Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-08-29
The Rush to the Cities.

Ibe chicago Inter Ocean says: A mob
Of half starved men is q pitirul sight /;
a mob OF idle, vicious men is a sad
commentary on our civilization, aud IN
all our large cities We are frequently
called upon to contemplate both
pictures
Tba. such condition of sf.irs exists
Is not the tsuit of the cities or of the
public at large. There are more peo-
pie in the cities than can fnd employ
ment, and these people are in Chicago
and other cities by their own choice,
The facts that came TO the surface last
week as tc to the number of people out
of employment were appalling, but will
they prevent one young man from the
country from carrying out his pet
scheme of coming to the CITY VIII
one farmers boy, with a good
home and plenty to do. read of the
great masses who have bad bones, lit
tie to eat aud nothing to DE-, and be
deferred FROM coming to the city Not
one. The rush vii. continue to be
burdened with more people than eau
find employment in their borders.
Boys aud girls born aud raised in the
country have an insane desire to live
IN towns. They dwell on the bright
side of city life so much that their own
life in the country seems always dull
aud prosy, and city life always charm
ing and bright. They magnify the
drawbacks on one side and exaggerate
the pleasures on the other They
drone over the dulness of country life
and decline to see the dark side of
city life at all. 10 this way they en-
encourage dislike for what is ip their
possession, and cultivate an insatiate
longing for what their fancy makes e1-
isteLce IN the city.
4 boy hesitates to round out his life
ca the farm. 1t is in some way beneath
hin, aud be goes to the city to realizs
his ambitious schemes and becomes a
clerk in dry goods store, or labor
er IN some manufactory, OF a driver Of
street car, or brakeman or a rail
road. He comes from a home where
he was, in certain sense master OF his
owD movements and enters business
where be works harder, where be lives
less comfortably, and where he is always
iu subordinate position He comes
from the farm where his living is assur-
ed, and enters a field where a position
ever so humble is difficult to secure
and hard to retain; where he takes
great chances of being thrown out Of
employment under must embarrassing
aad distressing circumstances. tie
comes from locality where there are
no 5eggars. no poverty stricken people,
no men presuming TO dictate as to
when he shall labor, and where and
how, and enters calling in which he
ceases TO be master of his own actions.
The boy that dose this sort of thing
is indefinitely multiplied, aud he keeps
doing it all the time. In nine eases
out of ten he is disappointed, but he
never acknowledges this, aud other
boys, knowing nothing of the dlsap-
po'utments, and trusting only the boys
exaggerated statements, manufactured
10 hide his real feelings, follow 10 bis
footsteps.
Let The boys and girls, the .oung
men and the young women remain in
the country, patiently ard thankfully.
Let them disabuse their minds OF the
false notions they have formed of city
,ife and look at facts.
j young man employed on a farm
has to work hard. He would have TO
work harder in nearly any occupation
in the city. He has to work i'll the hot
sun and in the rain and snow, it may
be. In the city he would work in the
dirty, smoky atmosphere Of some man
ufactory, or would be exposed TO jus:
as inclement weather as on the farm.
A farm hand getting SIS per month
and his board is making more money
than he wonld IN the city at $40 per
month. Aud vet, while farm hands ave
scarce laboiers in the city are ever
abundan', and clsmoriDg for work in
every department o. business.
In addition t. this Influx from rural
districts, cities receive the larger share
OF imni igrants from other countries.
The poorer classes cluster in squalid
localities where there is little cumfort
and little TO do, when outside OF the
cities are broad farms where there Is
much comfort and much to DO, or, new
lands inviting them to the possibilities
of ownership While every depart
ment of labor in the cities is overstock
ed, thousands of acres OF public lands
await owners and occupants.
People have preveIsely looked in one
direction for employment. They must
adopt different rule, and look in all
directions. They have expected to
ind employment where laboreis are
most abundant they should look for 1t
where laborers are scarcest.