The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-05-01
SELDOM TRAVEL;
OFTEN MIGRATE.
Mennonites Ever Seeking Haven
Where They Can Follow ReIi-
gi0us Beliefs in Peace.
MEXICO NOW PROMISED LAND
Interest in the Sect Aroused by Their
Exodus From Canada to Mexico,
Taking With Them $15,OOO,OO0
in Goods and Cash.


exempted from taxes and military
service because they could farm then
banished because some Of them estab-
llshed 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
various 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 hui
man migrations on the basis of eco
nomic determinism, here is consider
able group who defy any such chart
ing, and move about solely upon the
basis of the best opportunity to follow
their religious Beliefs" says bulletin
from the Washington headquarters Of
the National Geographic society.
From Holland to Germany, thence
to Moravia, Hungary, Rumania and in
to Russia-so runs the earlier course
of Mennonite wanderings. From the
steppes of Crimea and the treeless
banks of the Molochnaia to Bonhomme
county in South Dakota was not too
long 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
y agricultural prize to 10 young men Of
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania one OF
the oldest American Mennonite strong
holds, and of the II winners not one
had been outside his own county be-
fore
NOW about 1000 Mennontes are
leaving Manitoba and Saskatchewan,
Canada, for Durango Mexico, and the
productive loss their going will mean
is only slightly indicated by the esti-
mate that they take along with them
some S15,000000 worth of goods, farm
implements and cash.
Schooling Begins at Three Years.
Compulsory education requirements,
including the teaching of English,
which could easily be adjusted by a
more compromising people, caused the
migration from Canada. In some
branches of their church every Memo
mite child must begin his schooling
when he is three years old. From
that time until he Is six the Bible and
the Mennonite catechism are used for
his instruction. 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, however, the Mennonites
are efficient and practical scientists.
European countries have profted by
their example, and to them western
Pennsylvania owes much of its pros
perity
There are various gradatiOns of pol
icy among the various groups, such as
Hutterians the Amish the Wislar, the
Defenseless and other branches. All
hold against taking oaths and to non
resistance, which led to their eXemp-
ton from the draft without any such
stigma as attached to many types of
conscientious objectors.' Their like
ness to the Quakers led William Penn
to invite them to his colony where they
first established themselves at Ger {
mantown, spreading thence to Lancas- {
ter, Berks and Bucks counties in Penn (
Sylvania, and later into Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois.
Have Quaint Dialect. s
I'm 'Tillie,' Mrs. Fiske disclosed /
some of the peculiarities of custom 4
and dialect Of the Pennsylvania Men
nonites. Their adherence to teaching /
German In schools is not so much that i
they love that language as because s
they fear translation would detract r
from the literal import of their found i
ers' works Their detachment from c
the world is shown by their curious v
use of English A caller at a Lancas- c
ter home rang the bell many times b
without answer. Finally woman ap- $
)eared at the door to apologize: oh, il
lid you bell? It didn't make The b
wear poke bonnets, resembling n
hose of the Dunkers Men, women
md children avoid colors, jewels or n
my grace of dress that might betoken h
,anity Il
Most rigid Of all the groups, how Il
yer, is the Bruederhof, or lutheran p
Brethren, dating back to Jacob Huter, ri
martyr Of the Sixteenth century, who b.
insisted upon a complete communal or d.
anization of congregations. 1t was W
his group that had to leave Russia Sc
bout the time of our Civil war for in
vOlving a communism which antici- al
ated that of the soviet government in tn
1any respects. Today they are settled VI
long the James river, in South Da- Ct
ota, declining to cast vote or hold m
flee or patronize a store. They re
Drswear dancing, play-going and to- nj
acco. They are of German descent, le
anne here directly from southern Rus to
Ia, and form a law-abiding, prosper c.
US, self-sufficient community.
'gThere are more than $4,000 Memo au
ties In the United States Their COM "a
lunities are to be found in odd cor DO
ers of the world where they may fol- 70
w the simple teaching of their CHI
under, Memo Simons, a Dutch re- cI,
,rmer, born the year that Columbus va
scovered America" tel