Word: silas
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Skeptics & Reformers. Though it had been shouted from hilltops, none in Santa Severina believed it would really come about. A system that for generations had kept Santa Severinians hungry, thirsty, dirty, diseased and in despair could never end. Despite the local disbelief, Ente Sila (government agency for land distribution and improvement) patiently and doggedly pushed...
...Ente Sila had prepared a list of all peasants eligible for land. Beneficiaries must not own more than ten acres. Expropriated land had been charted according to productive value. Plots had been rearranged to make each nearly equal to the others in productive possibilities. They were to be assigned by the peasants' drawing lots on appointed days. The lot-drawing had won unanimous peasant approval. "Man is imperfect," observed one villager. "Only luck can assign each man the right piece of land. Only fortune can know what is best for each man in the future...
...meetings between Ente Sila and Santa Severina's people, each plot of land had been carefully discussed, each peasant had his say as to value. I was present at the meeting that preceded last week's Sunday drawing. It was held in the moonlight, in front of the municipal hall. Professor Manlio Rossi-Doria, the energetic assistant chairman of the Sila Project, spoke from an open window...
...voice from the crowd said: "Where are we to get enough hay to feed a donkey?" It was finally agreed that the don-keyless would pay a small fee to donkey owners for work done. Those without money would do chores for donkey owners. In worthy cases, Ente Sila would advance money for plowing...
Today, Not Tomorrow. Amerigo Mare-scalchi, a gaunt, soft-eyed Communist, was one of the skeptical ones. On the day before last week's distribution of land, I met him as he was drilling holes for rock blasting on a road being constructed by Ente Sila. When I asked about the following morning's distribution, Amerigo shrugged. "Tonight there will be bread at home," he said. "That's enough for me. Let tomorrow take care of itself...