Der Staats-Anzeiger
Bismarck, North Dakota
17 December 1914
Film 3639, Vol. 9, No. 21, Page 4

Bergfield, Saskatchewan
October 25, 1914

The large crop failure this year offers the bankers and large dealers another opportunity to provide themselves with a good harvest. Every mortgage holder demands the note be paid the date it is due and there is no mercy shown. They are interested in dividing the Germans in our area, isolating us due to the war between Germany and England. The mortgage holder does not even need to consider extending the repayment date. He can simply demand the debtor leave everything for him and the debtor is to shut his mouth while he is walking away from his property. My neighbor recently told me that one of his mortgage holders told him he could have an additional month to repay his note. I replied, “Good, but I want to see if he will actually keep his word.” I was correct. On the forth day, the mortgage holder came and said he could no longer wait. He took everything away from the man. Those English criminals!

Someone told me previously that according to Canadian laws, a man’s business cannot easily be ruined by creditors. However, there are traps the debtor can fall into. This crop failure is a good thing for those advocating for us because there will be many complaints made to the judicial system. There is a proverb that says “The worse the times are, the worse the people are.” The legal system is asleep. The unjust are triumphant. Each wants to outdo the other, tearing from them that which is good. Others search for a way to deceive and cheat the debtor, succeed in bringing themselves glory and ignore the shame they have brought to themselves. There are many people like this in our time and I want to write a few more words and then hear our esteemed Editor Brandt respond with his thoughts regarding this issue. (What follows is a long monolog regarding the Editor’s opinion regarding this issue, the type of war reports that should be printed, etc.)

I want to say that I intend to stay with Raimund Kautzmann in Timmer, N. D. ¹ beginning on November 28 where I will provide lessons in the German language and also give lessons on the organ. In March, I intend to return to Canada. Individuals who would like to write me during this time are asked to address their letters to me in Timmer, North Dakota.

Anton Jochim
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1. Translator’s note: Timmer was founded in 1910 in NE1/4 Sec. 5-133-82, three miles WSW of Breien, and named for Charles L. Timmerman (1860-1914), a pioneer area rancher, merchant in Sims, and banker in Mandan, who promoted development along NPRR lines throughout western N. D. The post office was established July 21, 1910 with newspaperman Bert H. Finch Postmaster, replacing the Finch Post Office just NW of the town site. A prosperous little community began to develop, but the population never exceeded 100. The elevation is 1760, and the population declined to just 15 in 1940. The post office closed April 30, 1954 with the mail go Solen, and Timmer is now deserted. Source: North Dakota Place Names by Douglas A. Wick.