Free press., 1901-10-26
rHE PENNsYLyANrA DurcH.
Their Important Part in Building Up Pe,.u'
COLONY

Tor some years past to the Pennsylvania
Germans, and they have brought to-
gether much interesting material about
a very interesting people. Judge Penny
packer, Mr.. ]. F. 6aehse and Mr. Diffen-
derfer are the best known members of
this little group of historians. Mr. Diff
fenderffer, of Lancaster, who has been
very prominently connected with the
Pennsylvania German Society, has pre-
pared, at the request of that society, an
historical account of the immigration Of
the Palatines and other Germans into
Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century.
The edition is limited and is meant for
rather narrow public, but the results Of
the authors studies deserve to be more
widely known.
/. Although the German eagle screams
now and then as we turn the pages Of
the book, it is understood by this time
that the pennsylvania Dutch must
have their representative in literature,
| like every other important racial ele-
meDt of which the American nation is
| composed. The Puritans, the Scotch
| Irish, the Hollanders, the Quakers-au
| have had their historians. For the good
| they have done they have been glorified,
and for their shortcomings they have
! been justified, so that a little unseemly
zeal will have to be overlooked in Mr..
Differderffer when he takes up his quill
in behalf of the Pennsylvania Germans.
They have introduced strong elements
Of character into this nation, such as
honesty, industry and frugality, and
their praises should be sung by some
one.
Mr.. Diffenderffer goes back to Europe
to find out what were the causes OF this
great movement of the German popula-
ton to Pennsylvania. For full CEN
tury Germany had been torn and rent
by devastating wars. In this clash OF
arms the peasant was no more consider
ed than the cattle in his fields.
Tle first party of Germans to arrive
were those under Pastorius, who came
fn 1853, Immediately after Penn. This
party. numbering between thirty and
forty, settled in Germantown, and their
countrymen were rather slow to follow
them. The movement began in earnest,
however, about 1710; and it was kept
up with slight interruption until the
revolution. In 1749 no less than twenty
one immigrant ships arrived in Phila-
deIpkia-nearly all OF them from Ger
many; and there were nineteen in 1752,
anu the same number in 1853. Some OF
these brought as many as 500 passengers,
though most of the vessels were much
smaller in size. There was such an
influx of Germans, indeed, that the
Quaker government took alarm. Soon
all foreigners were required to register,
and each had to pay a head tax of 40
ehillings, equal to about $40.
Travel at sea was at that time at best
a very uncomfortable experience, and
for the Germans it was more unpleasant
than can be well imagined. There were
many, of course, who were able to pay
their passage money, but not few had
to bind themselves out to service on
PIrriving on these shores, in order 20
Indemnify the ship captains Transpor-
tation, poor as it was, was by no means
cheap. Most of the ships set sail from
r .otterdam, though some were loaded 1T
Amsterdam and other continental ports.
The immigrants were chiefly Pa1atines,
and they found it necessary to leave
heir homes in central Germany early III
May in order to reach Pennsylvania by
she end of the following October. They
we're obliged to go down the Rhine by
boat, and this voyage to Rotterdam
often lasted as long as six weeks. The
immigrants and such goods as they
carried with them must pass through
thirty-six custom-houges, which the
German princes whose ruined castles
now adorn the banks of the Rhine Lad
set Up at will on the riverside. The
boats were frequently detained a long
while at these custom stations, and
when they came at last to Rotterdam,
five or six weeks more were spent in
waiting for the ship to complete its
cargo.
From Rotterdam the vessel proceeded
to Cowes, in the Isle Of Wight, where
there was another custom-house, with
stop of several days. Headed finally for
the sea, the passengers must spend six
weeks to four months more, packed like
herring in a box on miserable, unclean
sailingships before they came to the
promised land.
In port at last, but without money
ana often in debt to the shipmaster-
they had to sell themselves as servants.
There was good demand for able
bodied young Germans of both sexes;
and the business attained such proper
tons, indeed, that agents appeared on
the scene and undertook to secure i'm
migrants for the ship owners. These
agents, well dressed, and pretending 10
! be rich merchants from Philadelphia.
went about through the RhineIand. ad-
! yanctng specious arguments to induce
the people to emigrate. For each immI-
| gram furnished to the ship the agent
7 ceiVed a commission from the owner.
re Germans called these men soul
| slicTs," or ''Rewlanders;" and their