Photo by E. M. Newman 



ROUMANIAN PEASANTS AT A PAIR 



"To wear store-made clothes was, until recent times, a token of indolence or awkward- 

 ness on the part of the females of the family — characteristics that are the butt of most of the 

 jokes improvised by the leader of the Sunday village dance" (see text, page 375). 



Later conquerors quarreled over the 

 division of the soil — the most valuable 

 booty available — and in their greed gave 

 the farmer peasant but little for his 

 labors. Even after stable government 

 was secured, the easy method of collect- 

 ing taxes by farming them out placed 

 such burdens upon the poorer classes 

 that they were obliged to relinquish their 

 lands to persons better able to pay the 

 taxes or influential enough to avoid them. 



The continuance of this process threat- 

 ened to eliminate the peasant farmer and 

 increase to a dangerous point the hold- 

 ings of a few. In 1821 this fear became 

 acute, and steps were taken to ameliorate 

 the condition of the agricultural classes. 

 This movement was accelerated by the 

 revolution that swept over Europe in 

 1848 — a revolution that was social rather 

 than political — and finally culminated in 

 a new code of laws relating to land ten- 

 ure, by virtue of which 400,000 persons 

 received allotments of land, and ulti- 

 mately 48,000 bridegrooms were given 

 ground upon their marriage. 



COMPLICATED LAND OWNERSHIP 



The land question has been compli- 

 cated by the alien ownership feature, the 

 inhibition of land ownership by Jews, 

 and the greed of tenants who are them- 

 selves renters. Still the government has 

 acted with such wisdom that out of 33 

 million acres of arable land the small 

 farmers have a little more than one-third, 

 while the large proprietors have 13 mil- 

 lion and the State 6 million. The lands 

 held by the State, known as Crown do- 

 mains and consisting of 12 estates, exer- 

 cise great influence as model establish- 

 ments. 



On these, both field operations and 

 large industries are carried on, many 

 small trades established for adults, and 

 schools conducted in such a way as to 

 stimulate imitation. Conservation of nat- 

 ural resources is taught by precept and 

 example, and forestry, which was_ a 

 hobby of the late King, found a quick 

 response from the peasants, who affec- 

 tionately call the oak his brother and the 



366 



