Evening star., 1922-04-06
MENN0N|TES DEFY
MIGRATION CHARTS
Departure From Canada Lat
est Move of This Quaint
and Inoffensive Sect.

Invited to Russia and exempted
from taxes and military service be-
cause they could farm, then banished
because some Of them established
communistic colony; obeying the laws
of many lands. but refusing to take
part in making or enforcing them;
frowning upon science, buttons. life
insurance and tobacco-such are va
rious branches of the Mennonites,
whose exodus from Canada to Mexico
adds another chapter in the centuries
old anabasis of this quaint and goodly
people.
while geographers are studying
human migrations on the basis Of
economic determinism, here is a con-
siderable group who defy any such
charting, and move about solely upon
the basis of the best opportunity to
follow their religious beliefs" says a
bulletin from the Washington head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society.
South Dakota "PrOmised Land"
"From Holland to Germany, thence
to Moravia. Hungary, Rumania and
into Russia-so runs the earlier
course of Mennonite wanderings.
tireless banks of the Molochnaia to
Bonhomme county in South Dakota
was not too long a trail for the most
home-staying people in the world
so long as they are not disturbed
They seldom travel individually. Just
before the war a trip to Washington
was offered as an agricultural prize
to twelve young men of Lancaster
county, Pa, one Of the oldest Ameri-
can Mennonite strongholds, and of
the twelve winners not one had been
outside his own county before!
Now about 1.500 Mennonites are re-
ported to be leaving Manitoba and Sas-
katchewan, Canada, for Durango, Mex
leo, and what the productive loss OF
their going will mean is only slightly in
dicated by the estimate that they will
take along with them some $4,000, 600
worth of goods, farm implements and
cash.
school Begins at Three Years.
Compulsory education requirements,
including the teaching of English, which
could easily be adjusted by a more COM
promising people, caused the migration
from Canada. In some branches of
their church every Mennonite child must
begin his schooling when he is three
years old. From that time until he is
six the Bible and the Mennonite cate
After three years he takes up the |
three RS but in the more orthodox
branches of the church all science, as
such, is frowned upon. In farming.
lO"cteT, Tic dIc ClaSlCAl
and practical scientists. European
countries have profited by their ex-
ample. and to them western Pennsyl- !
vania owes much Of it's prosperity.
There are various gradations OF
policy among the various groups, such
as the Hutterians, the Amish, the |
Wislar. the Defenseless and other
branches. All hold against taking
oaths and to non-resistance, which
led to their exemption from the draft |
without any such stigma as attached
to many types of conscientious OBJ |
jectors. Their likeness to the Quak- !
ers led William Penn to invite them |
to his colony, where they first es- |
tablished themselves at Germantown, |
spreading thence to Lancaster, Berks |
and Bucks counties in Pennsylvania. |
and later into Ohio, Indiana and 1lli- |
nois.
Have Quaint Dialect.
'In "Tillie.' Mrs. Fiske disclosed some |
of the peculiarities of custom and dia- !
lect of the Pennsylvania Mennonites. |
Their adherence to teaching German |
in schools is not SO much that they |
love that language as because they |
fear translation would detract from |
the literal import Of their founders
works. Their detachment from the |
world is shown by their curious use /
of English. A caller at a Lancaster |
home rang the bell many times with
out answer. Finally a woman ap-
peared at the door to apologize, oh. |