The Arkansas banner., 1849-05-22
Don,t Come to Cities.


 anything honest and useful for q livelihood. need seldom wait long for employment that will at least insure him subsistence. In the cities. the is sadly different. A capable. willing trustworthy may earnestly seek employment here for months without finding any And the reason is very clear: There more seeking work in the cities than work can be found for: and though the business of most cities annusy increases. through the growth of the country trading with them vet the pressure for employment in cities continually outruns the demand for labor. The gigantic sea of foreign immigration incessanty rolling in upon us bringing thousands who must have work promptly or 20 to the poor house, and who are nured to lower wages aud poorer living than Americans will submit to, will keep the general labor market glut- ted and the average recompepse of hired labor low for a term of which we cannot foresee the end.
 {" But do you contend that American youth should ever migrate from the country 10 of our cities4" No, sir, we do not What we do main- tain is this-whoever leaves the country to come hher should feel that he has facilities capaci ties, pol for which the country. affords him no scope and tha, the city is his proper sphere of fuuess. He should next be that he has ability to procure livelihood while he shall be laboring to attain that sphere which he regards his ultimate destination. No youth should migrate 10 d city without thorough mastery of some good mechan- ica trade or handirrait such as is prosecuted in cities, although he may not intend 10 follow it ex- cept in case of necessity Teaching, clerkiug. law &c.. are so very Precarous except to of estab- lished reputation and business, that it is next to madness for a youth to come here relying upon them. With a good trade. hearty willingness 10 work, strict temperance and habits of economy, it will be hard to starye out who has once found employment: not so with one who is trained only for a teacher or clerk. who Is willing to do any thing (which means that he knows how to do nothing. With these our city always has been, and always will be crowded-it pays for burying the greater part of them.
 The young fit to come to a city does not begia by impOrtuning some relative or friend 10 find or make a place for him, Having first qualified himself. far he may, for usefulness here he understanding that he must begin al the foot of the class and work his way up. Having found a place to stop, he makes himself acquainted with those places where work in his line may b. found. sees the advertisement of "wants " in the leading journals at early hour each morning notes those which hold out some prospect for him. and accepts the first place offered him which he can take hon orably and i'll scceptably. He who commences in this way is quite likely to get on.
 But for him whose chief object is to live com fortably, to acquire wealth by honest indus try, the city is not the place. The mass of men and women work far steadier and harder hero for bare subsistence than they co away from the cities. To say nothing 0: the ruder manual toil by which no man can support family in comfort the average earnings 0Ggoed mechanics here will uot exceed eight dollars per week the year round, or Stao per annum. This will seem considerable tu mechanics who can hire good house and gsrdeu for s30 to $60 with often a strip of pasture or meadow attached; but let such a one consider that here almost any kind of house from s3t9 to $500 per annum. ana the meanest dog hole into which family can be crOwded-perhaps ap two flights of siairs-will cost him Sl00. with like charges for fuel, milk, vegetables Sc.. and he will understand the whole subject much better. X good
 lG-F F A labor per week n the country than by six in this or almost any great city
 :. But men do get rich in the city" Ye~~ they do. One in thousand of those who came here in quest of fortune achieve it. and they are generally men who would do the same anywhere. Scratinize closely the lives of those who have made loEtnnes in cities and yon will find that they were early risers, hard workers sharp dealers and close calcu laors-a sort very difficult ta starve. Having thus obtained good start early in life, the easy for he must be natural born fool worse who cannot with money and credit accumulate property anywhere The problem considering is how are 10 do who have not money, or at best have very little
 We are not forgetting that there are some rare but showy instances oi men who have made for tunes by flashing speculatons run of luck in trade-but these are too few to disturb the gen erai calculation. Whoever wishes to trv his lnck at gambling is not obliged to come the cisy for that purpose, at least need not remove thilher. Three days will usually suffice for his Darpose \ nd for every large fortune rapidly acquired in trade or stocks fully forty small fortunes fand some large ones) have been lost in the same way. The mushroom millionaire dazzes all eyes hy hs horses and co uipage, his palace and his piatehe is thought of talked oi--whie those who have lost everything by the same turn of the wheel crawl away and die in oui-ofthe way corner, sile B and forgotten
 single class remain to be spoken of that of men past their yoaih who, often with families de- pc ndent on them, seek employment in cities be- they have not been successful elsewh where, and, withon, any special faculty, plunge into some em- porium ot commerce to earn in sorne novel vocation the livelihood among strangers which they cannot amid their friends at the pursuits To which they are accustomed. Such inen arc downright soicides--if they have families. they than that: and whoever aids them in their mad folly is accessory to their crime. No man should ever change his vocation after thirty unless he has hitherto been pirate. gambler. pekpocket, something of the sort. and even then he has but sorry prospect be- fore him; but for a poor anlueky man to bring n family of children 10 city and hope there To suP- port them in some novel parsnit, Is the widest, mcst desperate infataaiion. There is chance of success-no rational hope that he can struggle oa except in the most ablect dependence and heggary.
 IT"Blessed are ihe psaee-makers," says the good book, and the moral IS good ose; but don't fry the experiment in qnarveis between man and fnr nnhhs ha dosz heiieve tn ts-as