On the welfare of Smurfs.

From the Smurf cartoon produced by Hanna Barbera, to the original strips and storybooks by Peyo, we are lead to believe that the Smurf village houses 100 Smurfs.

However, I have never seen 100 different Smurfs.

I have been introduced to many, by name, but nowhere near 100 Smurfs.

I have seen background Smurfs, so I know there must be an unnamed majority that reside in the village. I see them working on the dam, picking Smurfberries, and generally walking around in the background. But where do they live?

All the "main" Smurfs that have proper, if oddly task-related, names all live in wonderfully large Mushroom houses. Most have second floors. Yet, when Gargamel tramples in the village square or we see an aerial view, there is no way there are 100 Mushroom houses in that micro hamlet.

This leads me to believe that there must be some sort of Smurf Public Housing Development (Smurf Projects, if you will) for these no-name having, not important enough to have their own house or adventures Smurfs. These Smurfs obviously have no trades, or talents and must therefore be day laborers. Handy Smurf just shows up in the middle of the square, by the well I suppose, and yells, "I need 5!" and five of these nobody Smurfs jump in the back of his pickup truck made of wood and twine and leaves.

I feel bad for these Smurfs. What if there's no big project going on? No windmill to build, no dam to reinforce, no Smurfberries to pick... do they get to eat? I mean, I've seen the spread Greedy lays out, and although it looks like enough to feed an army of Smurfs, I don't believe I've ever seen 100 Smurfs at the table.

I hope Greedy runs a soup kitchen for this underclass of Smurf. The Smurf society is supposed to be some sort of co-op, so you figure with a soup kitchen it would mildly conform.

I think I just depressed myself.

Now all I can think about is these poor Smurfs, coming home to their overcrowded Mushrooms after a day hard at work at the fields and dam and bridges, taking off their soiled caps, and going to sleep hungry, while jackasses like Brainy Smurf eats tasty cakes and drinks sarsaparilla.

Speaking of sarsaparilla, this drink is a form of root beer. I do believe I read somewhere that originally Smurfs drank regular beer.

If this is true, is there a Drunky Smurf? Do the welfare Smurfs spend the weekend drunk?
Maybe if they'd sober up they could become proficient enough in a trade to lift themselves out of the Smurf ghetto, get themselves a name and a big fancy Mushroom in the foreground. But then again, why bother? Their basic needs are met with a roof, granted a crappy roof, over their heads, soup from Greedy's soup kitchen, and they never have to worry about adventuring. Plus they get to be drunk all weekend (talk about insentive!)
 
Oh Smurfs, how you vex me!