New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-10-23
City-FOk KkGISTEH
NORRIS FRANKLIN.
A Talk with Young Men.


name OF Conservatism, insisting that, while men are
depnved and utterly selfish The institutions, laws
ussges and social condition created by the unchecked
operation Of this dcprayiiy and sehshness through
ages are perfection itself or at least nearly per
feet a. the corruption Of Human Nature will permit
whatever the progress and actual condition Of the
People. This Is rather apt to be the idea Of portly
thrifty wellfed maturity, which says. Hang all
your Reforms aud Reiormers this world is a capi
tai world i, ia, and needs none Of your newfan
'gled Improvements What DO the grumblers wan,
Is not the world alive with industry and Astounding
in every thing essential to human comfort Don't
every body get work who il not too proud or too
lazy to DO III Are not Beef and Bread always TO
be had for money! Is not Turtle fat If not
Cham payne delicious What more can any body
want rnan we have l'-Show one OF these practical
philosophers that thousands are suffering from ignor
ance destitute Of employment aud dying OF want
and he will dscredit the evidence, or baspheme
Providence by con,ending that these things are in
eviiable.
Opposed to this is the error Of the grumbling
Radical. who insists that especially poor men
are Ill right and Society Government Is he au-
thor Of ell the misery ia exisionccthsl the Rich
all wolves and the Poor all lambs las If the difference
between them were other than accidental and that
every paupcr drunkard. lunaiic or gallowsbrd is
the victim Of false Social Order tyranncal Gov
eminent or graspng Moncyed Aristocracy. This
error /. natural to the younger, the poorer, the
less fortunate classes. and BY them we would now
be heard.
II Is common and most ruinous presumption
that simple Industry never leads to Competence,
and that Wealth is necessarily The product Of Trade
and generally Of Fraud or Crime. The young me
chano or artisan says o ii is for me to Try
= to save any thing oui Of my FIVE TO ten dollars
week in the City my ten to twenty dollars
month beside board IN the Country, as the case
may be-no body ever got rich in that way Now
u j. quite true that a colossal fortune never real
ICED from the savings OF simple and straight forward
labor. and probably never will be. But il is great
mistake TO suppose that competence may not 10y
most mem be realized from naked, downright La
Dor or that are not constantly doing this. Al!
around Boston, Lowell and almost ev ely City are
the comfortable dwellings of mechanics who com
menced without dollar and never made good
bargain In their lives bat have bought lot, built
house and now live independently therein, on the
savings Of ten to twenty years honest labor. Say,
II YOU please. that they ought to have received and
laid up still more in the time aud we shall not
trsdiot you; we are as strenuous AZ you can be IN
asserting that Labor can be and should be secured
a fuller reward. But do not cling TO the fatal mis-
take that Industry Is never prospcred Look back
the of ninclen,hs OF the rich men among
as and you will find they commenced life as poor
men. and laid the foundations of their fortunes by
saving part Of the scaniy proceeds Of their daily
toll AneTv0rd. they were enabled TO accunlu-
late property rapidly by the help of that they
had acquired, bu, they began with little savings,
and could never have succeeded otherwise. We
are no, holding these men up as models for imta
tlon; we regard the ambition to heap up riches A.
groveling aud despicabe. But few men can be
truly independent or greatly useful without some
property and no man can innocenty take uponh HIM
self the responsibilities of a husband and father
without striving to provide for those who have
right to expect of him subsistence. The young
man who saves nothing out OF his weekly or monthly
earnings will rarely If ever save any thing and he
who cannot Law up something out of a moderate sal
airy will never obtain salary from which he can
save any thing Vain is the expectation of the
clerk or journeyman that he may spend all he gets
now, and begin 10 save after he has got into busi
meas; If he does not now, his chances of ever
getting into business prccarous and he viii not
be likely to stay in long if he gets in.
- The business season now closing has been
prosperou. one TO the majority OF our People. In
this City elsewhere, the proportion OF lsborcfs
cot of work has been less than usual, and the
inss and receipts OF most classes have been quite a.
good as lhey are likely TO be. Yet of our whole
laboriag population what proportion have saved
any thing. even for the approaching winter We
fear not one fourth. Beside the large class who
could not save any thing since their entire receipts
are barely sufficient TO support existence, there are
thousands who might have saved considerably, yet
have smoothing From year to year large portion
of our young artisans clerks &c waste hall their
earnings IN drink. gaming. ifnothng worse. until
al length they marry or meet with some misfortune.
and find their necessary expenses greatly increased
or their earnings diminished Should they now
think Of saving II is often too atc-a youth of pro
digaty has drawn after !, an old age OF penury and
want Thcnceoiw YOU will meet these unior.
,una,es in low groggcries or radical cabals, impo-
,ensy cursing or msdly plotting the ruin OF those
who have been more fortunate in life than they in
great psrt because more prudent. more provideni.
moro industrious and temperate in youth.
There is smother side TO this picture. as We in.
timated at the ouise, and that side is faithfully pre-
ssn,ed in our columns Yet ii is not wihou, reason
thai those who are intent on reforming ns;itu
lions are charged with overlooking the reformation
Of individuals without which no other reform
can be thorough and lasting We shall cndcavor to
stand clear Of this rePtosch. We are quite aware
that no Improvement in the constitution Of Society
or in any institution whatever can make the idler /
the prodigal the drankard. the Hbertine. either n,
speclabie or posPerous without a transform.
ton OF his character though we are confident tina,
under other auspices the contaeion OF evil habi,.
might be rendered far less bsnefal than II Is In
true Society. the niqui,y of selling for exam
pie. could be more disputed than the inquitv of
setting up deluding lights to decoy vessel TO Ger.
tain destruction But let all reforms lie pressed
for ward together not forgetting that the reform OF
evil habits 10 Of the most important and mos,
difficult
ANIKIcAS TRACT SoCIETY.-lt Will DC recolect