The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-07-11
Won ENGELKEN,
TIRED OF FETES,
Seeks Comfort and Informa-
ton in Homes Of German
Peasants.


The following letter was cabled tt
the New York American from Paris
last week and appeared in that jour
nal of the Fourth. The cable wa!
written by F. J. H. Won Engelken Of
East Palatka, who, as member of &
special commission appointed at the
suggestion of the Southern CONNER.
cial Congress, is studying the system
Of rural credits in continental Europe
Ihe letter is entertaining and SHOULD
nave special interest to PaIatka anC
Putnam county people, where Mr.. vor
Engelken is well known-Ed.
Paris, July Sit is absolutely ne
cessary to know the conditions sur
.ounding the peasant farmer before
an opinion of value can be expressed
as to the economic Importance of his
social organizations and sociological
movements. 1t was this conviction
which forced me to deViate from the
official programme of the commission,
which was necessarily largely con-
ined to sittings held in large cities,
md instead to visit peasant homes.
The peasant home had no place in
history in the past. The castles of
europe have written its history. But
4 new day has arisen.
My course was difficult to follow
because there is an innate feeling of
listrust when the stranger seeks to
enter the peasant home. A resolu-
ton of the Congress of the United
States can secure every diplomatic
courtesy from the Governments of
| Europe, but its power extends no fur
Cher. 1t cannot open a door which
leads into peasant home nor can ii
command its owner to speak frankly
lbout his affairs or the burdens of his
laily life.
| consider myself most fortunate
in this connection, thai my ancestral
home is in Germany and that | can
speak the native tongue. | was thus
able to get the citizen of the most
humble home on familiar terms.
At times, as my visit would length.
en- at one place, would form intimate
acquaintance or even short time
friendships which | shall remember tC
The end of life.
The German farmer lives in villag-
es, after the fashion and in the reli-
zion of his forbears. | attended ser
vices in a church the foundation OF
which was laid in 1910; the minister
stood in the same pulpit where his
predecessors stood 800 years ago tC
deliver the Masters message of sal.
vation.
read the church record dated be-
fore the settlement of Jamestown, ant
many of the families recorded as be
ing inhabitants of the village in that
lay are represented by their lineal
descendants among the inhabitants OF
today. The families have thus fiXec
labitation which runs through the
centuries.
Village customs vary as slowly az
the changes in population. If one OF
the ancient men of this village were
to rise suddenly from the grave tC
revisit his home, he would not be
stranger in a strange land. His fam.
ily would rise at a. m. as of old
drink their coffee and be ready fol
the days work at A.
On Sunday afternoon the village
dance begins at three and continues
well after midnight. The women will
go home from the dance to labor long
hours in the field.
When the harvest is over, the grair
must be beaten with fails on the barn
floors. The old Dutch oven is still,
heated once a week to bake rye bread
the old windmill grinds the famil.
-four or crushes the oats and barley
for feed; the land is divided into tht
same allotments; the farm building
still stand in the hollow square, the
kitchen facing the cow stable and bu
a few feet distant.
There is no more of that constan
warfare which compels the owner tt
maintain a constant defense over hi
home and his possessions, but the Ger
man builds but once. These buildingg
stand as monuments to the integritl
of the builders, if not to their sensl
Of sanitary requirements. Thus vii
the aged patriarch go from place tC
place with no feeling of surprise anC
perhaps, not even of regret.
Now, cows are fed on oil cake pur
CHdSeu llOIl DeS una Ile sea, ldI Y
quantities of fertilizers are scattered
ever the fields before the seed is
planted These things cost money
In his day the pioneer peasant rarely
purchased anything. Now his de
scendants are constant customers OF
the markets for feeds, fertilizers anc
articles for domestic use. Thus wa!
created the necessity for ready
money, and out of this necessity il
the PEASANTS life grew the organiza,
ton of cooperative unions.
More than 10000 of these co-opera-
tive societies have been organized tC
meet some phase of this modern life
in Germany. The German peasant
has to meet the constantly increas
ing demand on him, as on ourselves
for money. In the end, if this craze
for cash balances and credit keeps
up among the masses in all lands OF
the world we will have to wish foi
that machine which will grind ont pol,