The record-union., 1893-07-01
PAID UP THE LAST DOLLAR.
Mennonites of Manitoba No Longer Il
Debt to the Canadian Government.

Debt to the Canadian Government.
The mennonite farmers of Manitoba,
to whom the Dominion Government
loaned nearly 100000 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 beewe
them and the Government of Canada.
The story is told in the latest report Of
A. NJ. Burgess, Deputy Minister OF the
Department of the' Interior, and quoted
by the New York San.
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 bOundless
prairie into fruitful fields. They heard
that in Russia was an isolated people, the
German mennonites, 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 quiet
ness, which was no longer assured to
them by the Government of the Gar.
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 re-
suit of their report was that in 1874 many
families went TO Manitoba aud settled a
few miles southeast of Winnipeg. They
were supplied with money and needed
no assistance.
Hundreds of their friends, however,
desire to followd them, but were prevented
by the fear that they might become
stranded in strange country before they
were able to support themselves. This
TACT was published in Canadian news
paper, and the result was that aboat $50
Well-to-do farmers Of German extraction,
bn lIVpH n tba of NAata7-lnp
Ont, formed themselves into the Water
loo 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 Sc
curity for the repayment of the loan. The
Government found the security excellent.
and accordingly advanced $40, 400 to the
immigrants with the understanding that
it would not ask for any part OF the
principal or interest until the menuOniteS
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. It's
Secretary saw to the distribution OF the
loan, its collection and its repayment to
the Government.
This branch of the mennonite colony
settled in townships Immediately north
of the international border between the
Red River on the east and Pembina
Mountain on the west. AT that time the
tract was treeless prairie, rich in every
thing except trees that makes agriculu-
ural lands desirable. The Immigrants
began to cross the ocean in 1875, and the
work OF preparing shelter for the winter
and the difficulty OF getting supplies pre-
vented them the first season from bring
ing more than small area under culIi-
walton. Nothing, however, disheartened
hA CTR NWr FNraT,-
crop was injured by grasshoppers and
the next two crops by excessive rains.
Each year saw considerable additions to
their number and larger area under
cultivation. Their villages grew thew
built roads and bridges, and to-day the
country that seventeen years ago was a
treeleSs prairie without a solitary settler
Is one OF the most thriving i'll the Ca
madam northwest. 1t is, in fact, Begin
ming to overflow, and many of the young
men are looking for homesteads further
west, either in Manitoba or the North
west territories.
The money which these people have
repaid includes not only the S96, 100 bor-
rowed, but also S33, $50 interest, making
total return of Sl3O, 1856. Mr.. Burgess, in
his report, rightly observes that "the his
tory of no country affords case in which
an obligation to the Government on the
part Of any society, company or individ-
ual has been fulfilled with greater faith
fulness than this" The entire transaction
seems creditable to the Government. the
mennonite immigrants and the Waterloo
Society, and it is noteworthy that neither
any of the persons to whom the loan was
made, nor the Waterloo Society, which
became accountable 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
bondsmen to escape liability.