ters
there, and were taken out and shown their land. About five years after the
first settlers came most of the timber had been cut. The company then
established the village and began settling from that point. The colony has
steadily increased and at present contains about fifty families.

The settlers were Polish. About ten families came from Russia, twenty
from Germany, and twenty from Austria. They left their old country on
account of poverty, political oppression, and compulsory military
service there. Almost all of them had been engaged in agriculture in the
old country. About forty families had been employed in shops and
factories in America before they succeeded in settling on land here;
only about ten families came from Europe directly to the colony, of
which they learned through the company's advertisements in the
American-Polish newspapers and also through the letters of their friends
and acquaintances.

The largest farm is 120 acres, the smallest 20 acres, and the average 80
acres. Most of the farms are still under mortgage, only a few being
cleared of debt.

In the colony and its vicinity are seven schools: six with one room and
one with three rooms. All teachers are native born and all teaching is
in English. The settlers appreciate education. Most of the children are
inclined to farming and will remain in the colony. One fourth of the
adults do not speak English, one half only speak English, and one fourth
speak and write English.

Only a few of the adult male settlers have second papers; about nine
tenths have first papers, while the rest are totally unnaturalized. In
explanation of this fact the company's president stated that it is only
the older men who have not secured even their first papers.

A large proportion of the foreign settlers [he said] secure their
second papers just as rapidly as they can after they locate on the
land. They desire to take part in local politics; they find that
they must become interested in local political affairs if they wish
to have a good system of schools, roads, and gain the other
advantages which both the county and town can give them. They are
also interested in the state politics. All this brings the question
of second papers forcibly to their minds, and in an accurate survey
of the different colonies we are interested in, you will find that
a large per cent of those who have been on the land five years or