ABSTRACT
Cultivation by a system of head-taxes has existed, most likely, in all countries where slavery has been permitted by law. There existed more fertile land than anybody could cultivate, and none of the lands had yet been improved by any work. Freedom has made so much progress in the last half century that the peasants who pay obroc are today perhaps the most numerous class among the slaves of civilized nations. The crown parcels out villages in the same manner to those who introduce into the state some new industry, and the conditions of the unfortunate peasants whose grantee changes them into factory workers becomes even more miserable. Moreover, all slaves of the nobility may be removed from agricultural work to be sent to the mines, to factories, and to trades, or be employed as domestics, either by their lords, or by those to whom they are leased.
