The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-17
NO LONGER IN DEBT.
Manitoba Mennonites Even with
the Canadian Government
The Uphill Work of the Sturdy Col
onists in Paying for Their Homes
"A Thrifty and Crow
ing Community.

"A Thrifty and Crow
ing Community.
The Mennonite farmers of Manitoba,
| to whom the dominion government
loaned nearly one hundred thousand
dollars eighteen 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. NJ. Burgess, deputy minis
ter of the department of the interior.
and quoted by the New York Sun.
Early in 1872, soon after the great
northwest had been transferred to Can
ada, the government began to look
abroad for settlers to turn the bound
less prairie into fruitful fields. They
heard that in Russia was an isolated
people, the German Mennonites, a race
of farmers 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 govern
ment of the czar. Canada at once sent
an agent to Russia to ask these people
TO send representatives to Manitoba to
inspect the country. So they sent to
Canada several persons in whom they
had confidence, and the result of their
report was that in 1874 many families
went to Manitoba and settled a few
miles southeast of Winnipeg. They
We're supplied with money and needed
no assistance. Hundreds of their
friends, however, desired to follow
them. but were prevented by the fear
that they might become stranded in
strange country before they were able
to support themselves. This fact was
published in Canadian newspaper,
and the result was that about $50 we'll
TODD farmers OF German extraction,
who lived in the county Of Waterloo,
Ont, formed themselves into the Wa
terloo society and told the government
that if it would advance the money re-
quired to assist the Minnonites to Man.
itoba they would pledge their farms
as security for the repayment of the
loan. The government found the Sc
curity excellent and accordingly ad-
vanced 500, 400 to the immigrants with
the understanding that it would not
ask for any part of the principal or in
terest until the Mennonites who bor-
rowed the money had been able to get
fair start in their new homes. All
the government had to do was to adj
vance the money. The business de
tails were looked after by the Waterloo
society. Its secretary saw to the dis
tribution of the loan, its collection and
its repayment to the government.
This branch of the Mennonite colony
settled in townships Immediately north
of the interna tional border between
the Red river on the east and Pembina
mountain on the west. At that time
the tract was treeless prairie, rich in
everything. except trees, that makes ag-
ricultural lands desirable. The immi-
grants began to cross the ocean in
1875, 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. Moth
ing, however, disheartened the sturdy
workers, though their first crop was
injured by grasshopEers and the next
two crops by excessive rains. Each
year saw considerable additions to
their number and a larger area under
cultivation. Their village grew, they
built roads and bridges, and to-day the
country that seventeen years ago was
u treeless prairie without solitary
settler is one Of the most thriving in
the Canadian northwest. 1t is. in fact,
beginning to overflow. and many of the
young men are looking for homesteads
further west, either in Manitoba or the
northwest territories. The money
which these people have repaid in
cludes not only the 500, 400 borrowed,
but also $50. 9S6 interest, making a
total return of s130,3s6. Mr.. Burgess,
in his report, rightly observes that
''the history of no country affords
case in which an obligation to the gov
eminent on the part of any society,
company or individual has been full
filled with greater faithfulness than
this" The entire transaction seems
creditable to the government. the Men
MONTE immigrants and the Waterloo
society, and it is noteworthy that
neither of the persons to whom the
loan was made nor the Waterloo So
ciety, which became accounta BILE for
its repayment, has ever requested any
abatement of the terms of refund nor
in any case has there been any effort
of the settlers or their bondsmen to es-
cape liability.