Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1909 — COUNTRY BOYS IN TOWN. [ARTICLE]

COUNTRY BOYS IN TOWN.

It is popularly supposed that all the boys who go from the farm to seek their fortune in the city become captains of industry and marchant princes. But the cold-blooded and unsentimental statistician has dashed cold water on that delusion by figuring out that about one in three hundred of the boys who turn their back on the farm and go to town ever'reach anything higher than an ordinary clerkship. Now that is disappointing after all we have heard and read about the selfmade men of the metropolis who used to plow corn barefooted on their father’s farms. It is probably true that all the merchant princes and industrial magnates got their start in life on the farm, but it doesn’t follow that every boy who starts from the corn row and gets off at union station in headed straight for Millionare avenue. About one out of every three hundred, the man of figures says, get to be something more than an ordinary clerk. Two hundred and ninetynine continue all their lives to be mere drudges—working harder and probably for less pay than if they had staid on the farm. Even the one who is counted as more fortunate may not be much of a merchant prince—perhaps one in ten thousand achieve that title. One chance in three hundred even isn’t very good “adds” to venture on. Better stay on the farm, boys. The Freeport (Ill.) Journal, commenting on this subject, says: “No doubt we have gained our impression that the country boy invariably succeeds in the city from the fact that it is the successful ones of whom we hear while the others escape the notice of everyone except the gatherer of statistics. When one thinks seriously of the question it is hard to advance any reason why the country boy should be unusually successful in the city. Possibly his open air life would give him a better physical foundation but that is all. In natural intelligence they should be on an equal footing. In training the city boy should have the advantage just as the farm boy has the advantage in the country. Moreyer it takes just as much energy and just as much brains to be a successful business man. This very fact probably accounts for the small percentage of farm boys who dustry and merchant princes. But the cold-blooded and unrise .above the mediocre in this city. The great percentage of town boys who leave the country are of the average intelligence only. The cream of the country boys goes- to the university, takes a course in the agricultural college and returns to the farms to put into practical use the knowledge gained. There is little attraction in the city for the real live' country boy. It has no advantage to offer him.”