Many rural residents are “factory-shy”
Lately, there has been much talk about emigration. It is a longing for adventure that makes many look forward to a new homeland! Emigration can be a bitter necessity. Which factors play a role in the emergence of plans to emigrate? From the municipality of Aalten in East Gelderland, very many are departing for another country. We have investigated the causes and motives, and we wrote this article as a result.
When, shortly after the liberation, our people began to realize that with the current population growth there would eventually no longer be employment for many in our own country, the government spoke reassuring words and argued that the solution to the problem lay largely in industrialization. The word industrialization became a kind of magic word with which the looming specter of unemployment could be combated. Indeed, new industries have been established, including in rural areas, but this industrial establishment does not provide a definitive solution.
One of the reasons for this is that not enough factories are being established to provide work for everyone. Industrialization in rural areas is not actually progressing as desired. The number of workers who are in fact redundant in the villages and in the rural districts is much larger than one might think at first glance. In the past half-century, farms have been split several times, sometimes in two, but also in three, depending on the number of children who had to find work in the agricultural sector. Now, as far as splitting is concerned, one is practically at one’s wit’s end. Therefore, it was reasoned, other work should be made available, especially for the sons of farmers.
Thus, the idea of industrial establishment in rural areas arose. This industrialization has only partially succeeded and, as many expect, will not provide the solution in the future either, for where, one wonders, is the money for the large investments to come from? After all, nowadays one must bear the great risk associated with establishing a new industry oneself, while, when profits are made, the tax authorities claim a significant portion of them. Industrialization thus becomes anything but an attractive proposition.
Not to the factory…
Another side of the matter is that transferring workers from the agricultural sector to industry is not easy. Many from the countryside hesitate to work in a factory, where one must stay indoors practically all day and where, it is feared, a significant part of one’s own independence disappears. In Dinxperlo, for example, several industries were established after the war, but not enough workers can be found in the town itself, although according to statistics, they are present.
Here we naturally touch upon another side of the problem, namely that on many small farms there are more workers than necessary for performing the tasks on those farms. The consequence of this is that the income from the farm must serve to support four or five adults, while normally there is only a profitable existence to be found for at most two full-fledged workers.
From an economic perspective, it is entirely logical that emigration is the result of the situation described above. People foresee that, especially in large families, it will eventually be impossible to earn a living in agriculture, while they shrink back from industry or see no prospects there, given the current financial difficulties and the government’s policy.
When one also considers that in 1886 the Doleantie in Aalten caused many to move from the Dutch Reformed Church to the later Reformed Church, one understands all the better why we drew certain conclusions above.
On an even larger scale
In Aalten, emigration is currently the order of the day. From many families, one or more persons have departed since the liberation. They wrote letters about their findings in the new homeland, and the result is that family members, as well as neighbors, were also inspired to emigrate. Furthermore, those who have already emigrated often arrange for work in the new country.
Many have already departed from Aalten for Canada this year, but, as we were informed, more than 200 people will follow in 1951. These are not only farmers but also businesspeople. The latter no longer feel like working for the tax authorities, as some of them confided to us. Added to this is the fact that they no longer see future opportunities for their children and ultimately want to provide for this future themselves, rather than seeing it as a task for the state.
Most emigrants have so far departed for Canada, but several have also already gone to New Zealand and Australia. As a rule, the men go to these latter countries alone first, find work and a home there, and then have their wives and children join them. Next year, many more residents of Aalten will depart. If the conditions for emigration are not changed, a large exodus from Aalten is expected to take place in 1952.
It is striking that in certain regions of our country, emigration is greater than in other areas. The cause? It appears that in East Gelderland, the most emigrants in recent years have departed from Aalten. Although several important industries are also found there, Aalten is for the most part agricultural. Farm splitting is no longer possible there. Emigration is the talk of the town.
Upon closer inspection, it is notable that practically all emigrants from Aalten belong to the Reformed Churches, which in this town of approximately 14,000 inhabitants has more than 5,000 members. However, in other places in East Gelderland as well, most prospective emigrants belong to the Reformed Churches. Are there causes to be identified for this as well?
No material regarding this matter is available in statistics or from opinion research, but it appears that most emigrants come from certain circles. In general, members of the Reformed Churches are members of the Anti-Revolutionary Party, the party that has offered the greatest opposition to post-war government policy. Moreover, the future of the children is also a driving force here. These arguments—no prospects and no employment for the children—consistently emerge in an investigation into the motives and causes of emigration.
History
There is, at least as far as Aalten is concerned, a third cause. This lies in history. Around the middle of the last century, a large emigration from East Gelderland took place to the United States of America, primarily from Aalten and Winterswijk. The main causes then were the great impoverishment and unemployment during and after the Napoleonic era (the failure of the potato crop in 1845 and later years had been a disaster), which made many look for a better existence. People had heard that opportunities for this existed in America, especially through the cultivation of lands issued by the State for that purpose.
Furthermore, many from Aalten and Winterswijk belonging to the “Seceders” participated in the emigration due to the restriction of religious freedom imposed on them by the government and because of the treatment they experienced from many fellow citizens due to their religious standpoint. For instance, the lease of a farm or land was repeatedly terminated for the “Seceders.”
A large group of them departed in 1845. However, on Lake Erie, their ship caught fire and all those on board perished in the flames or in the water. They had almost reached the destination of their journey. A large number of members of the seceded congregation of the Keurhorst near Varsseveld were among these emigrants.
In 1853, 25 emigrants departed from Aalten. In 1854, however, the number already amounted to 194, while 39 departed in 1855. We provide some figures for the following years below: 1856: 62, 1857: 50, 1858: 44, 1868: 118, 1869: 206, 1870: 36, and 1879: 84. The population of the municipality of Aalten at that time was approximately 5,000. It is therefore no wonder that almost all old Aalten residents have family in America.
