Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-01-11
EAILES FROM RUSSIA.
Remarkable Success Of the Men.
nonites in Kansas.
a seif-Sustain,ng and Independent People
Nj, Who Have Nothing t" u" With .
the Outside World save la
aCornmerciai WAY.

Quick As are Americans L. cri:icise
the manners and customs - Russia.
and ln'"r'"r a. ,hr subjects ot the ear
ARE frequently considered. thr settlers
on the western prairics might well
learn a lesson Of the Russians who have
their unique settlements among them.
The Nennonitr>. cxilc! FROM southern
Russia because - their religion. mai,.
as systematic an exodus a. d!I thu Is
raelites OF old, says Kansas CORE
spondent Of the -. Louis Glubn-D,rno-
crat. They sent ont their agents to
spy ont the land. and purchased one
hundred Thousand acres of the santa
Fc and Kansas Pacific railways for
homes. Then the people packed up
thcir house hold goods and came to
America, ON the depot platforms they
landed. wearing shccpskin coats. the
woolly Side out, and black kcrchicis
over their heads. They carried iron
teakettles and regarded the gazing
Americans with a. much curiosity as
they themselves attracted. The built
their villages OF yellow limestone. the
houses having queer hip roofs green
blinds and double doors like thuec seen
in mill. Curious oven, in which
prairie hay or straw could be burned
overcame the lack of fuel. and n street
looked for all the world as though it
had dropped out of an Illustration in Il
Siberian sketch. Such names as Cath
crime stadt," "Leberthal' and "Pfcif-
fer" grace their towns. and no man not
OF Mennonite persuasion is allowed in
side the limits as a resident. though
visitors are cordially welcomed
The Menonnites number several
thousand, but they are never heard of
in politics. They are busy tilling their
one hundred thousand acres, raising
stock, planting orchards and piling up
wealth. The wide-awake wcsterner
standing on the street corner explain
ing the contraction Of the currency"
to knot OF listeners, sees a half-dozen
odd-iooklng wagons come tOiling up
the road. They are loaded with wheat
and solemn-faced Nennonnites, who
guide the sobcrer teams, pocket the
payment and trudge homeward. The
orators hold forth in the country
schoolhouse. and the eager real estate
agent plats additions to the towns, but
the Mennonites pay no attention to
either. They keep on selling wheat
and corn and cattle until they have
become the richest class Of farmers,
probably, their number considered,
that Kansas affords. They take few
papers, they do not vote, they care
nothing whether the government is re-
publican or democratic in its manage
ment. They are as isolated as though
they were upon a sea island, except as
Shey bring their produce to the station.
1t is noticeable that nearly all the
lands are in the much discussed "arid
belt" yet the Mennonites never ask
aid or seed wheat. They prosper every
year. and their homes are veritable
storehouses of garden and field prod
ucts. To step into them is like visit
TO the land of Volga. Curious furni-
ture. strange garb and peculiar hab-
its impress one with the feeling that
he is in another land and another age.
The houses are for the most part sur
rounded by stone walls and old coun-
try fashions in fencing barns, and i'm
PIGMENTS are everywhere apparent.
They have their own minister, their
own church and their own schools.
When a higher" education is desired
land some of the young people are as
forward in their ambition for learning
IS American YOUTH there is plenty Of
money in the village bank to send
them to Europe or to some eastern col
lege to acquire it. During the last
year, when common complaint of hard
times went up from the jewellers ON
the plains. when seed wheat has been
sent by the thousand bushels to Amer
lean settlers, the Russians have con-
tinued to thrive. Their old-fashioned
vehicles have come regularly to the
railroads, and carload after carload
of wheat has been sent east. Lumber
dealers in the towns where they do
their buying say that there has been
no diminution in their purchases, and
that by far the larger portion of their
yards sales have gone to their Russian
customers. There is an important les
con in their success. They have shown
by their works what industry and fru-
gality can accomplish upon the prai-
yies, and what can be done with the
right kind of effort. Still it is doubt
finl if the American settler could bring
himself and his family to the grinding
.onomy of European peasant life
.hich the MennOnites have trans
u antsd in their settlements.