All these costs. are caught from the above listed sources, placing all their weight on the shoulders of the already burdened Cossacks. Allowing the treasury of the village societies to deny what they lost with the opening of the state-owned wine monopoly, and prohibiting private individuals from opening beer shops without the consent of the society would only satisfy the just and lawful Cossacks. Without outside sources of income, a Cossack may be reduced, perhaps, to the point of impossibility of fulfilling the demands placed on him.
Commoners. re
Until 1868, persons of the non-military class were forbidden to settle and acquire any property in the lands of the Cossack troops, and therefore the Cossack population until that time lived completely apart from other classes of the Empire. But in 1868 this law was changed, and! a new element, alien to his spirit, invaded the life of the Cossack - a commoner. According to the new law, persons of all classes were given the right to stock up real estate in Cossack villages and use public pastures to graze their livestock, without asking for consent.
`Besides neither the military authorities nor the village society. The entire duty of a commoner to the society in which he deems it necessary to settle consists only in the fact that he, along with the Cossack residents, is obliged to serve natural public duties, such as underwater, billeting and travel and, in addition, to pay a certain insignificant fee for a yard place in the income of public sums. Then he is a “free Cossack”. Behind him, what 7 is called, “neither royal nor lordly.”
Thanks to this law, troops little by little flooded the towns and villages with immigrants from the internal provinces and in some places they pressed the Cossacks. True, the commoner does not have the right to freely use the arable land and hayfields of the Cossacks, but this does not particularly bother him, since the land of the Cossacks and neighboring Bashkirs and Kyrgyzstan have insignificant value. So, for example, the rent of the entire Cossack's allotment, as we have already seen above, usually does not exceed 5 rubles. per year.
Thus, the position of persons of the non-military class living in villages and villages is incomparably better than the position of the Cossacks themselves, since, not being burdened with full military service and any public service, they enjoy complete freedom, renting land from the Bashkirs, Kyrgyz and Cossacks for free, engage in trade and use pastures of the Cossacks.
Being in such a privileged position relative to the Cossacks, the commoners take advantage of all sorts of oppressive circumstances: they buy houses from them, occupy places in villages near churches and market squares, etc. and, thus, get rich at the expense of the Cossacks.
But the main evil of this situation is that it creates discontent among the Cossacks. This alone can explain the ever-increasing percentage of Cossacks who want to enlist in the mfshchane, which is currently observed. Having become a tradesman, the Cossack usually remains to live5 in his village as a commoner, being a living example of the latter’s preferential position and thereby serving as a great temptation for the rest of the population.
It goes without saying that this position cannot be recognized as correct, and therefore it is necessary to change it, namely: to prohibit non-military exiles from settling on Cossack lands,
O as it was before 1868; and if for some reason this cannot be achieved, then at least destroy the right of these people to stock up real estate in Cossack villages without the consent of village fees, expressed in sentences approved by the atamans from the dfls. This way, at least, will be given the opportunity to societies to deprive the right of residence in their midst to the kulaks who practice with impunity exploitative - for the benefit of the poor part of the population.
Horse stealing about.
Horse stealing, as is known, is one of the main scourges of the national economy in general, and of the Cossacks in particular. If horse thieves destitute a peasant, depriving him of a plowman's horse as a breadwinner, then there is nothing to say about the Cossack. In addition to material damage, the Cossack often loses his irreplaceable comrade in service,