The efforts of Siemens and his fellow co-operators were not appreciated by everyone. A Mennonite commentator observes that "he Bergthal Mennonite leadership rejected his vision as too socialistic and insufficiently orthodox. The resulting pro- and anti-cooperative division in much of the area between Altona and Winkler influenced both church and community very negatively." Peter D. Reimer, an ardent co-operator who published the Rhineland Agricultural Society's quarterly journal, was forced out of his position as a local school teacher in 1934. Two years later Reimer died, at 51, due to a recurrence of tuberculosis.