Evening star., 1933-02-13
MENN0N|TES HOLD
KEY IN CHACO WAR
CoIonists' Threat to Move
Spurs Peace Efforts
of Paraguay.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
ASUNCION, Paraguay. - Threatened
migration of 5000 Menncnites from
farms in the Chaco to new and war-ess
fields in Uruguay or Brazil Will DC
averted II any concessions which Para
quay can make will induce the sturdy
colonists to remain.
Ohicial sources deny that commits
sion sent to treat for land concessions
in Northern Uruguay and the Brazilian
state of Santa Catalina represents the
majority of the Chaco Mennonites, but
serious attention is being given to the
matter because the Paraguayan pro-
gram for development of the Chaco
counts heavily upon the Mennonites.
In its war with Bolivia for possession
of the Chaco. Paraguay has relied more
upon hoe and pow than upon arma-
ments for eventual victory. Colonial
tion has been Paraguayan weapon
which Bolivia could not match. Espe-
cially since 1925, long agricultural
strides have been taken and the region
has begun to add cotton, corn, sugar,
peanuts, fruit and potatoes to the older
Chaco products Of cattle and quebracho
timber.
Would Prove Big Loss.
Secession of the Mennonites would not
only remove sixth Of the white popu-
lation of the Chaco and leave idle a
fourth of its cultivated area, but would
halt a colonization project which had
been counted upon to bring 10000
members of the sect eventually onto
farms wrested from the wilderness.
When the first Mennonites came from
Canada in 1927 they acquired 40
square miles of land in the Central
Chaco and made plans for an eventual
400 villages of 20 families each. Every
village was to have the central dining
hall and other Sociaistic features of
the sect, Mennonite officials were to
govern and police the whole region, and
the government by special law exempted
from military duty all Mennonites and
their sons as a concession to their
pacifist tenets.
The colony has grown steadily, and
both Paraguay and the Mennonites
hoped haven had been found for
wandering disciples of Mennon the
world over-those who left the United
States in 1917 to escape investigation
as pacifistS and pro- Germans; descend
ants of German immigrants to Russia
In the reign Of Catherine the Great, who
ned onward into Manchuria decade
ago to escape anti-religious DEGREES OF
the Soviet government; those who failed
to find In Mexico q haven of peace and
religious freedom, and those who, still
living in Holland or Germany, waited
for their Pilgrim brethren to found a
new resting place. The Manchurian
colonists, 1000 strong, reached Para
quay only last Summer, financed by the
League of Nations when Sino-JapaneSe
strife made their lot in Manchukuo in
tolerable.
Spurs Paraguayan Claims.
Even the Paraguayan government con-
not find out whether the Mennonites
move to quit the Chaco is the project
of a few or whether the whole group
would depart If a suitable site were
found in another country and the
American and Central European gov
erning bodies OF the sect and the
League of Nations were to give consent.
The conquest Of the Chaco by Men
monte settlers has given Paraguay a
new incentive to defend its claim to
the region against Bolivia, and their
departure would throw into the bal
ance the whole economic future OF the
zone over which the Two nations are
fighting. Those who favor migration
saw that even if the war were ended,
the colonists' problems would not be
solved, for they have failed to md
productive variety Of cotton, a crop on
which they relied heavily, and other
produce hardly repays the labor which
goes into cultivation. Wheat cannot
be grown in the Chaco, and the Men
nonites, wherever they lived before,
have been wheat growers.
Paraguay hopes and believes the
Mmnonites will stay. Their retention,
many national leaders feel, would be
Rreater victory than ever can be won
In the Chaco by arms.