The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-03-01
THEY NEVER ASK FOR AID.
lsenha rkablc Success I'm Agricultive OF Mem
MONTE Exiles from Russia.

AsrtfId IktDIc SucfeSS III .AgrtcuItlVp OF MEN,
MONTE Exiles from Russia.
Quick as are Americans to criticisa
the manner and customs of Russia,
and inferior as the sub, ects OF the
Car are frequently considered, the
settlers on the western parties might
we'll learn IA lesson of the Russians
who have tn ir unique settlements
among Them. The Mennonites, eX
lied from Southern Russia because Of
their religion, made as systematic an
exodus as did the Israelites of old,
says a Kansas correspondent of the
st. Louis Globe democrat. They
sent out their agents to spy out the
land, and purchased 100, 600 acres of
the Santa Fe and Kansas Pacific Rail
ways for homes. Then the people
packed up their household goods and
came to America. On the depot
platforms they landed wearing sheep
skin coats. the woolly side out, and
black kerchiefs over their heads.
they carr ed iron tea kettles and re-
garded the gazing Americans with as
much curiosity as they themselves
attracted. They butt their villages
of yellow limestone, the houses hav-
ing queer hip roofs, green blinds and
double doors like those seen in mill.
Curious ovens IN which prairie hay or
straw could be burned Overcame the
lack OF fuel, and a street looked for
all the world as though it had dropped
out of an illustration in a Siberian
sketch. Such names as catherine
Stadt" ''Leberthal" and "Pfeiffer"
grace their towns, and no mar not of
Mennonite persuasion is allowed in
side the limits as a resident, though
visitors are cordially welcomed.
The Mennonites number several
thousand, but they are never heard
OF in politics. They are busy tilling
their 100, 900 acres, raising stock,
planting orchards and piling up
wealth. The wide. awake westerner.
standing on the street corner explain
ing the contraction OF the currency"
to a knot of listeners. sees a half
dozen odd-Iooklng wagons come toll
ing up the road. They are loaded
with wheat and SOlemn-faced Men
nonnites, who guide the soberer
teams, pocket the payment and
trudge hOmeward. The orators hold
forth in the country schoolhouse, and
the eager real estate agent plats adj
ditiOns to the towns, but the Men
nOnites pay no attention to either.
They keep on selling wheat and corn
and cattle until they have become
the richest class OF farmers probably.
the + number considered, that Kan
sas a ords. They take few papers,
they do not vote, they care nothing
whether thegOvernmentis Republican
or Democratic in it's management.
They are as isolated as though they
were upon a sea island, except as they
bring in their produce to the shipp ny
station.
1t is noticeable thai nearly ali the
lands ale in the much discussed
"arid belt" yet the Mennonites never
ask aid or seed wheat. They prosper
every year. and their homes are
vertitable st%Orehouses Of garden and
field products. To step into them is
like a visit to the land of the VOlga.
Curious furniture, strange garb and
peculiar habits impress one with the
feeling that he is in another land
and another age. The houses are for
the most part, surrounded by ,stone
walls and old country fashions in
fencing; barns and implements are
everywhere apparent. They have
their own minister, there own church
and their own schools. When a
''higher'' education is desired land
some CT the young people are as for
as American YOUTH there is plenty of
money in the village bank to send
them to Europe or to some eastern
college to acquire it. During the
last year., when common complaint
Of hard times went up from TIE
jewellers on the plains, when seed
wheat has been sent by the thousand
Russians have continued to thrive.
Their old-fashioned vehicles have
come regularly to the railroads, and
car load after car load Of wheat has
been sent east. Lumber dealers in
the towns where they do their buying
say that there has been no diminu-
tion in their purchases. and that by
far the larger portion of their yards
sales has gcsie to their Russian Gus
toners. There is an important les
son Fin their success. They have
shown by their works what industry
and frugaiity can accomplish upon
the prairies, and what can he done
with the right kind of effort. Still,
it is doubtful if the American settler
could bring himself and his family to
the grinding economy of European
peasant life which the Mennonites
have transplanted in their settle
mentS.