But That Which Is Good And Pleasant To Us Is Often Not Good And
Pleasant Altogether.
Every man's chief object is himself; and the
philanthropist should endeavor to regard this question, not from
his own point of view, but from that which would be taken by the
individuals for whose happiness he is anxious.
The honest, happy
rustic makes a very pretty picture; and I hope that honest rustics
are happy. But the man who earns two shillings a day in the
country would always prefer to earn five in the town. The man who
finds himself bound to touch his hat to the squire would be glad to
dispense with that ceremony, if circumstances would permit. A
crowd of greasy-coated town artisans, with grimy hands and pale
faces, is not in itself delectable; but each of that crowd has
probably more of the goods of life than any rural laborer. He
thinks more, reads more, feels more, sees more, hears more, learns
more, and lives more. It is through great cities that the
civilization of the world has progressed, and the charms of life
been advanced. Man in his rudest state begins in the country, and
in his most finished state may retire there. But the battle of the
world has to be fought in the cities; and the country that shows
the greatest city population is ever the one that is going most
ahead in the world's history.
If this be so, I say that the argument of my Canadian friend was
naught. It may be that he does not desire crowded cities, with
dirty, independent artisans; that to view small farmers, living
sparingly, but with content, on the sweat of their brows, are surer
signs of a country's prosperity than hives of men and smoking
chimneys. He has probably all the upper classes of England with
him in so thinking, and as far as I know the upper classes of all
Europe. But the crowds themselves, the thick masses of which are
composed those populations which we count by millions, are against
him. Up in those regions which are watered by the great lakes -
Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario - and by the St.
Lawrence, the country is divided between Canada and the States.
The cities in Canada were settled long before those in the States.
Quebec and Montreal were important cities before any of the towns
belonging to the States had been founded. But taking the
population of three of each, including the three largest Canadian
towns, we find they are as follows: In Canada, Quebec has 60,000;
Montreal, 85,000; Toronto, 55,000. In the States, Chicago has
120,000; Detroit, 70,000; and Buffalo, 80,000. If the population
had been equal, it would have shown a great superiority in the
progress of those belonging to the States, because the towns of
Canada had so great a start. But the numbers are by no means
equal, showing instead a vast preponderance in favor of the States.
There can be no stronger proof that the States are advancing faster
than Canada, and in fact doing better than Canada.
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