Arizona republican., 1893-08-02
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 Grow
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
ess 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 quietness, which was no
longer assured to them by the govern
ment of the car. 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 few
miles southeast of Winnipeg. They
were supplied with money and needed
no assistance. Hundreds of their
friends, however, desired to follow
them, but We're prevented by the fear
that they might become stranded in a
strange country before they were able
to support themselves. This fact was
published in a 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 adj
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 Dor
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 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
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 a
small area under cultivation. Moth
ing, however, disheartened the sturdy
workers, though their first crop was