From: Emmental, Bessarabia
5 January 1922
Yesterday the weather changed and it started to rain. Today it has been cold and gloomy all day. It could happen that we may get snow, which we would like very much.
Egidius Gross received a letter from his brother yesterday. In it he was informed that his brother would send him a free ticket. As a result, Egidius started to sell his belongings. His brother Philipp would like to buy his share of land, but he is lacking the funds to do so.
I myself received a letter from a gentleman in Fox Valley. In his writing, the good fellow passes judgment on Europe and America. But you are badly mistaken dear friend, if you think that the one living in Russia is living in the world, while the one residing in America is living along side the world. You lived in the Old World for just a month, then you would find out in what a pleasant world you exist.
Further, you are writing that the people in America are so much in debt and that they have to give everything towards the liquidation of their debts. Well around here the one that borrows will also have debts. Myself, I owe 7,000 lei in debt and whenever I can spare a bani, (100 bani = 1 lei) I apply it towards my debt.
Furthermore, I am a guardian of Rochus Gross’ orphans, and I have loaned out 31,000 lei from the orphan budget to the people in the village at a 10% interest rate. Should one of them refuse to pay off his debt, then I have the right to sell even the last pillow that individual may possess.
Before the war, Emmental was so deep in debt, that many people would have lost all their possessions, if the circumstances had remained the way they were. But when the war started the value of the Russian ruble dropped and it became easier to pay off one’s debts. Surely in America the people are not forced to borrow.
You are writing that you have a lot of belongings and a huge farm, but also many debts. Now if you would have borrowed less and kept your farm smaller, like we do in this praised land, then you wouldn’t have any debts. You should not think that things are still the same here as they used to be. Many have returned already from America after they had earned a lot of money there to live here more comfortably, but one after another soon took off again.
This good friend is writing further that one had to endure a lot during the war, but with God’s help things will improve again. That is easily said. But to endure such I am unable to describe. Every human being probably has already heard that it is hot in hell and everybody also says, yes it is hot, but when you stick a finger into a fire, then you will certainly know more and you will get a little conception.
I do not want to go to America to become rich. Here I am not rich either. I only want to get out of the way of this great misery here in which we are mired down and with a much larger scale still to come. If I knew ahead of time whether things will turn out here like they are in Russia, then I would be ready on the spot and leave everything behind and move to America. There I would hire on as a farmhand and shoulder the debts of everybody in the region. My friend who is also my godfather would do likewise, just to escape from this gnawing worm. Should I be fortunate enough and come over to America sometime, then I will tell you everything about which I cannot write about here now.
I have already reported that my brother-in-law Joseph Reis along with his wife and children have arrived here at our place. If you could listen to them then you would have second thoughts and you would utter, oh dear sister Genoveve, can that be possible? If it wouldn’t be you, then I would not believe it!
There are hundreds of similar situations. Everyone who was able to escape unscathed the Russian terror considers himself fortunate. But we will leave everything up to the future, because time will bring forth roses but also thorns, will it not?!
Yet furthermore, you write that the four who had visited us here last winter probably had told us a lot about how rich they are, but not about how many debts they have. I admit they did talk about many silly things, but the likes which you wrote about in your letter, they certainly did not. And if they are in debt, whose concern should that be? Not mine and also not yours. You should also not assume that just because you are in debt that other people should be too. That surely is not the case.
You also should not complain that I wrote to Joseph Kopp and not to you. Joseph is my brother. You too have many siblings and friends here that certainly could write you sometime.
Joseph Mueller and Elias Maas today received their passports. They probably will say goodbye to this place soon and start the journey to their new homeland.
I send a friendly greeting to my old mother and my brother Joseph Kopp in Elardee.
Zachaeus Kopp
From: Raleigh, Grant County, ND
21 January 1922
Worthy Mr. Brandt!
I still have not received the calendar as the prize for the renewal of the paper. (*Editor: Hopefully, the calendar has arrived in the meantime. If it hasn’t please let us know.) I would like to have the address for Krasna to send letters and I am asking you to please give it to me. (*Editor: Roumania, Bessarabia, Ind. Cetatea Alba, Posta Tarutino, Com. Krasna.)
I am sending a greeting to Anton Gedak and asking him to write more diligently. All people originating from Krasna read his reports. It would really be desirable if we would hear more from the homeland.
There is nothing new to report from here. Right now we have temperatures of minus 35 degrees. Many people are short on fodder and it is hard to buy any. Here we don’t store as much straw as in Krasna. Many people burn a lot of straw in the years of good harvests, and when there is a hard winter then there is a shortage of fodder.
We are not exactly doing badly, but we don’t exactly have heaven on earth here in America either. Everything is full of politics and no one wants to work hard.
The wages for the workers are very high here, but the farmer has to pay. At the end when you really look at it, there is not much left for his work.
Rochus Ternes
From: Shields, Grant County, ND
22 January 1922
Worthy Staats-Anzeiger!
We had nothing but cold weather at Christmas time. One day we had a wind blowing, the next day we had a storm blowing.
The wheat traders are really making an unbelievable profit. A short time ago I drove to Carson to the mill with 24 bushels of wheat. I received 1,040 pounds of flour and 468 pounds of bran in exchange. That just shows how many bushels a person needs to get 100 pounds of flour, and still they are against the nonpartisans.
It is still better when you can take care of your own business. When you take butter to the store, you receive 17 cents per pound. The cows are running loose and they are feeding on the hay that’s loaded on the buggy. Recently, in Raleigh the cows ate a whole sack of Welsh corn leaves, which belonged to Egidius Mueller.
The poor man had to drive home sitting on the bare seat.
Whatever the farmers have to sell is cheap. The things in the stores however are anything but cheap. One grocer sells 11 pounds of sugar for $1; another grocer sells 15 pounds for $1. The grocer who gives you 15 pounds sells it at cost. The other one makes a profit. (*Translator: The original German text explains it the other way around which is incorrect.)
The harvest was meager. The people whose crops were damaged by hail will now receive a good “harvest” from the hail insurance of the state. There are people here that would not have broken even with what they paid for the seed. They now receive $7 per acre in insurance compensation. These people are now very satisfied with the nonpartisans. Our land is pretty good and can be bought cheaply for $25 per acre.
This is to inform our friends in the old Rumania that our father is still healthy despite his age of 71 years. Our mother died on 29 December 1920.
This is to inform Franziska Werner in Selz, South Russia that her children Franz and Nikolaus and their families are still healthy. Nikolaus has sent her money which was returned to him. Now he wants to send clothing.
Philipp Kahl