Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-03-06
REFRACTORY ELEMENrs.

There are elements in nature whicA;are strong
~ resistant to all efforts made to blendstt1snn' with
others. Heat, acids and solvents leave them un-
touched unless extraordinary methodMare used to
transform them. lWhere other elements yield to
treatment and rningle into a common and homoeene-
Gus mass, these retain their form and their identity,
and intractablc. Such elements exist in
human character: ;
The clements of which society is composed
must possess a certain measure Of stability. Without
it society would be nush. In fact, society is not
a chemical combination in which each element loses
its identity and all are merged in a new; substance.
t IS an association of units, unlike in many Of their
characteristics, each retaining it's own individuality,
but each accommodating itself to the needs Of its
nelghbors and to the general purposes for which the
organization exists. There must be that persistence
OF individuality if society is to be strong. There
must be that accommodation if it is to exist.
A few days ago there passed through Grand
Forks a train bearing some twenty-five families
bound, with their possessions, from Manitoba to
Mexico. These people are Mennonites from a settle
ment which has been maintained just north Of the
border for many years. They have owned and cul-
tivated fertile lands, and i'll a general way they have
prospered. The cause Of their migration is the in-
%sistencc Of the Manitoba government that the Men
monte children shall receive instruction in the Eng
lish language, the language of the country in which
they live. This demand the Mennonite authorities
their lands, gathered together their personal posses
sions, and set out for a new home III a distant land
where they have been promised the privilege Of re-.
naming a people distinct from all others around
them in religion, customs and language.
Individually the Mcnnonites do not differ great
ly from other people. They arc spoken Of as indus
trious,~ thrifty and orderly. Doubtlfss the control
exercised by their religious authorities and the
group solidarity which prevails, serve as stimuli
and raise the average Of these desirable qualities
above what they would be. were these, influences
absent.
But the Mennonites as a group have proven ut
terly intractable, socially motionless themselves,
and contributing nothing to the progress of what
ever section they chose as their home. This ele-
ment Of group solidarity is an obstruction to prog
ress wherever it is exhibited. 1t is almost certain to
characterize in some measure any group whose
members have for a long time been intimately as
sociated and whose traditions differ greatly from
those Of their neighbors. This difficulty is over
come in time by means of neighborly intercourse,
but one of the essentials i'll such intercourse is a
common language.
1t is not possible, nor is it to be desired, that
members Of a community shall permit their individ-
uality to vanish, nor that they shall forget the ira
ditions Of their ancestry. But it is necessary. if
there is to be a real social structure, that there shall
be developed a common sentiment which shall
serve as the basis Of new traditions. This is inpos-
sible without a common language in which all the
individuals shall not only express themselves, but in
which their very thoughts shall be formulated.