The Portland daily press., 1897-03-26

the present time. The opportunities
afforded for young men with capital and
| brains in1the section about and above
johannesburg are undoubtedly good.
Tbs poor man, without a trade or with
out speciality in which he has made
marx at home is bound to have an ex.
ceedingly cheerless and disheartening
| time OF 1t, simply because there are huD-
dreds OF others there who are just as well
Zone might better say just as poorly
fitted for their new environment as heis.
| he knows how to dig, and that IL about
all there is for him to do, unless per-
chance he Is willing to tend bar, and even
| these last positions are all taken. AS for
digging or working in the mines, the
labor is far too onerous for the youth
who has never Done anything hut work
| in an office or store. He soon becomes
disheartened and, his system becoming
run down from exposure, worry and the
| effects of new climate, invites malaria
and all the kindred diseases which are
times of the year. When he RECEIVERS he
finds himself very often plunged in de-
spondenoy. He becomes desperate, ana,
| il he has been employed in some mining
town or agricultural village, wanders
back to the city and there mingles with
scores of the disheartened and careless
beings whose only thought now Is to
/
fortunes and hardships in the whisky
glass or beer mug. This last is not in
tended for lecture on temperance. but
racentswriters upon South Africa have
commented upon the remarkable demand
on-the part Of the Adventures for liquor.
Drinking becomes almost second nature,
and with an excess Of this sort, in wild
undeveloped country. other excuses fol
low close upon Its heels. A hundred
miles or so north Of Johannesburg
quart OF whiskey, and very vile stuff at
chat. has been known to sell for twenty
dollars. Men get into the habit of using
whisky to keep off malaria and get. into
the whiskey habit almost before they
know it.
The opportunities in South Africa are
not entirely on par with those fforde0
to Strangers In this country eighty years
| ago. The competition is sitter nova
days, the means of communication with
England and America are on an infinite
~ better footing than they were between
America and England in the early days
| % this century. 1t needs the best of
business ability and shrewdness Of CON-
mon sense and the shnrpsst foresight to
make SUCCESS in South Africa, whereas,
ability little above the ordinary, often
patient plodding industry brought a
man competency in the new United
| States.
by yonng man who contemplates 60
ing to South Africa from the United
| States Is that nearly all branches of To-
dustry there are controlled by either the
English or the Dutch. What positions
| there are, therefore, naturally fall to
young Englishmen and to the sons and
relatives of the Beers. There are not
enough positions for these friends and
| relatives of the people in power, so that
one can easily see that the chances of q
Young American without friends OF in
| fiuencs of obtaining lucrative position
are exceedingly slim. "Pull'' is power
| in South Africa, even more necessary
than here in the United States Without
| 1t or a comfortable sum of money it
| would be little short of folly for young
| man to go to South Africa today to seek
his fortune. With a few thousand dollars
and no family, young man might go
there with profit and would stand fair
chance Of realizing handsomely on his
| investments. The best thing for him to
do would ne to secure a..position at which
he could earn enough to sTbsist upon for
few months, while he kept his eyes
oren for chance to make good use of
his money. But, even then, 1t would
require almost as much energy and
brains to make the proper investments
on the few thoutands as it did to make
= fortune or u considerable income in the
United States in the first days of the re-
cent Government without a cent in
ones pocket upon landing In kNew
York.
The stories told Of men landing penni-
less in this country or any other coun-
try, md in a. short time building I'D
colossal fortunes are always fascinating
to read and to hear of, and they arouse
one to think that he could 90 and do
likewise. The stories are often fables,
and when they are true in part they are
almost certain to have been grossly ex-
aggerated. Even where they are true,
where man has actually become rich in
few years, starting with nothing, 1t
should be reinem bered that against his
success there were many thousand
failures.