Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-11-06
KEEP THEIR MONEY
IN GINS and BOOTS
RUSSIAN FARMERS KNOW NOTHING
OF BANKING METHODS, NOR
WILL THEY LEARN.
ARE A CLANNISH PEOPLE.
Raise Large Families So That 1t Will
Not Be Necessary to Hire Out
side Farm Help.
DAUGHTERS NOT TREATED FAIRLY

IY =
a large portion of the population of
Ellis county, Kan, is made up of Rus
slams who have no working knowledge of
our banking system or disposition to
learn anything about it, said a Hayes
City, KAN, banker, in the New York
World.
They do their own banking. Their
strong box consists of a tin can or an
Old boot and their safety deposit vault
is a hole under the barn or in the cellar.
When they want to buy something they
pay the cash for it. When they sell
something they demand the cash, and
hide it.
Don't Like Banks.
1T is conservative estimate to say
that more than half of the actual cash
of this county is hidden" he continued.
Our deposits come chiefly from the
Americans: Comparatively few of the
I, do any banking business. We
nave conducted campaign among them
Tor years, and some of the younger ele-
nent are beginning to patronize u.s. But
ne old-tmers are still holding off and
probably will continue to do so for the
rest of their lives
perhaps 20 per cent of the people of
Ellis county are Russians. More strict
ly speaking, they are German Russi.ns.
originally they went from Germany to
Russia, and later came here. They are
Il sturdy, honest people, Industrious, very
religious, and great money savers AS
debt payers they are celebrated They
never hide behind the statute of limita-
ton. If a Russian buys a horse or a
farm he is just as sure to pay for it as
4 N,,l-,
protection in case of death.
Ninety per cent. of the Russians own
their own farms, and they work them
to the very limit. Wheat is the princi-
pal crop of this section and the Rus
slams are the great wheat raisers of the
bread belt. No sooner do they reap one
croy than they go to blowing for the
next 1t is common thing right now
to see one branch of a family running
header and another the plows in the
same field.
Even Father Works.
Everybody works, including father.
Even the women and children take to
the fields during the busy season. The
only rest a Russian gets is on Sunday
and religious holidays. No contingency
ever arises to prevent a Russian from
ing it holy. The same is true of relig-
ious holidays, and the Russians have
many of them during the busy summer
months.
1t was thirtytwo years ago that the
first Russian colony settled in Ellis
county. Since then they have multiplied
like guinea pigs. 1t is estimated that
the average family contains eleven mem
bers. And from time to time, as the
older settlers get i'll financial shape, they
send word back to Russia for relatives
and friends and the colony keeps in
creasing right along.
Bring Relatives from Russia.
More than twenty families have been
brought over this year. Money is adj
vanced to pay the expenses of the immi-
grant and his family to this country.
He is compelled to repay his benefactor
in work When this debt is wiped off
the slate he buys farm on tick"
ANY Russian can buy a farm that way.
His friend lends him enough to get
started, and in a Jew years, usually
four or five, he pays for his farm and
has money in the tin can. Then he is
ready, himself, to send to Russia for a
relative or friend.
One secret of the money making abil-
ity of the Russians is that they raise
enough children to do the work. They
employ no outside labor to speak OF eX-
cept in harvest time, and then not very
much. Again they are not only frugal.
but very plain livers and dressers. They
only wear enough to hide their bodies
in summer and to keep them warm III
the winter.
~ No Use for Socks.
Fewer socks, per capita, are worn
here than any place IN America. a
Russian cannot understand why socks
and boots are both necessary. Nelther
are they inclined to recreation. An
amusement concern would starve to
death among them. Their children are
deprived of the delight of riding on the
merry-go-round or the Ferris wheel ut
street fairs They can get enough rid
ING in the harvest heids on real horses
and wagons. so the old folks say.
The Russians have one trait that is
renugnant to Americans, and that is
their treatment of the daughters. NO
Russian girl gets share OF her par
ent's property. 1t all goes to the boys.
AS rule the family hangs together
like beeswax. The father handles all
the funds. When a boy gets married or
is deemed competent to start out for
himself the old man sets aside quar-
ter-section of land for him. This is re-
peated to the other boys as they get OLD
enough to branch out for themselves.
But up until that time the father keeps
all the money and buys their clothing
for them and feeds them.
Girls Shabbily Treated.
The girls are always provided with
good homes and plenty to wear, such
as it is. but they never get any farm.
After the boys are all provided for
and the old man still has land left he
divides it up among the boys in his
will. The only show the girls have Is
to get married. That's what they are
for so the parents aver. They marry
yonnr The records show that 70 per
cent, of the Russian brides are under
IS wears of age. Our little Russian
mother. who is now only 20 years old,
b,S four children.