Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-02
THE YOUNG MANS CHANGE
Has the Time Gone by for an Easy
Start2
Some Interesting Philosophy on n
Question of Interest TO Many
Young People.



Daily News if there is as good chance
was forty years ago"
This request comes from East Pittsburg,
where, We understand, there is more ambi-
ton to the square inch than there is of
politics in Ohio.
A chance for what? TO get married is
one of the first thoughts of ambitious
young man, and the chance for that Is
| quite as good as it was forty years ago, if
not better, but the same cannot be said Of
getting good wife. One of that kind has
| spirit and self-reiance but in the course
| of the last four decades numerous fields
| have been opened I'm which girls of spirit
and self-reiance can earn for themselves
| ar independent living, and consequently
| they are rather choice in their notions as
| to what a husband ought to be. They con-
| slider ambition in him as Indispensable, but
require other qualities. man can be am
bilious and be a very poor husband. The
! chance of getting good wife now is rarer
l than ii was forty years ago. In fact, men
who were married then will tell you fatty
that no such wives as theirs are to be had
| now.
| If our correspondent does not mean that,
but chance to become famous we reply
that II is vastly better than IL was forty
years ago. Thus man who had spent his
Efe in obscurity SO deep and dense that he
| was hardly known in a saloon two blocks
barrel and Immediately the fame Of him,
such it was. flew to the ends of the
earth, and il he had successfully done what
| he proposed to do would have drawn big
ger crowds than Mr.. Bryan does. There is
| the distinguished Mr.. Stephen Brodie OF
New York, whose most trifiing remarks
| treasured by the newspapers of the metrop-
| Oils. Who knew anything Of him until he
| jumped from the Brooklyn bridge? Mr.. Cor
| bett was little and seldom heard of until
| he landed one on the jaw OF the eminent
| son of the modern Athens, Mr. John l.. Sui
| hvan, and then and since the civilized
| world mas rung with his name. When ne
| was in ireland, Dublin forgot the cause of
| home rule in its admiration for him, and
| the factions ceased to fight in the presence
| of the fighter
| We might go on to the length OF "A column
| with instances of the ease with which fame
| is won now. 1t was not so easy forty years
| ago.
But. perhaps. our correspondent means a
| chance TO get on in the world. Indeed we
| are pretty sure that this is what he means
| And he has opened up a large subject, so
| large that il can be dealt with in barest
outline only in newspaper article. To get
| on In the world conveyed one idea forty
| years ago; IL conveys quite another now
| men a man described as getting on lived III
| style not to be thought of by one who is
so described now. What were luXuries
! then are necessities now. in most instances
and no one would think of a man who does
| without them getting on. If one is con-
| tent to limit his expenses to what those of
| the ambitious young man of forty years
| ago were, his chance to get on is certainly
| as good, If not better than it was then.
| Compare the Pittsburg of 1876 with the
| Pittsburg of 1S..6, and the manner of life.
| here now with what ii was then. That will
bring out clearly the two standards of ex-
| pendlture OF the two periods, without con-
| sidering which no correct notion of the
| relative chance of getting on can be had
| The average ambitious young man of TO-
| day spends dollars to the dimes spent by
fba .,l.;,
| years ago.
| People complain that there is more COM
| petition now than then. That is true be-
cause there are more persons to compete
| win each other, hut an increase in the
amount of competition and an Increase i'm
| the strength of it different things
! There Were times before 1856 when compe-
| tition for employ ment and Tor trade was
as keen as IL has ever been since. We think
| it dreadful that men have been compelled
| to work for dollar a day, but thousands
| of them at period which seems enchanted
| from the distance of the view worked for
| their food and shelter, and were glad 10 get
| work on those terms. Do not mistake an
| increase in the amount of competition for
| an increase in the strength of it. Men We're
| just as eager Tor money forty years ago
| as they are now. and strove as hard to
| get ii.
| To be sure. there was an abundance of
| land tG be had cheaply then, and when a
| man was tired of the competition Of the city
| he could go to the country and obtain a.
| living from a farm. Many who did that
| gradually gained a competency or grew
rlch, the latter in case their land lay near
| a city. In 1870 man went west. and in
| 1893 bought 200 acres of fine land as one
| would care to look al for yoke of oxen a
| wagon, a raw-boned sorrel horse and a
| small sum of money. 1t was within a
! dozen miles of Kansas City. If he had had
the sense to hold on TO IL, how niue h would
| his children have been worth now? Or
| rather, now much would II have been worth
| A could viii in
| stances like this, and persons hearing of
| them think 1t was easier to get on in 1886
| than it is now. But take a modern in
| stance. In lSS' man bought a lot in Pitts
| burg 1or S25u and the street Improvement
| cost him about much. Ii is assessed TO
| him now at Sl,o4o. 1t has doubled in value
| without any further outlay or risk by him
| In 1856 he built a house on ii for 81 800
| taking advantage Of an opportunity which
! actually offered itself, and few wears
AFTER an assessor remarked that 1t was as
| good a house as he had paid nearly twice
as much for. Competition there is but il
! makes chances as well kills them 1t
| Kills them only for those unable TO see
them or without courage to seize them
| Upon whom does compctition rfU most ?
| Upon those in the common employments
| the unskillei, in which neither brightness
OF mind nor force of character is much de-
! manded, among the men whose places are
| easily supplied by machines. a man of
| bright mind and force of character has as
| good chance to get on in this country
! now as he ever had, and the proof of that
! is in the thousands who do get on Forty
| Years ago man with what would be
deemed very moderate fortune now was
| looked upon as eminently successful To-
| day such men attract hardly a passing
| glance. 1t Is hardly exaggeration to saw
| That In proportion to population there are
more such men now than there We're forty
| years ago. Since then there have been
| three panics in this country, and they are
great Jewelers., sweeping away accumula-
| ions OF wealth. 1t is therefore hardly ex-
| asSeratlon TO say that the men of moderate
! fortunes did not inherit them but made
| them The number of SUCH not to mem
| tlon the multitude each with a decent COM
| potency are evidence that the chance of a
| man ambitious to get on is as good as f.
| ever was. -