From: Schaller, Morton County, ND
24 March 1914
On the 20 March, we had a snowstorm like in the month of January and the work in the field had to be stopped.
Last week Karl Schreiner moved from his old farm onto leased land. Karl took the land on a 5-year lease and thinks the land is better there. Lots of luck at the new place.
I noticed complaints on and off in the paper about calendars getting lost, which the editorship then replaces. I ordered a calendar in January, but did not receive it. In any case, it got lost in the mail. (*Editor: Rather it is assumed that it got into the wrong hands. If it has not been picked up at the post office, it should be sent back to us because our address is printed on it. Yes, it is true that in many cases we have replaced lost calendars, but we cannot do that for long and we will not do it anymore. We are only responsible for the right receipt when we receive 10 cents, so that we can insure the things at the post office. In addition to that we don’t have calendars any longer in storage since it is already too late in the year. If we can still round one up, we will send one to you.)
Emanuel Tischmak
From: Brisbane, North Dakota
30 March 1914
On 20 March, many people from here including me were in Mandan to get our citizenship papers, and so we also visited Bismarck and the Staats-Anzeiger.
Unfortunately, we arrived a little too late in the evening and could not see the motorized typesetting machine in action, since it was closing time. But we met the editor, Mr. Brandt, still at work. We took the opportunity to talk with him a little bit about politics and other things. It is really interesting to hear Mr.Brandt talk. It seems to me that he is very quick on his feet, since wherever the gentlemen politicians want to go Mr. Brandt is already there.
I would really like for Mr. Brandt to meet with us to give us an explanation about the German Central Alliance in North Dakota. It is time for our German brothers to wake up. Of course I still have to be quiet about it and can only make a sour face like on 20 March until I receive my citizenship papers. I have to have them since we cannot claim my wife’s land until then. I advice no one to get citizenship papers when he has no land, since you are taken through the wringer until water runs out of your ears. They ask about things that the devil and his grandmother don’t know. (*Editor: The citizenship papers cannot be denied a man who has been in the country long enough, even if he doesn’t own any land. There have to be good reasons to deny a man his civic rights.)
Recently I was also reading a correspondence signed by Michael Scherr. He says whoever cannot write well enough, should not correspond for the paper, but many people are sending the paper abroad hoping to hear from their friends, regardless if they are good or bad writers. (*Editor: Mr. Scherr is not that wrong. Not just because the correspondences are written badly, since that still would be tolerable, but more so because they contain nothing new or important. Those that don’t have common interests and only contain greetings and reports about the weather, we should be spared.)
No harm meant Mr. Scherr and a very friendly greeting to everyone.
Max Erker