From: Brisbane, Morton County, ND
12 December 1912

Should my notes escape the hungry waste bin, then I can inform the readers of how things are around here!

It is sad this year, as the debt collectors are ruthless. The farmers would dearly love to pay, but they can only do so much after two failed harvests and very weak grain prices this year! Wheat runs at $.66 and flax at $1.10 a bushel. What kind of prices are these? One debt collector chases the other and many threaten to take the horses away. What is a farmer to do? The minute he brings in a load of grain, the debt collectors are there like a horde of locusts and demand their pay. If the farmer refuses, they hang their heads, but if he offers to pay a little, most of them are happy, not all of them though. Thus it goes with the farmer in America when the harvest fails.

The weather is quite cool and always windy, but so far we have had little snow.

(*Publisher: Received the subscription renewal. The bonuses are underway. Many thanks!)

Greetings to you brother and family in Lemmon, South Dakota, to the family of Adolf Wagner in Canada and brother-in-law in Emmental, as well as mother-in-law Theresia Wagner! I do not know all of them in person, but my wife does. Hope to receive a fast answer to all of my letters. I would also like to see more letters to the paper from our friends in Rumania. Reports of the old homeland are always welcome.

Greetings to all readers!
Raphael Ruscheinsky