The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1884-06-26
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MOralizing.

Moralizing. 3:
Born Of the active; rustling life Of the
west, is an unreasoning impatieDce at
delay, the effect Of which is almost
wholly evil. Some town, for instance,
is doomed in the nervous, energetic way
peculiar to the west. No account is
taken Of the resources town must have
to be successful. A set Of men make up
their minds that there is to be good
town in a certain place and, seeing the
prospect they proceed to make one in ad-
vance Of the order. Buildings out Of all
reason are hurried up, stores established
and soona town blossoms out, fair to
the eye but consisting only Of an outer
shell an appearance. Like the bodies
OF some microscopic beings, consisting
only. of a stomach, they are. non-produc-
ers; only useful to themselves. AS soon
as the supply Of food or suckers ceases
they fairly turn themselves inside out in
their search for food or complain bitter
ly that some good Samaritan does not
rescue them from the fire which they
have kndled about themselves.
There is no use denying or rather at
tempting to. deny the open secret that
the above is the history Of a large num-
Der of Dakota towns. They are years
and years ahead of their surrounding
country. We can point to fifty towns
which must depend entirely on agiricul-
ture for existence and have from ten to
fifty per cent more invested in the town
site than in tributary farming improve
ments. This is getting the cart before
tho horse with vengeance. 1t stands
to reason that these towns cannot be i'm
mediately prosperous. Z 1t is as impossi-
BILE for them to remain Stationary and
they will surely retrogradc until the sur
rounding country catches up with them.
Then the silly fool who in search Of
the almighty dollar, have been decoyed
into the embrace Of the boomer, sits SUI
pine ly down and curses the country for
not growing faster. The time will sure
ly come when all these towns will be
prosperous, but it may be "after many
years" )" at least not until the surround
ing country is tllickly settled You
must first find your goose before you can
get one to lay golden eggs. The boom
er's plan of finding counterfeit goose
and selling it to the tenderfoot to kill in
search of golden eggs is peach and honey
to the boomer but yields only withered
leaves for the pilgrims share. 4
The moral of this whole thing is that
there are more consumers than produc-
ers in these nssand as long ass this
state Of affa1rs exists, SO long will they
be worse than dead.
1t might seem invidious in this con-
nection to speak Of Mcdora, but as she is
emphatically not an agricultural town,
it will be proper to mention her by way
of contrast. She depends in no way on
the uncertainties of harvest, the calf
crop is as certain as the everlasting
hills. Our growth SO far has not been
equal to the demand and this is the rea-
son why every business interest here is
f!ourisling. Merely as cattle town our
! future is assured. The freight lins is
now doing much and in the future will
1 do more for our advancement. The
stage line, which is hanging fire only
because the proper man has not been
found to place in charge, will be an en-
tering wedge for: the railroad, which
will make Medora the distributing point
for the whole Black Hills and intermedi-
ate country. Without railroad, freight
or stage lines, Matlora can look forward
to a constant, 5teady and successful
growth. With them, she will be the
best town in Dakota, west of the Missou-
fri. :-s,ss st, s$s$s 4
But even here the voice of the COM
palmer is heard and there is constant
desire to start a boom. What, we would
like to know, would be the permanent
advantage derived thereby? There is an
abundance of capital ready for invest
ment here and our voice always has
been and always will be raised against
its use in advance of the needs of the
place. We are certain of having enough
invested to keep pace with the times.
Any invested beyond this will be follow
ed by corresponding reaction. "Roinc
was not made in a day." nor will the I'M
preston SO abroad that Medora's future
prosperity can be accomplished in any
such short time If we can help it.
We never have and never will claim
anything for Medora that we do not be-
lieye is absolutely and unquaIifedIy
true. We don't want a doomed town
and won't have it as long as sthe voice
Of the Cow Boy reyerbcrates from butte
to butte" as a sap-headed contemporary
puts it. Legitimate growth" is our
path to prosperity.
Johnny Goodall and ]. L. Truscott
Came in from Beaver creek yesterday
morning, at the close Of the roundup.
It lasted Just a month and was great
success especially considering the fact
that it Was the first roundup for this
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