The herald., 1893-07-05
PAID UP THa LAST DOLLAR

Mennonites of Manitoba No Longer in
Debt to the Canadian Government.
The mennonite farmers OF Manitoba,
to whom the Dominion government
loaned nearly 100000 Is years ago to
enable them to immigrate to farming
lands In Manitoba, have repaid the debt
with interest, closing the account, and
also the unusual and romantic relations
that all these years have existed be-
tween them and the government OF
Canada. The story is told in the latest
report of A. M. Burgess, deputy minister
of the department of the interior, and
quoted by the New York Sun.
Early in 1872, coon after the great
northwest had been transferred to Can
ada, the government began to look
abroad for settlers to turn the boundess
prairie into fruitful fields, They heard
that in Kussia was an isolated people,
the German mennoniteH, race of farm
ere who desired to find new homes in
the far west, where they and their wives
and children could live in peace and
quietness, which was no longer assured
to them by the government OF the czar.
Canada at once sent an agent to Russia
w dch bucHC pcOplC W oCAQ tCPICEOlUa-
tives to Manitoba TO inspect the coun-
persons in whom they had confidence,
and the result OF their report was that
in 1874 many families went to Manitoba
and settled few miles southeast OF
Winnipeg. They were supplied with
money and needed no assistance.
Hundreds of their friends, however,
desired to follow them, bat were pre-.
vented by the lear that they might be-
come stranded in strange country be-
fore they were able to support them
selves. This fact was published in a
Canadian newspaper, and the result was
that about 150 well-to-do farmers Of
German extraction, who lived in the
county of Waterloo, Ont, formed them
selves into the Waterloo society and told
the government that If 1t would advance
the money required to assist these
mennonites to Manitoba they
would pledge their farms as se-
curity for the repayment of the loan.
The government found the security ex-
cellent, and accordingly advanced $780,
400 to the immigrants with the under
standing that it would not ask for any
| part of the principal or interest until
| the Mennonites who borrowed the money
had been able to get fair start In their
new homes. All the government had
to do was to advance the money. The
business details were looked after by the
Waterloo society. Its secretary saw to
| the distributioh9 Of the loan, its collec-
tion and it's repay ment tosthegosern-
ment. 10 0ottqmneaoo. 8Gt
This branch Of the, mennoniteo colony
settled in townships i'm mediately north
OF the international border between the
Red river Oh the east and 'Pembina
mountain on She west At that time
the tract wss o. treeless prairie, rich in
everything except trees that makes
agricultural lands desirable. The immi-
grants began to cross the ocean in 1876,
and the work of preparing shelter for
the winter and the difficulty of getting
supplies prevented them the first season
from bringing more than small area
under cultivation. Nothing, however,
disheartened.t the sturdy workers, though
their first crop was injured by grasshop-
pers and the next two crops by excess
i've rains.
Each year saw considerable additions to
their number aud larger area under
cultivation. Their villages grew, they
built roads and bridges, and today the
country that seventeen years ago was q