St. Paul daily globe., 1889-05-22
THOUSANDS ARE COMING
From Southern Russia to Find
Peaceful Homes in Central Da-
EOfa

From Southern Russia to Find
Peaceful Homes in Central Da-
kota.
Special to the Globe.
ROSCOE. S. D.. May 21.-Immigration
from Southern Russia still continues to
pour into Central Dakota. A special
train passed through here Sunday on
the Chicago. Milwaukee & st. Paul
railway with four coach loads of settlers
for the northern counties of Central
Dakota. There were $50 souls in this
colony, sixty of whom were Mennonite
deserters from the Russian army. fine
stalwart looking fellows. Several thou
sands of these German Russians have
already arrived and more are expected
to follow. Forty-fve families, who
could not come with this colony, are
waiting for the next steamer to bring
them to this ''land of PROMISE" AS so
many of these people are to become
citizens of our country, and assist in
developing the grand resources of the
North west. some little account Of them
and their motives for coming here in
prove interesting to readers of the
GLOBE. Although these people come
here from Russia, most OF their tickets
reading from Odessa to Eureka,
Dak., they are not Russians. They
are Germans and speak that language,
and hold to Teutonic manners and Gus
toms. Some fifty years ago. when
wheat growing was beginning to attract
attention in Southern Russia, the gov
ernment officials of that country offered
a certain sect of Germans, who were
known as good agriculturists, great in
ducements to emigrate to Russia and
cultivate the wheat lands. These Ger
mans were followers of Memo. being
called Mennonites, and regarded
war and the bearing of arms
with the same adherence that
Quakers do; therefore, when
they were offered by the Russian gov
ernment, immunity from cOnscription
and the use of certain land for them
selves and their descendants for the
term of fifty years, they gladly accepted
the offer and emigrated from Germany
to Russia. Their time of exemption
from conscriptiOn has nearly expired,
homes. For the past fifteen years men,
bers of this sect have been coming in
small numbers to the newly settled
West, but the fact of Dakota's su-
perior advantages as a wheat grow
ing state seems to make it the
home of their choice. They
are an industrious, peaceable class of
settlers, and understand the cultivation
of the soil and the use of American
agricultural machinery. By the way,
they object to paying nearly as much
again for the same machines in the
country where they are manufactured
as they did when they were imported
across the ocean and the continent.
Many of those who are coming now
have friends that have been here some
years, and it is quite affecting to see
them meet and embrace with tears and
voluble expressions of affection. When
they land from the cars on the
soil where they expect to make
homes, they all join in hymn of
thanksgiving. These settlers will take
land that appears stony and undesira-
bic that our own people would not have
the patience to cultivate, and make good
farms of it.
Charles Pfeffer. the German banker
OF Eureka, has been very active in
bringing this immigration here, and has
spent much time and money in distrib-
uting Dakota literature in the German
language through Southern Russia.
MRS S. " ARNOJD