The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-05-28
Town and Country.

The reaction in favor of country as
against town life is making very per-
ceptible head way, for our Western ex-
changes report an unparalleled ill.,
fux OF Eastern emigrants into the more
newly settled States on the other side
of the Mississippi, notably in Mime.
sofa. Iowa, Nebraska. Kansas, and the
territories beyond. The impelling
cause of this change in population is
the hard times, and the pangs of power
ty with which the INDECENT classes
have bsen afflicted for several years.
through the scarcity of labor of all
kinds, and the reduced rates of wages
received by those who have been fortu.
nate enough toobtsin work. These In
dicstions are gratifying, and all the
more 80 because some have looked for
government aid in alleviating the dis
tress which has followed and been in
tensified by the rush from the country
to the town during the fifteen or twen-
ty years preceding tile panic. Gov
ernment cannot make farmers nor can
1t provide them with farms, save as it
has done in the homestead law, of
which we recently gave synopsis. II
cannot take them up boldly in the
East and transplant them to the West
and take care of them. The violation
OF the law of supply and demand must
be cured another way. And the les
son has wider bearing. Everybody
must 60 to work The days of specu-
lation and living upon speculative busi-
hess have pretty well departed. No
man has any excuse for living an idle
or useless life Contentment is the
greatest riches. and contentment will
most surely be found by the healthy in
mind and body by attention to some
employment, directly productive or
tending to the welfare of the communi-
ty. For those who have the requisite
knowledge. there iss nothing better
than farming; for those who have not,
the best thing is to find out some place
where work is wanted and there are
always such places, then 60 to work.
But the first thing with many will be
to throw aside all extravagant notions.
Most of the present movement of
population from the East to the West,
unfortunately. is not from the over
crowded cities, whence hundreds and
thousands could be drawn to the ad-
vantage of both city and country. but
from the small cities, towns and rural
districts. There Is reason to hope,
however. that the movement will ex-
tend to large cities and take off por-
tion of the vast number of young men
who are growing up in ldlcness, and
becoming serious burden upon the
more industrious. There is room
enough in the fertile West for millions
of settlers. if only they are able ana
willing to work, in which case they
have in their new homes the certainty
of = livelihood and the possibility Of
securing competence. 1t requires but
limited means for young men who are
unincumbered to reach some poiut in
the West where employment may be
obtained. and where there is will it
will not be difficult to find the way to
make the change. New York and
Brooklyn could probably spare hun
dred thousand young men who are
eking out wretched existence, the
greater portion of them unable to
obtain employment. and the other
portion unwilling to perform manual
labor if obtainsbie. Living in q society
based on the principle of human equali-
ty and depending for its existence upon
the recognition of the work and digni-
ty Of labor. we have somehow contriv-
ed to nourish AN aristocratic spirit
which looks down upon manual labor
as something coarse and degrading.
The consequence is, that those employ
ments which are clsssed as light and
genteel' have been enormously over
crowded. and IN this great army of un-
employed are to be found the most
serious hindrances to the return of
prosperity. The evil has been slow of
growth. is deep seated and its removal
will not be easy. though partial relief
may be found in the change of popula-
tion from East to West, now going on.
Nee York Shipping Last.