destitution,” since above one-fourth owed to the treasury 20.10 rubles, and one-ninth above 34 ruble to an average household. This one-ninth was in chronic arrears of from one to two annual instalments. Whatever may be the absolute amount of the arrears, the point is that they bear upon the peasant’s live stock, which is the only valuable part of his movable property, and is consequently the first to be taken hold of by the auctioneer. Arrears in taxes are, therefore, a constant threat to the very existence of the peasant’s farming.[51] Moreover they bind the peasant to the spot, and thus restrict the market for his labor. This, however, is only an evil of the transitional epoch. A change of great moment has taken place in so short a period as the ten years which separate the census of the _zemstvo_ from the investigations of the above mentioned Commissions of the central government. Overtaxation has been swallowed up in the increase in value of the land. The rent of the peasant’s plot in both districts of the _gubernia_ of Ryazañ exceeds the taxes by from one to three rubles (_i. e._ the taxes absorb, in an average, from 78 to 91 per cent. of the rent.)[52] Though rise of rent is by no means a blessing for the Russian peasant, partly tenant, partly agricultural laborer as he is, yet the benefit he gains as taxpayer is the possibility of disposing of his labor by leasing his plot to any one willing to pay the taxes thereon. Thus the old question of chronic arrears is to-day easy to be settled through public sale of the peasant’s stock. Flogging as a measure of financial policy can be dispensed with, so far at least as the insolvent debtor is concerned; for the taxes are secured by the land, over and above the body of the taxpayer. Thus economic evolution has loosened the legal bonds which formerly chained the Russian peasant to the soil. CHAPTER V. COMMUNAL TENURE AND SMALL HOLDINGS. Two economic features determined the further development of Russia, after the abolition of serfdom. Personal dependence of the serf was replaced, as above shown, by economic dependence of the “peasant-proprietor” compelled to seek work for wages beyond the limits of his own holding. Inequality of condition among the peasants, created by legal discrimination and furthered by the fiscal system, furnished the basis for the division of labor by which the peasants tried to fill up the holes in their farming. What were these occupations, and how did they react upon the village community? In the times of serfdom the village community, as above mentioned, enjoyed certain rights to the land which was used by the master himself. Pasture, and water, and way in the landlord’s estate were free to the community. The emancipation deprived the peasants of these privileges and put them under the necessity of entering into agreements, of one kind or another, with the landlord for the use of these easements.