The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1885-05-21
Country Boys il New Z ork..
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Correspondence Chicago Journal 81

correspondence Chicago Journal s
One Of the most frequent Of the ques.
lions that are sent into. the New York
newspaper offices is the one asking
whether q lad from the county can
succeed IN the city It siasked usually
by some youngster who has ambition to
get away from the hamlet ID which he
has spent the eighteen years OF his life,
and who is cropping .blindly for informa-
ton and advice. The newspapers re-.
ceiyeso many questions Of one sort o,
another that, as q rule,it becomes neces-
sary to make it some ones business to
answer them. The usual answer to this
query is to the effect that nineteen out
OF twenty ofthe successful men IN New
FORK City came from the country and
that success depends not on whore q boy
was born or reared or educated, but on
what he can do. The great trouble for
ayoung man from the country is to
get .a;start- chance to show! Of what
stuff he is made. The lawyers Offices,
the newspaper sanctums; the3 pulpits,
the Wall street Offices are recruited with
country boys, but for all that it is very
hard for q country boy to get an intro
duction or b start. There ARE hun
bred applicants for every vacancy. The
managing editor Of the Sun, Mr.. Lord,
told me the other day that he had IN
average of three applications in person
from journalists and four Five more
by letter every day, for work as re-
porters or editors. Mr.. Bowers, the
city editor Of the Tribune, said recently
that fully twenty men called on him in
the course $ofs every week, to- ask for
work. Mr.. Elihu Root, himself sue
;cessfnl lawyer, thinks that theSswell
known lawyers have two applications q
day on the average from young men
who wish to become lawyers clerks
with q view Of practicing when they are
able to do so. Further inquiry led to
the h discovery that there is in the
stores and brokers' offices and the
banks, the physicians and dentists,
the photographers rooms and in the
railroad Offices, q constant and per-
petual stream Of applicants for work.
Of course, not one in one hundred is
employed. The tendency of provincial
Journalists to desire to Gomez to New
York is natural, for the reason that New
York newspapers pay better wages. II
smart, bright young fellow makes a
mark in the country, he desires to get
to the. city where his talent will be felt,
and where he can make headway up the
ladder, Of fame. As a rule such make
the best men on the metropolitan
press, and the workers on we'll
known. newspapers are nearly all
country bred OF the Suns staff
only oneSman of merit was brought up
in the city ;of the Tribune is, not any /; Of
: the times, two only, and they are on the
reportorial sta q. In the Law, the pro-
portion is very much greater. Hardly
q distinguished member Of the bar spent
his boyhood here. The raiIroad men,
too, were mostly clear headed country
boys when they began work. It is in
old-estab lished mercantile concerns and
among importers and Wholesale houses,
where the business has been handed
down from: faiher to son, that the sue
cessful and wealthy New York boys are
to- be found. s. IS