The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-12-07

peuPie 4tuASteu " the prodlBtous acliv.
ity OF manufacturing industry and Of ex.
change and speculation, the idle, the I'M.
happy, and the destitute ought, Il Ia said,
to sally out promptly and resume the
pure and healthy lie Of tillers Of The
soil. Every now and then one reads In
The newspapers one Of those articles ol
advice In which the late Horace Greeley
was sich q proficient, calling on the i'm.
poyerished city laborer and artisan and
clerk TO start out on ihe country roads
with the full assurance that they will
find work aud welcome at almost
any farmhouse they come to.
There is one thing, however, that
well-meaning promoters Of the exodus
from the city 10 the country are apt to
forget, and that Is, that II is much easier
to driftirom the farm to the workshop or
a store than from the workshop or store
10 the farm. Capital, in fact, flows from
the city 10 the country far more easily
than labor. Work on farm Is more or
less repulsiVe to all men, from It's seyeri.
y and exposure to the weather. There
Is hardly anybody engaged in II who
would not like to exchange il, II he could,
for occupation needing less muscle, and
capable Of being pursued under cover,
and with greater neatness and cleanliness,
and with more company, and greater OPP
portunities for amusement. The young
farmer, therefore, generally longs 10
"clerk il" In the nearest town, and having
"clerked II" awhile, and become used to
clean hands, warm rooms, the theatre,
and the coucertroom, he will submit to
almost any priVatlon sooner than 90 back
to the hoe and the plough and the windy
field. Even the day 'laborer Ia apt to pre-.
fer working even in city drains, with
the prospect Of sOCiable evening and
sOciable Sundays, to lighter but more
solitary and monotonous labor on
the farm. In fact, a man who has even
for year led city life in any calling Ia
apt to be spoilI for agriculture, and will
try all sorts Of lodges rather than 90 back |
TO II. On the other hand, the passage
from the farm to the city Is easy, aud 1t |
Is the dream Of most farm youths TO make
it. They hear Of the fortunes won in the |
cities by "pOor boys" like themselves
from their own neighborhoOd, and they
are impressed by the welLcut clothes,
and white hands, and wonderful stories
OF city gaiety OF their friends who sell dry
goods or hardware in the nearest great
town. Our Sytem Of popular education,
too, and our popular literature. have
much to do with creating distaste for
farm life and small gains. They sharpen
the wits just enough 10 make solitude
very itksome and i'll The head with vague
ambition.
The effect Of this policy on the growth
ofthe cities, too, has been most unhealthy,
and has made the problem Of municipal
government very serious one for Amer.
lean society, by stopping the tide Of for.
eign immigration on its way 10 the West.
So long as the growth Of American cities
was natural, their population was IN
creased by men who had learned the art
Of local self.government, and acquired
their political conscience in the country.
Under the forcing system they have been
built mp by vast accretions Of ignorant
foreigners, whose first experience Of poll.
tics is acquired in ward primaries, and
who learn to look on the suffrage as sim.
ply a means Of getting jobs out Of the
public, and taxation as another name for
the forced contributions OF the rich TO
fund Tor the poor mans relief.
The process Of restoring the balance
between town and country will therefore
probably be a much slower one than
could be wished, and will have 10 be pro.
NOTED by variety OF agencies. A ra-
tional tariff which will recognize the fact
that the average American Ia u shrewd
business man and can generally be relied
on TO tind out occupations that have
money in them, without bling paid for it |
by the Treasury, Ia one Of them. Another
Is a thorough reform in city government,
which will restrict the taxing, or rather
conliscating power, OF numerical MAORI.
ties, and put the charities on II sensible
footing, and thus make city life less
attractive to the idle, tho ignorant, and
the vicious. Another still is the safe in.
vestment OF the capital now being 80 free
ly lent to farmers at the West. We may
add, though it Ia less capable Of deiini.
ton, and perhaps Of execution, than the
others, the Reorganization oi country life
in some way that will make it less soli-
tary and give it more harmless distract
ton. The magazine and piano farmer Of
our day cannot stand the silent drudgery
Of the fields as the German or French
peasant can.