The Labor enquirer., 1884-08-30

! s'prominent. political economists ssy
!; this never could have been accomplished
!, had it mot BEEN for Gould and Wander
bilt Every lonely settler ought 70 be
] thankful for the privilege he enjoys and
!, the opportunities that have bean opened
for him by these enterprising men. He
has torn himself from friends, home. old
J, associations and the comforts of civilixa,
ton to spend dreary life Of toll and
privation for the sake Of = home. in his
old ago. Great privilegel
j Is this great, forced network Of rail-
roads the greatest promoter Of the vel
4 fare Of the human race after III ? They
push themselves out where nobody
wants to 60 only the poor common peo-
pie are pushed along with them and
each makes the other seeming neces-
sity. New towns every Eve or ten miles.
great tracts Of land put under cultivation
by q few masters and many slaves, and
now and then the home Of q resident
farmer this is line Of railroad. All
along the Rock Island road remiles and
miles of corn fields and harvested whea
! fields, with never home or farmhouse
in sight.
Eastern capitalists own the land, and
poor fellows who could find foothold
nowhere in civilized society drive the
machinery that does the work, at SO
much a month and found. They sleep
and work and eat, and sleep and work
and eat again, without seeing anyone but
themselves, or receiving thought, a
recreation that would inspire or rest.
Did the blacks who met the dread fate of
being sold "down souf'' have a much.
worse life2
The beauty of these western prairies
is all in ones mind-if one is happy,
prosperous and can leave at any time.
But of all lonely, dreary places commend
me to a solitary board shanty in the mid
die of q big prairie with no prospects Of
getting away.
The towns are only less .dreary by the
efforts they put on of appearing gay and
prosperous. and their infinite ambition.
All expect to be the Future Great"-all
| look aike--as though some one had
dropped handful of little houses on a
desert and dropped nothing to 20 with
them.
Somewhere along the route from Chi
cago we passed little station differing
but little from other little stations except
| ing it had Altogether thrown aside its pre-
tentious air and was given up to forlorn
Ihopelessness. counted on one side of
the track eleven deserted houses.
What stories Of struggles, hopes, disap-
pointments, WEAKNESS and home-sickness
these deserted homes told / could
imagine it all from the beginning; the
scraping and saving till enough was
raised to "go west and grow up with the
country" the parting of dear friends,
the hopes of a bright future, the loneli--
ness, homesickness, toll, priyations, i'll
ness, poor crops, cattle dying, starvation
almost, and at last bare chance of get
ting away, either "back east" or to renew
the struggle in another spot. 1t made
Nicholas Nickleby's Eden all too prob
able. This experience must be repeated
in thousands of cases in order to de
velop the country" 1t may be rank
heresy to express it, but ] don't believe
in developing the country'"-at least in
this way.
Society should develop naturally as
pancake batter spreads out on a griddle.
Instead of that we sputter and fry in our
monstrosities Of cities till we fly out in.
spots, here, there and anywhere, without
any order orisystem about it.
Now, people might settle new coun-
try in rational and enjoyable manner,
as a new swarm of bees leave the parent
swarm. to find new home They lack
nothing they possessed in their old home,
numbers, organization, means of pro-
duction, system.
We ought to carry into the new COM
munity all that we have gained as an en-
Heightened and well organized society.
We should go in groups and be well-pro-
yided with tools, machinery, comforts,
means of education and recreation. If
we have done our share of work We de-
serve and should have great abundance
of these things. Developing the country
ought not to be the tragedy it now is to
thousands of unhappy creatures. If we
wanted arailroad run through 10 the
gold mines, silver mines, salt springs or
lumber regions, we would run one, 60 out
when it was necessary and come back
when we were tired. But we need not
essentially post dozen or 30 settlers"
every few miles on the line, 80 poor that
they are as unable to ride on the road
as though it did not exist. Such settlers
are necessary, now, to the railroad conn
panies, who need them to help swell
their dividends. For instance, farmers
about here (and they happen to be
owners of their farms in most cases)
were feeling much elated in the early
part Of the season over the good wheat
and corn prospects. Now THEY are only
offered 40 and so cents bushel for
wheat and not much of anything for
corn. Flour and bread costs Chicago