The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1872-10-25
Go West.

Col. John w. Forney writes as fol-
lows in the Washington Sunday ChroH-
ick:
Now that the Territories have assumed
a significance, not to say grandeur, I'M
known in the days Of Jackson and Polk,
we may better appreciate Thomas H..
Benton's stcreotyped advice whenever
a young man called on him in Washing
ton to ask his influence for a clerkship
in one of the departments: $50 to the
Territories, sir, or to n of the new
States. Go to Iowa or Missouri; go 10
Wisconsin or Illinois. If you are a law
yer. hang out your shingle and show
that you are deserving; if a farmer, buy
a quarter section of land and cultivate
it; if q mechanic, open your shop and
work but don't stay here to burn your
self out with rum, or to rust out with
idleness. Do anything but serve as a
slave in one of these wretched bureaus"
Good advice thirty, forty, even fifty
years ago, and better to day. The men
who went forth into the Territories in
Benton's time, when he left Tennessee
for Miss ouri, or when Sam Houston left
Tennessee for Texas, or when John G.
Breckenridge tried his young fortunes
by removing from Kentucky to Iowa,
after the Mexican war; like the early
pioneers to other regions, when the
West was bounded by the Missouri RVS
or, these men had II hard time of it.
They had 10 meet not only q primitive
people, bu. to traverse a primitive coun-
try, with few or no convenielces, either
of food or shelter, and TO give weeks
and months of valuable time before
they reached their destination. How
different to-day! We GO West il palace
cars, swift "as the sightless couriers Of
| the air." to find even in the heart of
the Rocky Mountains and in the defles
| of the Sierras the best luxuries of life,
and the choicest temptations to bust.
ness enterprise or professional ambition.
These modern inducements take off
much of the superior material of the
older States, and we need not be sur
| prised if the West and the Pacific slope
furnish, hereafter, the strongest minds
| in public affairs. Perhaps the manifest
| depreciation of the lawyers of the old
| States is to be attributed to the exodus
to the more attractive fields of our
| young men. Brains have not long to
wait for employment in the Territories;
they are in constant. demand, and I'll
ways at a premium. Money goes a great
way, but it cannot forever buy medioc.
! rity into Office. There are too many
competitors for the prizes, and in fact
too much capital in the hands OF able
men to give inferior men a superior
chance. No doubt money decides many
a contest, but the winner is nearly al
ways ht TO fill the place he secures.
And as the opportunities for wealth in
crease with the chances for preferment,
you may prepare for a new rush to the
Territories without parallel. We are,
in fact, in the mere infancy Of develop
ment. Marvellous as the contrast is be-
tween the present and the past, it is as
nothing to the contrast between the
present and the near future. Our prog
ress has many opulent worlds 10 redeem
and somc to conquer from our neigh
bors. Men like Senators Nye and Stew
art, of Nevada Gov. Evans, of Colorado;
Gov. Mccormick, of Arizona; Ben Hol-
liday, Of Oregon, and w. G. Rallston. of
California, fortunate and honored as
they are, will be succeeded by intellect
as marked and by success as brilliant;
and most of us will live to see it for
ourselves, and to ~realizs that, however
heavy the reinforcements, there is room
enough and reward enough for all.