The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1866-12-20
From the Cincinnati Commercial.
Rsep QUO of ,hs cI.y.

The complaint that there are too
many people congregated in the great
cities ofthe land, is general and be-
coming chronic. The natural and usual
gravitatIon ofpopulation from the ru-
raj districts to the centers OF business,
became intensified by the extraordipa-
ry demand for certain descriptions Of
manufacturing labor, essential to the
supply ofour enormous armies in the
field, during the war. Since the resto.
ration Of peace that exceptional de.
mand has ceased, bnt tho human cur
rent still sets with undiminished mo-
mentum toward the towns; all foot
prints lead that way. and none return.
The inevitable consequence IS that,
while the agricultural districts are, and
long have been, in urgent need of ad.
ditioDal supplies Of labor--oftenin in such
a degree that crops are left to waste.
unharvested upon the ground-the
cities are swarming with unemployed
laborers and mechanics, whose families
too often hunger for the bread which
lies rotting upon the farmers fields-
But day or two ago. Mr. Halliday,
of New York Five Points House Of In
dustry, (wh9 is constantly in contact
with thelunemployed and unfortunate
of that city } felt impelled to publish
word of warning against the rush OF
people thither. He says;
Every day men como to us foot
sore, destitute and hungry, having
searched the city over for work with,
out success WiIl'you let me say--as
a friend of and worker among the
poor--to those who are unemployed
any where, do not come to New York.
There are thousands of men and wo-
irnen here out of employment, many Of
them in suffering condition. There
are scarcely any branches ofwork that
have not an overstock of workmen. and
hundreds OF men could be hired here
/ for little more than their board Let
unemployed men go any where in the
country and get work for their bread
! rather than come to New York"
4 In Washington formal notice has
been published that there are twenty
thousand more people in the city than
there is the remotest possibility ofwork
| for. And on the 7th instant, the EN-
ployment Copmittee Of the Young
y Mems Christian Association of Chicago
said, in O published card:
sour streets are literally full OF men
; seeking employment, which they are
unable t2. find Every day they come
to our rooms, men of all classes, from
experienced clerks and book keeps -te
r the farmers boy fresh from the coun
try, with no knowledge of business OF
city life, foot sore and weary with thell
vain search for work; in many case'
their money all gone, and dependent
t upon charity 1t is useless, and worse
than useless, for men to come TO thu
city now expecting to obtain situations
c in business, unless they have inhuen'
tial business friends here through who's,
y personal influence they may succeed
Any situation in the country among
the farmers. which will afford livins
for the winter, is better than can b.
obtained in the city"
:, The warning is we'll intended, ant
should be efi,eclual. but there is littl
y chance that it will be. 1t would b
much easier to find an explanation thai
% a remedy for this strong and ever
= strengthening tendency of population
to concentrate in and around the grea
marls of trade An equivalent OF th
Frenchmaa' maxim that every soldie
n carries marshal's baton in his knap
sack, holds a place in the fancy OF a
: most every American youth, takin
Or generally the shape of an irrepressib'
conviction that he, at least, carries a
as undeveloped million IN his pocket. bool
Millions are never acquired, no rea'
20 ons, by the slow processes of the farm
and so, fred with the ambition Of you'll
he quits the free air and independents
ng of the country homestead. determine
TO find his million among the kings {
T commerce and finance. His dream
nd usually of brief duration, He awaken
perhaps, to such. an experience as
e. sketched in the extracts we have quo
cd; if more fortunate, secures situi
tion on street car, or, il n miracle
luck, becomes a ianitor in bank, or a
under clerk in II CT rner grocery.
on city lite thus once begun, escape fro
'e- its entanglements is as rare as u
ot, achievement of the fortune whose di
he tant glitter first allured the victim
Often, amid the vexatious disappoin
ments the overshadowing cares, Il
OF chilling poverty, perhaps, of his ne
20 career, he sighs for the "open sesam,
ID which would unbar the gates of Il
IL weary labyrinth in which he grope
D. and let him forth again to look upC
IN the fair fields and cloudless skies
he which, in the old days, he had turn'
n his back. But the vicious habits of @
OF pensive living which prevail in 0
ut grades of city life fasten upon o.
q; country recruit, consume his earning
on battle his efforts at accumulation, al
c, bind him, helpless, to the place
y: thoughtessly chosen; and, in the va
ar majority of cases, even with the t,
up average Of good fortune, he ends |
nd days in round of drudgery but
TO grade or two higher than that up
he which he entered with such exalt
~ hopes in tho days gone by; leaving
nt children if he had dared to marry,
> follow in the same paths of pov erty