Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-05-04

Leading Men and Leading Ideas Not Pro-
duced by the Ci,y-Easiiy Explained
by Natural Csases-raients Frittered
Away In Excitements-
Experience IcacEes us," says Mr. Re
menyi THAT the great centers of popu
lation are marked by lanentable ster-
ility in the production Of men of genius.
Precisely as the city, with its 100, ,0O0 in
habitaais would have tu starve il it did
not receive its regular supplies of food
from the country, so il ould suffer inter-
tellectual starvation if it, mental supplies
were not, in all essential points, provided
from the country. Sometimes we find a
miserable, obscure country town pro-
ducing more men of original power than
half n dozen large cities. Everything on
which our century prides ITSELF everything
that has made the age what it is, has
come from the counGy. The statesmen
and the soldiers, the artists and the in.
yentOrs. the men OF learning and the
men Of enterprise, have all migrated
from some obscure corner OF the
land TO take possession of the
cities, as their barbarous ancestors uni
grated from savage wildernesses to take
possession of the seats of civilization. Ir
Paris, Berlin ard Vienna the natives are
largely in the minority, and the immi.
grants fill all the streets and houses an.
occupy all the public places. So it is with
the leading men and tho leading ideas;
they all come from the country"
A REASONABLE EXPLANATION.
Well. this seems u remarkable state
ment to make: but think the author Is
right. and that his proposition will hoii
good. not only in Europe, to which his
article seems chiefly to refer, but in this
country Make ont a lis: of eminent
Americans and you will find that yer,
few OF them were born in the cities How
Can this be explained Mr.. Remenyi has
10 explanation to offer; lie has no theory
regarding !, 1T has always been so, :"
Re says, ana Will always be so; the city
governs the fashions, hut the village gov
ernS the nation" ! think, however, il
can be explained by natural causes
In the first place. there are in every ma
tion about six times as many people i'll tn.
country and in the country towns as there
are m he large cities. This Is very
striking fact, of which everybody Is not
aware. Many city dweIlers imagine that
the majority Of the population Of the ma
ton live in the cities, like themselves: for
when they go to the country they see 30
few people there it seems hardly popu
lated at oil. In the next place, the ten
dency OF talent in every country is toward
the city, because, like the cabbages and
potatoes, it finds the best market there
The young painter, poe. sculptor orator
or writer naturally gravitateS toward
those centers where his talents are most
valued and command the highest reward.
II the city dwellsrs are themselves not SO
richly endowed with genius they know
best how TO appreciate it, and they pay
the best price for it.
ESciTEMENTs AND sCRANBLEs.
In the next place, the inhabitants Of
cities nre SO absorbed in multitadinous
occupations, in ambitious pursuits and
extravagant pleasures; so crazy ih the
pursuit of wealth and so cranky in the
spending of it; 50 full of newspaper ~
citements. and SO fond of outside show
and glitter, SO bent upon picking up II
little of everything and mnch OF nothih;
that it is impossible they should have the
same chance for study, for large mental
growth, as those who enjoy the slow,
steady, quiet, leisurely life OF the country
Their talents are frittei ed away in the ex
elements and scrambles OF the hour, and
seldom Coes one Of them think Of becom-
ing anything more than "a clever fellow"
or "a good fellow" II is the old story
OF the slow but steady going tortoise beat
ing the smart but superficial hare
know from my own experience that
when l was in Paris i found nearly
every position of any Importance or re-
sponSibility flled, not by Parisians, who