Year: 1877

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The LEADER Office is in daily receipt
of letters from nearly every state in
the union, asking for information in
regard to the resources of this section
and the prospects here for men of small
means ''to make living" A general
depression of business and other pur-
suits, seems to have become chronic all
over the United States. 1t is confined
to no particular state, nor limited to
any particular class OF interest. The
middle classes tremble ut the contem-
plation of this reduced and in many
| instances precarious sources of income;
the mechanic is plunged into distress
and misery by reduced wages and scar
| city Of employment; the laboring classes
drag ont miserable existence-always
suffering and always hoping. In the
commercial centers and large towns, it
is safe to say, that only the rich or those
in exceptionally favorable situations
are holding their own, or permanently
improving their fortunes. This state
ment does not so generally hold good in
the country districts, although even
there the advantage is largely on the
side of capital. Still it is possible for
even the poorest farmer in the favored
districts Of the west to not only obtain
a comfortable subsistence for his family,
but also to steadily improve in fortune,
if only by the gradual but certain i'm
provement of the country around him,
and the consequent increase of values.
1t is true that this rise in property per-
tains to all real estate in thriving COM
munities, whether in city or country;
but in the city its advantages and profits
necessarily accrue to the capitalists,
while in the country the benefits are
shared more generally by the tillers of
the soil, who in new countries are most
always class of producers who CON-
mence with small means. This source
of profit and gain enjoyed by the pro-
ducers of the country is in itself an i'm
portant item, and, independent Of the
annual profit of their calling, affords
in given term of years, reward that
is at once certain and remunerative.
Thus, if q farmer OF stocEraiser settles
in any promising locality of Wyoming
with say $1,000 and can manage to
defray running expenses for subsistence
etc., for five years, the country around
him will so improve in that time, that his
place, which at the time of his settle
ment was comparatively valueless, will
be worth thousands of dollars; and even
at the advanced figures will he more
desirable to keep than to sell.


But aside from this important and
reliable increase of values, there are
other sources of profit available to the
producers Of our Territory. Stockrais-
ing and the dairy business offer the
most certain, positive and bountiful
returns of any pursuit in which men of
small or large means can engage, more
especially when it is carried on in a
country possessing, ,as!Wyoming, 80 great
an adaptation and so many advantages
for it. The immigrant certainly re-
quires some means to engage in this in
dustry to the best advantage. 1t is
also necessary that he should have some
experience and aptitude for the business;
but we claim that it can be undertaken
upon very moderate means by combina-
tion and cooperation; these will enable
the men of small means to avail them
selves of all the benefits and rewards
open to this class of producers in this
territory.


Our experience of the past ten years
proves that Wyoming is pre-eminentiy
adapted to cattle aud sheep raising and
wool-growing. Here is geld for pro-
duction which is within the easy reach
Of almost any man who can earn or
raise few hundred dollars TO start his
herd or flock. No matter how small
the beginning, his stock will soon null
tiply in almost geometrical progression.
The original investment will go on
compounding its interest from year to
year, and thus his labors and enterprise
are rewarded.


How much better this mode OF life,
than that other course which is adopted
by the non-producer. The mere ex-
changer enters upon the arena of trade,
with competitors swarming around
him, and all the contingencies and dan
gers of mercantile life staring him in
the face. If he is sensible man, he
knows that his chances of ultimate
success and independence are less than
ten to one hundred. He is dependent
upon the caprice of customers and often
thrown upon the tender mercies of the
money lender. His interests are tossed
to and fro by the waves of political dis
sension, and by the maneuvers of specu-
lators and jobbers. He is at best but
the creature of chance and the victim