From: Krasna, Bessarabia
26 March 1912

First of all, I want to report that I have made my home in Krasna since 20 March. I hope that my address has already been changed and that this correspondence will arrive at the Staats-Anzeiger in Bismarck. Hopefully, the offices have been completely equipped.

(*Editor: Now, we did receive the change of address here in Bismarck, but we are not totally equipped yet. That might take another 10 to 14 days. Naturally, all correspondences are supposed to go to The Staats-Anzeiger, Bismarck, North Dakota.)

On the eve of the holy feast of Easter, I received Issue #33 of the Staats-Anzeiger from the post office in Kainari, and I am convinced that of my correspondences up until the address change not one letter got lost. Experience makes you smart and careful. Last summer it happened quite often in Emmental that letters and magazines got lost. For a long time we didn’t know the reason and couldn’t find out who the malicious person was who accepted the mail for Emmental at the post office but wouldn’t deliver it. The post office is newly established and since the manager saw the German people from Emmental as honest people, he gave the arriving mail for Emmental to every German who asked about mail for Emmental. Finally it was found out that lots of the mail was lost. On the road from Kainari to Emmental one often found envelopes from letters and magazines. Finally the manager of the post office gave strict orders to give the mail for Emmental only to me or to the teacher. Since then the problem has been solved.

But since we were curious who the malicious person was, investigations were made. The result was that it was the same man, who was sending correspondences to the Staats-Anzeiger under the name Michael Gross. Naturally, this man lost all authority from his superior. I now would like to ask the editorship of the Staats-Anzeiger to send me the original correspondences. (*Editor: That is not possible since all correspondences are immediately destroyed after printing. If we would save them all we would have to rent a large building for that purpose.) I have to say that I felt like giving up my job as correspondent, but now there is light on the horizon and I admit that the Staats-Anzeiger is not at fault. Once again the sun is shining on the paper and the readers and correspondents will be happy about the contents of the paper. Indeed, it is good not to get all worked up right away. In this case I would have done great injustice and would have had to ask Mr. Editor Brandt for forgiveness in the end. I am now convinced that he thought he was doing the right thing.

Issue #33 of the dear paper brought us the good news that the editorship of the paper in Bismarck soon will be under the personal control of Mr. F. L. Brandt again. Certainly every reader and correspondent has been longingly waiting for that, since Mr. Brandt has a good reputation among all of us. Sure enough, I noticed the difference right away in Issue #33. Yes, the “old man” is in the saddle again and we thank God for that. (*Editor: The honorable Mr. Correspondent certainly gave us great praise and we are thankful for that. That all readers are so attached to us is a great honor. It is a sweet reward for years of conscientious hard work, and the future will show you that your confidence is not given to anyone who is unworthy. The past is talking loud enough for us. We are just people prone to human weaknesses and losing one’s way, but we have always done what we thought was right in the interest of our readers no matter what the circumstances. It will stay this way as long as God is willing to lead the editor of the Staats-Anzeiger in his endeavors.)

We celebrated the Easter holidays properly with our guests from Arzis, namely Mr. Thomas Januscheitis with his wife and sister. Also, my sons Korbinian and Daniel came from Teplitz and my son Zachaeus came from Postthal. They are guests here tonight. Today, 26 March, I am driving the ones from Teplitz home and tomorrow the ones from Postthal. Heartfelt greetings to my dear children Eduard and Ignatz and their wives in Morton County, North Dakota from me and their siblings. It would have been nice if you could have been here with us. I also received the information that you, Eduard and Eugenia, are readers of the paper. I am very happy about that. Hopefully Ignatz and Amalia will soon order the paper also, if they are not reading it as yet. I have not received any news from Ignatz and Amalia for a year and in the Staats-Anzeiger one often finds reports from relatives and friends.

I am also greeting my brothers-in-law Georg Mastio and Jakob Marthaller. I am asking Georg Mastio to send me his address through the Staats-Anzeiger. I would have sent our photo a long time ago but I am not sure about the address. (*Editor: We have printed the address once. Here it is again. Georg Mastio, R.R. 3 Wathena, Kansas, USA.)

I haven’t read any correspondences from my old colleague Anton Jochim in the Staats-Anzeiger for a long time. I am always looking through the paper for a report from him. Earlier such reports appeared more often, but lately I have been looking in vain. (*Editor: We have several reports from Mr. Jochim’s hand in our possession. They will appear as soon as we are totally settled in our new home. This will be the same for all the other correspondences, which we have plenty of on hand.) In his last report my old colleague mentioned that he would become a city dweller by moving to Harvey, North Dakota. I am sending a heartfelt greeting to him and his wife Barbara.

I also want to greet and comfort Mr. Jakob Sommerfeld in Dowsunskoe, Caucasus.

Once the Staats-Anzeiger is under the control of the honorable Mr. Editor our 10 kopecks which were spent on postage will not be lost as often.

In closing I am greeting my friends, acquaintances, Editor F. L. Brandt and all readers of the paper.

Romuald Dirk