Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/322

Rh 310 T L A N D [RUSSIAN. at Kielce, while several bishops had been sent out of the country, the whole situation remained unsettled until 1883, when the pope recognized the new diocesan subdivisions introduced by the Russian Government, Poland is now divided into four dioceses (Warsaw, Sedomierz, Lublin, and Prock). Agri- From remote antiquity Poland has been celebrated for the produc- culture. tion and export of grain. Both, however, greatly declined in the 18th century ; and towards the beginning of this century the peasants, ruined by their proprietors, or abandoned to the Jews, were in a more wretched state than even their Russian neighbours. Serfdom was abolished in 1807 ; but the liberated peasants received no allotments of land, and a subsequent law (1808) rendered even their transference from one landlord to another almost impossible ; the old patrimonial jurisdictions were also retained. Compelled to accept the conditions imposed by the landlords, they had to pay rack-rents and to give compulsory labour in various forms for the use of land. Only a limited number were considered as permanent fanners, while nearly one-half of the peasants became mere proletaires ; in 1864 1,338,830 former peasants had ceased to have laud rights at all. Pursuing a policy intended to reconcile ihe peasantry to Russian rule and to break the power of the Polish nobility, the Russian Government promulgated, during the outbreak in 1864, a lav by which those peasants who were holders of land on estates belonging to private persons, institutions (such as monasteries and the like), or the crown were recognized as proprietors of the soil, the state paying compensation to the landlords in bonds, and the peasants having to pay a yearly annuity to the state until the debt thus contracted had been cleared. The valuation of these allotments was made at a rate much more advantageous than in Russia, and the average size of holding reached 15 acres per family. Of those who held no land a number received it out of the confiscated estates of the nobility and monas teries. At the same time the self-government of the peasant was organized on democratic principles. The so-called &quot;servi tudes,&quot; however, that is, the right to pasture on and take wood from the landlord s estates, were maintained for political reasons, becoming a source of great inconvenience both to landlords and peasants. Whatever be the opinion held as to the intention of these reforms, there can be no doubt that they resulted in a temporary increase of prosperity, or at any rate an alleviation of the previous misery of the peasants. In 1864 there were 342,500 peasant families, holding an aggregate of 8,300,000 acres of land ; but only 22,000 peasants, that is, less than one-half per cent, of the agricultural population, were proprietors, the remainder (218,500) being nobles, while 2,000,000 peasants were czinszewiki, that is, tenants at will, .and 1,338,000 had no land at all. In 1872 there were already 572,100 free peasant estates, occupying 13,000,000 acres. In ten years (1864-73) the area of cultivated soil had increased by 1,350,000 acres, while during the fourteen years 1845-59 its .increase was only 540,000 acres. The crops, which stood in 1846-60 at an average of 9,360,000 quarters of corn and 6,500,000 quarters of potatoes, reached respectively 15,120,000 and 14,400,000 quarters. The yearly increase, which was only 2 2 per cent, for corn and 1 3 per cent, for potatoes during the years 1846-60, became respectively 47 and 8 3 per cent, during the years 1864-75, and the average crop per head rose from 1 93 quarters in 1850 to 2 &quot;52 in 1872. The annual increase of horses, which formerly was 1 per cent., reached 27 per cent, in 1864-70, while the yearly increase of cattle remained almost stationary (1 2 per cent., against 1*1 per cent.). In fact, Poland had in 1870 only 37 head of cattle for each 100 persons, against 41 head in 1860. Another consequence of these measures was a notable decrease of crime, and a rapid increase of village primary schools, maintained by the peasants themselves. It must be acknowledged, however, that the maintenance of the &quot; servitudes &quot; has become a serious evil. Moreover, the want of pasture-land, the want of money for improvements, quite insuffi ciently supplied by the joint-stock banks in the villages, and the very rapid increase in the price of land, from 50 roubles per morgen (T3835 acre) to 120 and 250 roubles, have all helped to lessen the benefits of the agrarian measures of 1864. The peasants arc unable to purchase land proportionately with the increase of population ; and, while a few of them buy, many others are compelled to sell to the Jews (notwithstanding the law which prohibits the purchase of land by Jews) or to German immigrants. The estates of the nobility do not pass into the hands of the Polish peasants as they are sold, and still less to Russians, but largely into those of German immigrants. Agriculture in Poland is carried on with more perfect methods on the whole than in Russia. The extensive cultivation of beet root, of potatoes for distilleries, and of grasses has led to the introduction of a rotation of several years instead of the former &quot; three-fields &quot; system ; and agricultural machinery is in more general use, especially on the larger estates of the west. Winter wheat is extensively cultivated, especially in the south, the Sando- mir wheat having a wide repute. In 1873 50 per cent. (15,728,000 acres) of the surface of Poland was under crops, 9 per cent. (2,929,000 acres) under meadows, and 26 per cent. (8,242,000 acres) under forests. The first of these figures exceeds now 54 per cent. In 1881 the crops reached 19,050,000 quarters of corn, 21,151,000 quarters of potatoes, and 14,368,000 cwts. of beetroot (14,365,950 cwts. in 1882). The corn crops were distributed a.s follows : wheat, 11 per cent; rye, 38 ; oats, 29 ; barley, 12 ; buck wheat, 4; various, 6 per cent., 3 per cent, being used for manu factures, 22 per cent, for seed, 60 per cent, for home consumption, and 15 percent, for export. The potatoes were used almost entirely for distilleries. The culture of tobacco is successfully carried on (about 3500 acres), especially in Warsaw, PJock, and Lublin. Cattle rearing is an important source of income. In 1881 there were approximately 3,300,000 cattle, 4,500,000 sheep (including 2,500,000 of the finer breeds), and 1,000,000 horses. Fine breeds of horses and cattle occur on the larger estates of the nobility, and cattle are exported to Austria. Bee-keeping is widely spread, especially in the south-east. Fishing is carried on remuneratively, especially on the Vistula and its tributaries. Manufactures have shown a rapid increase during the last twenty Manufa years. While in 1864 the annual production was only 50,000,000 tures ai roubles, it now exceeds 150,000,000, the manufactures of Poland mines, fielding one-eighth of the total production of the Russian empire. Mining has shown a still more rapid development within the same period. While in 1862 only 154,100 cwts. of pig-iron and 100,900 cwts. of iron and steel were made, these figures respectively cached 947,800 and 1,742,500 cwts. in 1881; and, whereas the lighest figure in the annual returns of the coal-mining industry from 1867 to 1873 was only 2,494,000 cwts., the average for 1876-80 was 17,157,000, and the amount reached 27,659,000 cwts. in 1881, The zinc mines yielded in 1881 89,640 cwts., and the extraction of tin reached 7580 cwts. in 1878. Sulphur was obtained to the amount of 6450 cwts. in 1879. The development of the leading manufactures may be seen from the following figures : [ 18GG 1879. Produce in Roubles. Hands. Produce in Roubles. Hands. Woollen stuffs 7,134,483 7,579 26,833,000 12,716 Linen and hemp stuffs Cottons 1,151,382 6,099,474 6,669 9,578 2,294,000 22,492,000 6,900 16,949 Silks 61,785 100 533,000 350 Preparation, dyeing, hats 606,656 165 4,318,000 906 Paper wares 587,552 1,083 1,343,000 1,289 Produce from wood Animal produce 311,126 4,150,756 379 5,579 2,665,000 8,572,000 2,497 3,182 Mineral produce Metallic wares 1,591,833 5,654,496 5,583 7,149 4,469,000 9,426,000 7,096 7,899 Chemical produce 443,980 368 900,000 443 Total 27,793,523 44,232 83,845,000 60,227 Average production ) per hand 628 1,375 Thus, while the number of hands occupied in these industries has increased by 40 per cent, the production has nearly trebled, showing a corresponding improvement in the machinery employed. The chief manufacturing centres are the todz region in the govern ment of Piotrkow (woollen stuffs, cottons, sugar, corn-flour, wine- spirit, coal-mines) and Warsaw (linen stuffs, leather, machinery, sugar, wine-spirit, tobacco, and all kinds of grocery and mercery wares). Mining is chiefly concentrated in the south-west. The annual production for separate governments (exclusive of mining, flour-mills, and breweries, and the number of hands employed by distilleries remaining unknown) was given in 1879 as follows : Roubles. Hands. Piotrkow . 60,900,000 3^5,550 Warsaw 42,110,000 37,605 Kalisz 14,670,000 9,159 Lublin 10,495,000 5,577 4,543,000 581 Kielce 2,919,000 2,337 2,121,000 1,708 Prock 2,109,000 1,747 Siedlco 1,862,000 1,815 Suwatki 684,000 403

Total 142,413,000 97,482 Russia in Europe 1,102,949,000 711,097