Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-07-12
BILL NYE 20 YOUNG MEN
Small Grains Of Advise to the Rising
GeneratiOn-The Advantages OF
The West rs a Country for
Growing Up in.
The Right Kind of Material Has IL Bet
ter Show on the Frontier Than
in the Metropolis.


many more to come, the vital question
with the young American, "Where can |
do the best and soonest succeedYn has
been and will continue 70 go right on in
the vital business. | select the following
letter for replying purposes rather than
any other ia my possession because il Is
earnest, personal and pertinent.
MN NYR, ESQ, WORLD OFFICE, New
YORK CIrY-DeGr Sir. | write to ask your
advise as Western man as to the adyisa-
bllity o. young man of Eastern parent
age going West to grow up with the coun.
try. / am at loss what to think, as there
are so many contradictory stories afoat
in the various Eastern papers relative to
theWest, and especially as so many West
ern men who crack up the Western coun-
try as being the place to live in are con-
tinually coming East, investing their
surplus or engaging IN business with
Eastern concerns. If the West offers
such broad field for Advancement, why
then do Western men such as you leave
such fertile fields and pasture new?
With kind regards, yours very truly,
CABLE.
1t is true that a great many Western
men have gone East to invest their sur
plus, but if they had never gone West
they would not have had any surplus to
invest.
The advantages of the West for the
young man consists in this, that he is
there given chance to show his gait and
demonstrate his merits. Nobody asks
him who his grandfather was and why
he came West. He is tested and indorsed
or lynched, according to his merits.
That is not all He is as good mas with
a So suit of clothes and a bob-tail gene
alogy as any other man, if he be good
citizen and pans out all right, The dit
ference between the East and the West is
that in the West less attention is paid TO
forms and exteriors than in the East. Ia
the West a man may be millionaire and
still be required to behave himself. In
the East millionaire can behave him
self days end do what he pleases the rest
of the time.
But the chief advantage TO young
man who has his way to make in the
world consists in this-that industry and
merits are at once recognized in all new
countries.
The last question is more or less per-
sonal one, and it shows that the nam who
wrote it was philosopher. In replying
to it / must not forget that it is a serious
and sensible inquiry. My own case is an
exceptional one. In the first place, every
body is not allowed to remain in the West.
In one way the West is democratic, in
another way 1t is exclusive and aristocrat-
ic. 1t is no sign that others will have to
move East because | did.
Seriously, let me say to the young men
who read this, that if they are made of
the right kind of material they can sue
coed sooner in the West on less money
and less crest that they eau where usages
have been long established and where
customs are gradually becoming more
European. In the West America sticks
out more prominently, aud there is a
degree of freedom from the petty enyies
aud jealousies which curse the lives
of those who live in older countries.
| could be poor ard come nearer enjoy
ing il in the West than anywhere else.
This is not surmise on my part. it is
experience. Many writers have shown
us where TO go with capital 10 do the best
but what we want is information that Will
help those who want to know where they
can get the most enjoyment out of power
ty, where q good citizen is wanted and
welcomed.
T. The main difficulty with New York
and Boston boys in new countries is
homesickness and disappointment be-
cause a good many institutions to which
they have been accus toned are not to be
found. To succeed in the West young
man must become a part OF bis adopted
country, and loyal to it. He must not
act upon the principle that he is still
citizen Of New York or Boston, but in
good earnest begin to be necessary to
the section of country he has removed to.
And, after all, there is not so great
difference bet geen the East and West. All
Western men, with the exception of the
Indians, were Eastern men, gno Eastern
money makes the West successful. Let
no young man from a large Eastern city
console himself with the notion that he Is
comforting 8 favor on tt est by remov-
ing TO that part of the country. The fact
that he is there at all is proof that he
came here 10 better his condition, and he
can not conceal it. He who goes West
solely to teach the untutored pioneer the
elements of refined civilization will not
ex dear himself to the community, for the
humble pilgrim who walks into a new
town in the Territories and goes to work
attending to his own affairs is more apt
70 return to the East some day in Pull
man car than the man who enters the
place preceded by a silver oornet band.
The West, of course, is not now what it
used to be, for modern improvements have
resched everywhere, and the frontier is
pretty well narrowed down, but there is
still plenty of amusement, excitement and
instruction for the inq uiring minds.
/ have said seriously what | have said,
because this will answer q question that
have often been asked. A good citizen is
an ornament and a success, whether he
dwell within the shadow of Bunker Hill or
the canons Of Colorado. ont be would sue
eeed quicker and get the eye of the
speaker sooner, perhaps. in Colorado, be-
cause tbs farther a young man can ge'
from the depressing, but brilliant RECORD
of his grandmother, the better be will be.
The statement has nothing to do with the
campaign.
Another thing I have noticed in the
older parts of the country, and move es-
recialiv ia New England which keeps