Wichita eagle., 1888-03-31
SCANDINAVIAN THRIFT.
THE MEN WHO ARE CONOUERtNG
THE FAR NORTHWEST.

A Scandinavian Settlement in North
western Minnesota Sixteen Years Ago.
How American Enterprise Has Since
Yielded to Stolid Determination.
Sixteen years ago rode slowly through
Scandinavian settlement in northwestern
Minnesota. Today have returned from trip
over almost the identical ground then rode
over. Then these people were poor and dirty.
They lived in holes called dugouts. They
owned but little property. They were strang-
ers in the land and they were timid. The
Chippewa Indians, then recently removed
from Red Wing to White Earth, amused
themselves by chasing, stick in hand, the
Scandinavians around their farms and threat
ening to kill them. 1t was rare good sport
for the rather cowardly Chippewa to find
white men who were not expert with rifle
and revolver, and who were afraid Of fish
eating Indians The Americans who lived III
the country previous to 1870 were rough,
courageous men, who corrected an Indian
but once; then he was buried by Borrowing
relatives. So the Chippewa enjoyed the new
breed of white men, who could not fight and
would not swear, until they tired of the
pleasures Of the chase.
The dugouts in which the Scandinavians
lived were generally excavated in the side of
hill which overlooked q small lake, and
near at hand stood timber for fuel and shed
building. Their plowed fields were very
small They impressed me as men who had
been cowed and mentally injured by life Of
hard, unremunerative toll and scanty diet.
They were dirty and yermin infested. They
drank sour milk and ate heavy bread. They
were not meat eaters. Poverty stalked among
them. He who owned yoke of cattle, a
plow, a wagon, cow, and few chickens
was man of wealth.
Scattered among these Scandinavians and
living on adjoining claims were vigorous,
courageous young Americans, who had been
raised ON Ohio, Indiana and Illinois farms,
and who had been educated In our common
schools They sprang from prime stock.
They were accustomed to our laws and ways
of living and methods Of thought They were
handy men with TOOLS They were resource
full They worked hard and lived as well as
they could. They, too, lived in dugouts, but,
as rule, they had a better start in life than
their Scandinavian neghbors. 1t was patent
to me in those days that the American youth
were sure to succeed, and that the native
Scandinavian would fail to make a living.
That was a self evident proposition and easily
comprehended by the dullest intellect.
HOW IT TURNED OUT.
How did it turn out? Today the larger
portion of the Americans who attempted
agriculture in 1912 on the northwestern
plains are scattered from Lake Superior to
Puget sound, from the Saskatchewan to the
Rio Grande. They work in every mining
camp lying in the Rocky and Salmon river
mountains They live in huts standing by lean
and small placer mines. They pack heavy
burdens on their backs as they prospect in the
Vermilion Iron range. More than half OF
the Americans who then SO hopefully under
took to create homes in Dakota and north.
western Minnesota mortgaged their farms
and lost them, lost years of their lives, LOST
their hope and steadfastness of purpose, and
they are today virtually wanderers who live
from hand to mouth.
And the Scandinavians? They are, as
rule, highly prosperous The dugouts were
long since abandoned as places Of residence,
and in their stead are large, well built frame
houses, which stand among shade trees and
well kept gardens. Such houses as l looked
into were well furnished. Sewing machines
stood in almost every house. And the land
which was wind swept and dcsolate sixteen
years ago is today divided into fields by good,
cattle proof fences, and heavy crops of
wheat, oats and barley grow on the inclosed
land. Cattle Craze in fields or OH the ada
cent prairies which is owned by land specu-
lators, and frequently these small herds are
fnpIaI NV liobt hoir how, vii, ,.H
Indian pony. In sheds stand valuable agri-
cultural tools, which have been paid for. The
work cattle were sold long ago, and in their
stead are two or three teams of powerful
horses And meat is in the pot three times a
day in the kitchens of these houses. These
people have good credit at the trading points,
and they seldom abuse it. They only of all
the people who have pushed into the North
west have, as a rule. made success of life as
lived under the hard conditions enforced by
the climate, the land grant railroad corpora
tons and the high price of the goods they
consumed. They achieved this success by
tireless industry, supplemented by rigid econ
omy.
TODAY IT IS FALSE.
1t has been said sneeringly and with lips
curved with contempt, and so frequently as
to be generally believed by Americans who
live in the west, that ''the Scandinavians sell
all the agricultural produce that they raise
which is marketable. They feed the best of
the remainder to their pigs, and what the
pigs refuse to eat they eat themselves" Fiji
teen, sixteen years ago, when these people
were getting start, that statement was but
a slight eIaggeration. To-day it is false in
every particular. They live as we'll as their
American neighbors, and they pay for the
groceries which they eat; and that is a finan-
cial transaction which the average American
farmer who tills land on the frontier shrinks
from until he is screwed up to the paying
point by the long headed merchant flirting
chattel mortgages which bear his name in bis
face and talking savagely the while of pro
ceedings against him the next time court
meets.
The land owned by Scandinavians is, as
rule, unincumbered, or 50 lightly mortgaged
that the payment of interest is not an oppres-
sive burden. Some Of the farms are mort
gagged for from $500 to $500. These mortgages
were laid to raise money to buy stock and
could generally be paid at any time. know
of no Scandinavian who has mortgaged his