Going West

"Topics of the Time," in The Centnry. The young man in tho older communities of the east, reading of the marveloua growth of this new western country, often aska himaelf whothor ho could not wisely join tho ranks of tho noxt annual migration. No doubt tho quostion, "Shall I go West?" s tho uppermoat problem in the minds of thousands of (ho young men of the east, who have stül (hoir careers to make, and hayo not yet gained a footing in the buBinesa world. It ia a qnegtion which eaeh must answer for himaelf, and concerning which no adrice can be given tha' would bo of universal . application. It would be a grievous mistake to suppose that a chango of longitude alono insuroa succesa. Idleneas, incompotency, and a nervelees, drifting diaposition, have no better chance in Montana than in Massachusetts. Indeod, thoro are Bome men who run along fairly weu in tne e ast, in tho grooves of cnstom and of estabIlshed acquaintanco and business eonneetions, who would make lamentable shipwrecks if set adrift in a new western commumty. On the other hand, the chances íor a young man of average pluck and encrgy are unqueationably much botter in the west than in the east Ho shares the advantago of being among the firstto open a fresh store-house of natural wealth. He gets the flrst dividend on tho increase of valuo rosnlting from bringiug population upon tho soil. The land ho buya for three or four dollars an aero, or gets for nothing byhomestead settlemont, soon becomes worth ten or flf teen. If he embarks in trade or in any mechanical pursuit, his wares or his now-comors around him require goode and implements. Then there is a certain stimulus in the moral atmosphere caused by the ambitions and energiea oí a new oommunity full of hope and acüvity, whioh makes bardshipa easy to bear and causes buoyanoy of spirits. Western people find it hard to mako their friends in tho east understand iust what they mean when they speak of the difference in the business and social tone of two sections. It ia a difference to be feit rather tlian dofined. There is vastly moro energy and more hope per capita of the population in nevr communities than old, and the immigrant feels at once the resulting stimulus. It bracea up the listless and desponding, and makea even the most activo man conelude that there is more ia him ia the way of work and ideas than he supposed. Many a young man who would have remained a clerk or small-salaried employé of some kind all his life, liad he stayed m the east, booomea, amid the larger opportunities of the west, a "leading eitizen," and owner of a fine -farm and a prospcrous business. The young man going west can, therefore, count upon the opportunities of obtaining good land at small coat, the business openings growing out of the wants of a new community, and the moral incentive that comes from contact with hopef ui, enterprieing people. If lie does not succeed in gaining a fuU measure of independonce in the course of tgn years, the reason will lie in his own disposition. He will either lack energy and capacity, or he will be so much a creature of habit and so thoroughly the outgrowth of an older civilization that he cannot adjust himaelf to tho new environments. There are men as well as trees that will not thrive when transplanted. Tho intending emigrant would do well to study his om disposition earefully, and make sure that ho is not of that kind.