in the periods of greatest activity and the 

 lowest prices paid in the winter when labourers are recruited for the next 

 season. The estabHshment of this minimum wage has, naturally, led 

 to a considerable rise in wages and it is generally considered that on tliis 

 point the reform has been most effective and the provisions of the law 

 have been least evaded. Similarly, the estabHshment of the maximum rent 

 has resulted in the lowering of rents generally. But it is observed that, 

 sometimes, the law in regard to leases has been evaded and landlords and 



(i) Set Appendix to this article. 



