The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-08-30

Ine mlGratlOn OF peoples. Inc MennOn
ties are styled Lutheran Quakers, chiefly
because they are nom ombatants from
religious conviction. By their creed they
are prescribed from bearing arms or per
forming any kind Of military duty. The
Mennonites, originating as they did in
warning Europe, have had a good deal of
trouble with various governments, and a
world of moving to do to bear their testi-
mony against the wholesale slaughter of
wars. They are thrifty people and very
desirable to have on account of their in
dustries, but on principle they will not
fight, and on policy have often been
obliged to run.
From the eastern provinces Of Ger
many they went to Western Prussia un-
der guarantee that they would be pro
tected in their religious idiosyncracies
and allowed to live in peace. The special
treaty with the government was broken
and the compact violated by subsequent
kings and dynasties. The Mennonites
were settled and prosperous, but the gov
eminent wanted soldiers and demanded
military service of all it's subjects. The
non-combatants were given the alterna-
tive to fight or flee. They chose the
latter, and sacrificing their possessions in
Prussia migrated to Russia, to which wide
country they had been cordially invited
by the reigning car, who promised them
protection and the special immunities i'm
posed by their religious faith.
Another and a stronger non -combatant
compact was made with Russia, and the
moving Mennonites colonized and cult
waited the barren steppes, which soon
blossomed and became productive under
their culture. But of late years Russia
has been preparing for the war now in
progress, and the government decided
that no class of citizens whatever could
be exempted from military duty. This
fiat again unsettled the Mennonites. They
were given the choice Of training for war
and doing battle or moving out of the
country that had invited them within its
borders with such earnest pledges of
peace. OF course they decided to move.
1t seems as if the civilized world had no
use of any people but fighters. The
prince of peace has continually to move
on to desolatc and more desolate wilds
with his followers. 1t became imminent
that the Menonites would be obliged to
surrender their possessions and sacrifice
the fruits of their industries in Russia,
them.
Canada wanted settlers - heWers of
wood and tillers of the soil, and the in
migration agent Of the Dominion of Cana
da happened to be in Europe at the right
time to present the advantages and claims
Of the Winnipeg region to the Russian
Mennonites. In 1872 a Mennonite dele
cation visited Manitoba under the au-
spices of the agent, and selected a reser-
walton near Red River Thither the NOV
ing Mennonites went, and several com
mulnities in Manitoba now number 1865
souls. There is one settlement of $50
families. one of $50 families, one of .}3,
and one of 30 families, and all are in
creasng and multiplying from immigra
ton and the due course of nature amongst
themselves Marriages are free, not by
allotment, Us in some other communities
and are usually contracted early.
The Mennonites have peculiar social
customs and municipal regulations They
lay out what may be termed farm vii
lagos, with wide street running through
them and the farms running back on both
sides. Groups of families, about sixteen
in number, go together in community
of interests in conducting their business
affairs, although each has a separate
property. They are not communists.
Raising and tending stock is done on the
cooperative principle, and to some eX
tent heating from a common oven. Each
family has a yoke Of oxen, two cows and
any amount of poultry. The pig is there,
too, and one Of the reservations has 500
sheep and $50 horses. The municipal
government is a simple democracy The
heads of families annually select a mayor,
who is the chief executive officer. Over
the whole community is a president or
elder selected for five years, and who, as
ISOLATED with the mayors of the villages,
forms court for the final adjustment of
all disputes and the enactment Of neces-
sary ordinances.
The church organization is entirely dis
tinct from the civil administration. The
people elect clergyman in each village
and a bishop to preside over the whole
for periods of five years.
These receive no pay for their spiritual
The teachers of schools
one in each village-get moderate salaries.
They have system Of mutual insurance,
which works well. The mayor of the vii
lage, with two assistants, constitutes an
orphans court for the distribution of es-
tates and the custody Of the funds of OF
phans for which the property of every
villager is liable. The Mennonites immi-
grafton has brought into the province Of
Manitoba over $50O,OOO in money, and it
has enriched their territory already sew
eral millions. The Lutheran Quakers
promise to make an earthly paradise of
the bleak regions of Manitoba, and they
hope it will be very long before they hear
the police command of ''move on"
There are several settlements of Men
nonites in the United States, but they
seem to prefer the Canadian reservations
for permanent settlement.
College students make the best walters