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 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 OF TODAY. 
 
 In October, 1897, the Minneapolis Journal solicited and obtained the 
 following six articles on “The Outlook Before the Young Man of To¬ 
 day,” from men whom they considered best qualified to advise and coun¬ 
 sel along the lines that would be most interesting and advantageous to 
 young men. The last of the five articles were secured December 12, 
 and upon the 13th, the first one, that of Mr. T. B. Walker, was published 
 in the Journal of that date. The following day that of Dr. Cyrus North¬ 
 rop, President of the University of Minnesota, was published; on the 
 15th, the one written by Hon. P. M. Ringdal; on the 16th that of Joseph 
 W. Mauck, late president of the University of South Dakota; on the 17th 
 the one by Rev. James M. Cleary; and on the 18th that by President 
 Webster Merrifield, University of North Dakota. 
 
 As they were regarded as being of much importance and value to 
 young men, as well as to many of more advanced years, and interesting 
 to all readers, they have been put into this pamphlet form for distribu¬ 
 tion in such ways and manner as would seem to be of greatest advantage 
 and value, especially to young men. 
 
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 MONDAY, DECEMBER 13th, 1897. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 OF TODAY. 
 
 By T. B. Walker. 
 
 In comparing the opportunities and chances for success at the pres¬ 
 ent time with those of the past, it will be necessary to eliminate from 
 consideration the temporary effects of the depression and panicky con¬ 
 ditions that have existed since 1893, but from which we are now slowly 
 but, it is believed, surely emerging. 
 
 The question of the prospects in the present time for a successful 
 life, would mean the consideration of the conditions now as compared 
 with the past, in enabling a young man to succeed in gaining a compe¬ 
 tency, a good position and name amongst his fellow men, establishing a 
 satisfactory and pleasant home, and, I would add most of all, in living 
 a life that, when it closes, may enable its possessor to go, confidently 
 trusting in a higher and better life beyond. 
 
 Success does not in any great degree involve the necessity for ac¬ 
 cumulating a large fortune, or occupying a prominent position in the 
 world. These may, either one, be included or excluded. A broad, liberal, 
 intelligent citizen, who may honorably acquire, and who will use a for¬ 
 tune for the benefit of his fellow citizens, conjointly with rearing and 
 . training a family in right living and in usefulness to the world, may make 
 of it a most desirable possession; but when acquired by doubtful meth¬ 
 ods, or used for personal display and vanity for self or family, it becomes 
 a misfortune to the person and to the community. 
 
 » A prominent name and position may aid greatly, or but little, if any, 
 
 in a successful life. But, as a general rule, a conspicuous position, brings 
 with it a considerable prejudice on the part of the general public, and is 
 full more likely to lead to annoyance and bring disappointment and 
 weariness of life and an indifference or dislike to our fellow men. For, 
 although all are striving to become conspicuous and to acquire great 
 wealth, yet those who are successful in reaching such positions, carry 
 with them the prejudice, and to some extent the ill-will of their fellow 
 
 3 
 
men who have not so well succeeded in their efforts—unless the promi¬ 
 nence is owing to the commonly conceded usefulness on which it is 
 based, or the wealth used especially and particularly for the benefit of 
 society. 
 
 In all times in the past, as well as the present, the real key to a suc¬ 
 cessful, prosperous life has been incessant industry, integrity, and trust¬ 
 worthiness, an educated, accurate judgment, and studious and close at¬ 
 tention to work or business entrusted to us. The possessors of these 
 qualities in a large degree have been relatively scarce. Men may possess 
 some good elements of character, but be defective in some one or an¬ 
 other. Some are able to understand the theory of prudence, honesty 
 and integrity in ordinary times and under ordinary conditions, but when 
 put to the test they prove unable to withstand the strain of temptation 
 and in such times, destroy the prospects for a successful life. 
 
 The demand for a higher order of talent, judgment, integrity and 
 experience, is greater than ever, and is constantly increasing. To meet 
 this demand there is an increasing supply of capable men to take their 
 places. But the demand outstrips the supply, and always has and always 
 will. 
 
 The opportunities for advancement and success have steadily in¬ 
 creased in numbers as well as in value with the growth and development 
 in science, art and social conditions, and the improved business methods 
 of the world. It is equally true that the competition has also multiplied 
 nearly in proportion to the opportunities. The universal extension of 
 the means of education through the public schools, colleges and libraries, 
 the vast spread of general intelligence, literature and science, through 
 the agency of the press, the wonderful cheapness of books, periodical 
 literature and the newspapers, all these surround the young men of today 
 with opportunities of becoming intelligent, in advance of all previous 
 times, and enable them to acquire an education proportional to their 
 ability and industry. 
 
 The industrial progress coming more especially from the develop¬ 
 ment of steam power, that has increased the productive forces more 
 than a thousand per cent, has also increased the spirit of energy and 
 activity, and the opportunities for advancement and success. - 
 
 The care and responsibility devolving upon men is becoming greater 
 and greater with the increased concentration of business interests in 
 larger establishments, and in the handling of complicated transactions 
 where larger interests are at stake. Integrity, industry, experience and 
 judgment are coming to be in greater and greater demand. We fre¬ 
 quently hear from men who draw hasty conclusions—largely on the 
 part of the political agitators—that in these times there is a greater lack 
 of moral stamina, integrity, and reliability in business life than in former 
 years. This statement is entirely unwarranted when we compare the 
 recent with former times of panic and depression. There has not been 
 a time in the earlier experience of the world when such great business 
 integrity and trustworthiness has been exhibited under similar condi¬ 
 tions as in recent years. Amongst the men who supervise the larger 
 
 4 
 
business interests through the country and the world this principle of 
 industry, and the performance of contracts and obligations has become 
 more marked and general. And in the handling of large business con¬ 
 cerns through the agency of a multitude of different individuals having 
 trusts and responsibilities that they can betray, there is but a very 
 small percentage of those holding trusts who, even under extraordinary 
 temptations, betray the trust placed in their hands. It is true that in 
 the vast spread of news over the continent from every corner of this 
 country and Europe, we hear of defalcations and betrayals of trust here 
 and there; but put them together and see what percentage of the vast 
 interests entrusted to individuals has been betrayed. And remember, 
 too, that we stand in these times and see and know the things that are 
 around us while the past is obscure and its unreliability covered from 
 our sight. 
 
 Most of the positions of trust are filled by those who began as boys 
 or young men in the capacity of common workmen, counter-hoppers or 
 clerks. Their progress has been owing to the closely observed honesty, 
 integrity and industry which they have exhibited. The great majority 
 of all prominent positions has been gained by traveling one step after 
 another through the routine and often wearisome work and care in dis¬ 
 charging faithfully and satisfactorily the duties and obligations assigned 
 to or assumed by them. 
 
 There is less risk of failure, poverty and physical and moral ruin 
 on the farm than in the city. There are more chances for a comfortable 
 living—an equal chance for the use of energy and ability, and to study 
 out improved methods in cultivating the soil as in any other occupation. 
 
 To him who chooses mechanical work, learns a trade and becomes a 
 skilled workman, a close careful attention to the work entrusted, and a 
 constant effort in every way to promote the interest of the employer, and 
 a continual study through books and personal thought of all the prin¬ 
 ciples and methods that pertain to the business, will bring increased 
 pay, better standing, and in the end, if rightly managed an interest in 
 or'an ownership of the business, and a competency and place among 
 the most respected. 
 
 The same principles will apply to trade or the professions. Success 
 will come out of the same usefulness and reliability. Strikes and trouble¬ 
 making between the employe and employer always lead to suspicion and 
 „ ill-will, and to the ultimate disadvantage of both parties. The key to suc¬ 
 cess and a pleasant life is peace and good will to one another. Contests 
 may put one side apparently at a temporary advantage, but for a life- 
 work, peaceful methods of usefulness and reliability will win. But what- 
 * ever choice is made, whether a farmer, mechanic, merchant professional 
 man, or laborer in any field, an honest, upright and faithful, trusty life 
 of industry and constant study to improve and become more and more 
 nearly perfect in our life work, will bring a larger return of compensa¬ 
 tion to those who so work and continue to work. 
 
 Of the young men who are coming on to take their places as citizens 
 in the commonwealth, comparatively few can occupy high positions, 
 
 5 
 
great influence and wealth. But all of them, barring the comparatively 
 few who are most unfortunate in their mental or physical constitution, 
 can become to a reasonable or considerable extent successful and pros¬ 
 perous. 
 
 Present conditions require greater activity, mental and physical than 
 earlier times. Those who are willing to meet the requirements will be 
 in general compensated in proportion to the measure of usefulness. 
 But those who are not willing to meet the requirements should desire 
 and expect the compensation to go to those who do the successful 
 work. 
 
 The great industrial progress and increased activity in every field 
 of labor, mental and physical, and the great accumulations of wealth and 
 its increased production or creation, brings a greater demand for every 
 first-class helper, and an enlarged compensation for his services. This 
 compensation, either as wages, salary or profits, includes as a further 
 return, a reputation and position in the community in proportion to the 
 usefulness and ability. 
 
 No former age has been so replete with opportunities and chances 
 for development of character and openings for first-class ability and 
 industry as the present age. And these conditions will, from present 
 and past indications, improve for the next fifteen to twenty years. Then 
 will come another period of political demagogery, that will, through ap¬ 
 peals to prejudice and hatred, bring another period of financial storms, 
 business wrecking and hard times. This will, in all probability, bring 
 more revolutionary commotions than the last break in 1893—from the 
 campaign and election of 1892. But the country will, in all probability, 
 go through the next crash, and very likely the second one twenty years 
 later without breaking or paralyzing our government, or bringing political 
 or social ruin to the commonwealth. But how many more than two pe¬ 
 riods of panic the nation will pass without wreckage, the drift of events 
 in the last fifty years and the history of the past ages and nations make 
 very dangerously problematic. Unless a better feeling is established be¬ 
 tween labor and capital, and between poverty and wealth, and demagogy 
 is made more odious and less temporarily successful, and a more char¬ 
 itable and just feeling between the different classes is cultivated and be¬ 
 comes general, the demoralization and ruin for poor and rich will come, 
 and may come as early as the most pessimistic have prophesied. 
 
 Let this generation be fair, and considerate for the welfare of coming 
 generations, and transmit to them the blessings of free government and 
 good-will among the different classes of our people; so that prejudice 
 and hatred may not, as it has done so often in the past with other 
 nations, bring ruin to this, the best government ever established. 
 
 Thomas Barlow Walker, upon the death of his father, was thrown 
 upon his own resources while yet a mere lad, and his boyhood was a 
 hard struggle with poverty. He had a taste for study, however, and, 
 notwithstanding the disadvantages under which he labored, managed 
 to acquire an excellent education. He came west from his home a-t 
 
 6 
 
Xenia, Ohio, at the age of 19, finding employment in Illinois as a travel¬ 
 ing salesman, in Wisconsin as assistant professor of mathematics in 
 the state university, and in the government survey in Iowa. Attracted 
 by the reports of the advantages offered to youth and enterprise at 
 the then young but thriving town of Minneapolis, he came to this city 
 in the early 60’s and has ever since been a leading factor in the develop¬ 
 ment of the interests of this city, commercial, industrial, educational and 
 moral. What he has to say to the young men of today comes from the 
 experience of one who commenced at the bottom of the ladder, and by 
 industry, integrity, self-reliance and courage, has won fortune and a good 
 name. It is the testimony of such men to which the rising generation 
 should give attention. 
 
 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14th, 1897. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 
 OF TODAY. 
 
 By President Cyrus Northrop. 
 
 The outlook for the young man of today depends very largely upon 
 the general prosperity of the country; and we all have reason to know 
 that the clouds have been over us for many months past and that they 
 are very slow in lifting. But even these clouds will disappear after a 
 time and the natural condition of things, a wholesome demand for labor 
 in all branches of industry, will be restored. 
 
 Even as things are now, the outlook for the educated young man in 
 this part of the world is very encouraging. Minnesota has a system 
 of public education not surpassed by that of any state in the union. 
 Free education is offered to all, and this education extends from the 
 primary school to graduate work in the university. As a consequence, 
 a larger number of young men in proportion to the population in Minne¬ 
 sota are securing an education than in almost any other state. A large 
 number of the graduates of colleges have in the past found employ¬ 
 ment as teachers, at least for a time, and that most useful occupation still 
 furnishes employment to the larger number of graduates immediately 
 after leaving the university; and every year the demand for teachers in¬ 
 creases, and more and more the demand is for teachers who have had 
 university training. A hundred high schools, a hundred graded schools 
 seeking to become high schools, in Minnesota every year stretch out 
 their hands to welcome the university graduate to most serviceable work, 
 and to comfortable remuneration. 
 
 All along the lines of our railroads villages are springing up and 
 
 7 
 
towns are growing, and the number of men needed as teachers is con¬ 
 stantly increasing, to say nothing of the opportunities offered for men 
 of other professions. Practically “this part of the world” stretches to 
 the Pacific. Already calls for young men to carry on the work of educa¬ 
 tion come to Minnesota from all the states west of us. 
 
 Facts are sometimes instructive. The present year, preceded as it 
 has been by years of business depression, is undoubtedly as hard in its 
 bearing on the young man’s outlook as any year we have had. It is in¬ 
 teresting to note the following facts, showing what the graduates of the 
 classes of ’95 and ’96 of the college of science, literature and arts in the 
 university are now doing. 
 
 The whole number of students in the classes was 197. Of these 
 eighty-six are now teaching; twenty-three are now studying law; eight 
 are studying theology; fifteen are studying medicine; sixteen are taking 
 graduate work in the university; twenty-two are in business and journal¬ 
 ism. The occupation of twenty-seven is not known. 
 
 Of the forty who took degrees in the college of engineering, all but 
 three or four are engaged in various branches of engineering work. 
 
 Of the classes which have completed the course of study in the 
 school of agriculture, nearly every man has returned to the farm, and 
 has found that a good agricultural education is a great help to success¬ 
 ful and profitable farming. 
 
 The northwest is rich in resources that as yet are undeveloped. The 
 time was when it was supposed that agriculture could be carried on 
 here only to a very limited extent; but it is now certain that diversified 
 farming can be made as profitable in Minnesota as elsewhere. No prod¬ 
 ucts command a surer market than good butter and cheese, and these 
 can be produced in Minnesota as well as anywhere, and already this 
 industry in the state is a commanding one. For the young man trained 
 properly in agriculture, with cheap lands obtainable, the outlook in this 
 part of the country is as bright as need be, if he will make the most of 
 his opportunities and become a producer of what all the world wants. 
 On the other hand, if he persists in trying to be a clerk, or an insurance 
 agent, or a real estate or a loan agent, he will find the field fully occu¬ 
 pied, with little prospect of an opening for him. 
 
 No matter what business a young man engages in, he must be ener¬ 
 getic and faithful, if he would succeed. If he is a merchant, he must 
 keep a good stock, be willing to sell it at a reasonable profit, and let 
 people know what he can do for them. I know of a young firm that 
 established itself in a country town in mercantile business. There were 
 nine other stores already competing for custom. At the end of two 
 years the wholesale dealers were selling to the young firm more goods 
 than to all the other nine. The young men in the firm were active, wide¬ 
 awake, obliging, up-to-date in all respects, and peoole soon found out 
 that it was worth while to trade with them, and they did. 
 
 There is no doubt that here, as everywhere, the young man who 
 would succeed must push himself to the front, if he would get there. 
 The world is not hunting for young men just now. There is an abun- 
 
 8 
 
dance of them. But the world still needs and will use the services of all 
 who are really capable and efficient. Those who are not, must join the 
 gfeat army of unskilled labor and compete with it for wages. 
 
 The professions are said to be overcrowded. Undoubtedly they are 
 in most of the cities. But there are many large districts that as yet have 
 no good doctor, and the additions yearly to the members of the bar do 
 not exceed very much the removals by death and change of occupation. 
 There is for members of the legal profession still a large opportunity to 
 “go west and grow up with the country.” We need more manufac¬ 
 tories. These, if wisely established, would help greatly to maintain a 
 large population in comfort, summer and winter alike. At present too 
 large a part of our energies are expended in summer and there is too 
 much of enforced rest in winter. Doubtless time will make this all right, 
 though the present manifest tendency to consolidation in manufacturing 
 enterprises is likely to prevent the dissemination of such enterprises 
 through all parts of the country to as great an extent as has been usual 
 in the past. This is undoubtedly to be regretted. But it remains to be 
 seen whether the ultimate result of this tendency will be for good or 
 evil. Certainly the large diminution of independent, self-reliant, con¬ 
 ductors of business and the substitution therefor of a few business bosses, 
 with a host of subordinates who simply obey orders, is not likely to 
 add to the character of our citizenship nor to brighten the outlook for 
 young men in this or any other part of the country. But the business 
 world is in a state of transition, and no one can foretell the result. 
 Let us hope that the intelligence, good sense and patriotism of our 
 people may be equal to the emergency, and that out of what now seems 
 fraught with so much calamity may be evolved new methods that shall 
 contribute to the general prosperity, and give to every man at least a fair 
 chance of earning an honest living. 
 
 I confess I do not now see how this is to be brought about. But 
 dark days have been followed by sunshine before now, and I do not doubt 
 that they will be hereafter. 
 
 President Cyrus Northrop, of the State University, is so closely 
 in sympathy with the aims and hopes and ambitions of the hundreds of 
 young men who come directly under his influence each year as students 
 of the university, that what he has to say with regard to the outlook 
 before the young man of today in this part of the world will be listened 
 to with peculiar interest. President Northrop has devoted his life to 
 the young man. He is the leading educator of the Northwest, and one 
 of the foremost of his profession in the country. He has had the satis¬ 
 faction of seeing the University of Minnesota grow in attendance since 
 his election as president in 1884, from less than 300 to nearly 3,000 
 students, while at the same time the scope of its work has broadened and 
 the quality elevated until it now ranks among the first in the country, not 
 only in the point of attendance, but in equipment and the character 
 of the educational work done. Cyrus Northrop was a farmer boy in 
 Connecticut sixty years ago, and, after a course of study, beginning with 
 the common schools, passing through the Ridgefield Academy, one of 
 
 9 
 
those institutions whose elimination from the educational system of the 
 country is much to be regretted, through the Williston Seminary, Yale 
 College and the law school, he had prepared for and expected to be a 
 lawyer, but a deep interest in public affairs, and active participation in 
 the famous Lincoln campaign of 1860, made him assistant clerk of the 
 Connecticut house of representatives, and subsequently clerk of the 
 senate, and in 1862 editor of the New Haven Palladium. Subsequently 
 he returned to the chair of rhetoric and English literature in Yale, which 
 position he held for nineteen years, or until 1884, when he was called 
 to the presidency of the University of Minnesota. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15th, 1897. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 OF TODAY 
 
 By Hon. P. M. Ringdal. 
 
 Social changes have always moved in cycles. Periods of progress 
 and of stagnation have relieved one another in endless succession. In¬ 
 tellectual activity has been followed by intellectual indolence; moral 
 regeneration by moral decay; material wealth and prosperity by poverty 
 and squalor. Seldom has great intellectual and moral activity existed 
 side by side with universal material prosperity. The latter has often 
 come as a result of the former, frequently as their destroyer. But mate¬ 
 rial prosperity without moral rectitude soon wreaks its own ruin. Re¬ 
 turning poverty again stimulates the moral and intellectual forces and 
 the process is repeated. 
 
 To measure the outlook before the young man in the northwest 
 today, it is well to know the conditions that have preceded the present, 
 as well as those that now obtain. 
 
 Hitherto its development has partaken largely of the nature of ex¬ 
 ploitation. Many have been able to enjoy luxuries without great exer¬ 
 tion, either of body or of mind. Here nature had busied herself during 
 countless centuries storing up her riches. In forests and prairies, in 
 lakes and streams, her hoarded wealth eclipsed “Eldorado.” Then the 
 white man came. He hungered for land; he thirsted for position and 
 power. Experience in densely populated countries had taught him the 
 value of nature’s deposits. When he pushed open the door to this 
 treasure chamber, there was inaugurated a saturnalia of land-grabbing, 
 with its attendant manifestations. This was but natural. “Extreme 
 hunger breeds the gourmand,” and, paradoxical as it may seem, greed is 
 the companion of satiety. All other tastes and desires were lost in, or 
 
 10 
 
mad*e subservient to, the resultant master-passion, “thirst for wealth." 
 
 With riches as the chief aim and object of all men’s efforts, it was 
 not strange that their happiness, their worth, their social positions, and 
 even the value of their opinions should have been estimated by the 
 amount of property which they possessed. In this atmosphere the moral 
 tone of the society which sprang up was necessarily unhealthy. There 
 was no distinctive national spirit to be guided by, no national sentiment 
 to uphold. Society was composed of a mass of heterogenous fragments 
 flung together from all parts of the planet. Customs, as old as civiliza¬ 
 tion, lost their sanctity, and were first neglected, then forgotten. All old 
 standards failed, partially or completely. A new one was adopted, suited 
 to the times and conditions—“The Almighty Dollar." 
 
 Under this new standard things went along swimmingly for a time. 
 It was well adapted to a period when most men tacitly admitted the 
 righteousness of the doctrine—“Let him take who has the power and 
 let him keep who can." 
 
 Under its regime men, driven by their ambition for fame and social 
 position, resorted to many questionable business methods, in the hope 
 of rapidly accumulated riches. Ethics were not in fashion. The legality 
 of an act was its justification. Society did not ask: “How have you 
 obtained wealth?" “Have you obtained wealth?" was its Alpha and 
 Omega; the answer its password or its shibboleth. 
 
 But all things have an end. The floodtide of land-grabbing is past. 
 The social and commercial bubbles that floated upon its crest are burst¬ 
 ing, and they leave behind them only a memory. 
 
 Looking back upon an era that is just closing, the wonder is not 
 that the moral tone was faulty, but that it was no worse. Conditions 
 were such that no better results could reasonably have been expected. 
 Worse ones should not have surprised us. It is to the credit of human 
 nature, and particularly creditable to the people of the northwest, com¬ 
 ing together as they did from all parts of the world, most of them young, 
 without experience or social ties, and subject to all manner of tempta¬ 
 tions, that they should have retained, as individuals, moral sentiments 
 immeasurably superior to those recognized as social standards. 
 
 A new era is upon us. Land-grabbing is a thing of the past. Its 
 benefits have departed with it. But the evils brought in its train are with 
 us and must be dealt with. This is the opportunity of the young man. 
 Here there is work for him to do, and of a character to bring out what 
 there is in him. If he has bent his knee to “Baal," by accepting the doc¬ 
 trine that the chief aim of life is animal enjoyment, the outlook before 
 him is not bright. If he feels no cravings but such as can be satisfied 
 with purchasable commodities, he has fallen upon evil times. The day 
 of rapidly acquired riches has gone by. Napoleons of finance are going 
 out of date. Nature has no more free gifts. To the suppliant for them 
 she sternly answers: “In the sweat of thy brow shall thou eat bread." 
 “Go west, young man and grow up with the country," must give place 
 to “Take hold, young man, and lift up the country." This is not a time 
 for careless ease and selfish enjoyment, but for earnest purpose and stern 
 
 11 
 
exercise of that higher egotism born of the power to see that the welfare 
 of the one is an inseparable part of the welfare of the many. It is the 
 seedtime of moral and intellectual harvests to come. As the young man 
 of today sows so shall future generations reap. Emphasis should be 
 placed upon “young/’ It is the “young man’’ who must to work. His 
 are the opportunities, and his are the responsibilities. The “old man,” 
 who has spent his force in the frenzied scramble that we have witnessed, 
 does not know what to do. He lives in the past and fondly dreams of 
 the return of the “boom.” He used to conjure forth a hectic prosperity 
 by feeding the fire of greed with the stored-up vitality of the centuries. 
 Now that the fuel is running low, he wonders why the spell has lost its 
 potency, and would, if left to himself, consign the remnants to the same 
 limbo, beside mortgaging the future. It would be cruel to place the 
 present burden upon his shoulders, if he were fit to bear it, which he is 
 not. His work is done. He found the country a wilderness, inhabited 
 by savages and wild beasts. He has cleared the ground and made it 
 inhabitable. In doing this his strength has been exhausted. He has no 
 skill in the real work of nation-building, which must now be done. For 
 nations are not built of dollars. Had he not been too much absorbed in 
 his own peculiar vocation to notice what passed around him, he would 
 have adapted himself and his business methods to the changed condi¬ 
 tions brought about by the rapid development of the mechanical world. 
 He would have faced the problem as bravely as he faced the savage, had 
 he seen it. But he did not see it. He does not see it now. Therefore 
 the young man must take hold. His must be the task of building for the 
 nation a character, in keeping with its geographical, commercial and 
 numerical greatness. 
 
 But as a stream cannot rise above its source, so a nation’s character 
 cannot rise above the characters of its citizens. To this task let the 
 young man see that he brings the requisite capital in a firm and lofty 
 purpose, a pure heart and clean hands. It is not brilliancy and genius 
 that are needed, but courage, integrity and perseverance. Let him begin 
 the work of building the national character along these lines, by making 
 his own conform to them, and he shall not only find work enough to 
 do, but when the period of travail is past, he shall receive his reward in 
 the higher plane of individual prosperity having its root not in accumu¬ 
 lated property, which the first blast of adversity blows away, but in 
 the security and permanency of a nation whose foundation shall be laid 
 on the eternal rock, and whose superstructure shall be a refuge for the 
 oppressed and the pride of all honest men. This, the prospect before 
 the young man of ’97, has seldom been equalled, and never surpassed. 
 And it is in the northwest that the field gives the greatest promise of 
 a hundredfold return. 
 
 P. M. Ringdal is a resident of Crookston, and represents the old 
 fifty-fifth legislative district in the state senate, having been elected as a 
 populist in 1894. His occupation is that of a marble worker. He writes 
 from the standpoint of a man in the ranks of the industrial workers of 
 the state. He was born in Goodhue county and educated in the common 
 
 12 
 
schools. At the age of 19 he became an employe of the Chicago & 
 North-Western Railway Company as a telegraph operator. He continued 
 in that service until 1889, when he went into the marble business in 
 Crookston. He maintained a high place in the confidence and regard 
 of his fellow members of the senate regardless of party relations. 
 
 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1897. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 OF TODAY. 
 
 By Joseph W. Mauck, 
 
 Late President of the University of South Dakota. 
 
 Whether it be true or not that the closing quarter of 1897 opens up 
 unusual prospects aside from the expected and measurably realized 
 revival of business, the northwest, by comparison with other sections, 
 offers superior attractions at all times, with unusual assurances that 
 the newcomer’s hopes will not be shattered or his plans suffer defeat. 
 
 Young men compose so large a class, of such varied aspirations, that 
 one must deal with the broadest of general statements for the whole 
 class, or limit his subject so as to deal with concrete advantages offered 
 to the limited number. The writer’s present field of labor prompts the 
 choice of the concrete and the college man or boy as the class to be 
 referred to. Others may speak in strong language, consistently with 
 entire truth, of manufacturing, lumbering and other enterprises for 
 which this country is justly celebrated, and treat of an abundance of 
 “openings” for young men who would engage in these. If in such under¬ 
 takings one can find elsewhere a greater variety, an equal promise of 
 success, among more industrious, intelligent, sympathetic and hospitable 
 people, I would esteem it a favor to have the place pointed out. 
 
 To the young man fresh from college who has suffered an impair¬ 
 ment of nervous and vital energies, an experience unhappily falling to too 
 many of his class by reason of imprudent sedentary habits, the truth that 
 tgood health is a condition of the highest success in any undertaking 
 comes with peculiar force. In most cases the exhilarating climate of the 
 northwest, much praised but not over-praised, can be safely recommend¬ 
 ed. Aside from occasional extravagance of misguided or unprincipled 
 “boomers,” this essential attraction has not been painted in too high 
 colors. Put all of the blizzards, cold waves and hot winds of an entire 
 year into a thirty days’ visit of an honest investigator from abroad, and 
 he would not get the absurd impressions created by those misinformed 
 
 13 
 
or envious writers for eastern papers who have never seen the west. 
 Unlike some patent nostrums, our climate is not a specific for all physical 
 ills, and is not indiscriminately recommended to all invalids. It is not in 
 all seasons nicely suited to all conditions and temperaments. I believe 
 that would not be claimed for heaven itself. But taken as a whole, and 
 for all periods of the year, what is called the northwest, offers a better 
 climate and better health than any other corresponding area in America, 
 with peculiar benefits to those afflicted with many of the ills incident 
 to other climes. 
 
 Wherever large, diversified and permanent enterprises of a material 
 nature exist, in manufacturing, commerce, transportation, and the like, 
 one cannot fail to find opportunities in the so-called learned professions. 
 This paper, with others, will clearly imply, if they do not describe, the 
 magnitude of operations in these lines. The professions are consequently 
 passed with the observation that the many thrifty towns and cities in 
 these states are peculiarly suited to the young man who would avoid 
 the mistake which is blasting the lives of thousands—that of losing one’s 
 self in a large city, vainly seeking the rank and honors which but one in 
 a thousand reaches, struggling for an existence amid a few who are 
 affluent, seldom known, rarely heard of. The rationally ambitious young 
 man engages in the same professions in smaller places, lives with less 
 anxiety and strife, more ease, with a competence, with a discipline of 
 responsibility and “prominence,” the recipient of more frequent civic 
 and political honors, and in after years better qualified for city life, with 
 his country clients behind him, than his more short-sighted comrade 
 who first settled in the city. 
 
 The very large class of college men who engage in teaching as a 
 profession or “stepping-stone,” will find here employment at from fair 
 to handsome remuneration, under peculiarly favorable professional con¬ 
 ditions. The liberal provisions made for education by the federal and 
 state governments, and the elaborate plans laid for co-ordination of 
 schools in this comparatively new country, have excited the wonder 
 of educators as they have examined exhibits at the great expositions. 
 The organization of popular education from the alphabet to graduate 
 course in great universities has in a short time in Minnesota, Wisconsin 
 and other states, attained a development and effectiveness rare in states 
 of twice or thrice the age. That perfection has been reached in organiza¬ 
 tion or results is not claimed or to be expected; but broad and flexible 
 systems, free from unyielding precedents and authorities, are the delight 
 of men of progressive pedagogical ideas, however unattractive they may 
 be to the mere routine teacher. As a class, northwestern educators are 
 alert for improvements, careful readers of educational literature, sup¬ 
 porters of institutes, clubs, summer schools and other legitimate expe¬ 
 dients, giving a ready reception and hearing to the man of new ideas, 
 scrutinizing in their judgment upon the same, not accepting a new idea 
 simply because it is new. The theorist who can give a reason for his 
 faith is heeded and honored; the man of fads meets perplexities and con¬ 
 fusion in abundance. 
 
 The young teacher or professor need not fear for his life from a 
 
 14 
 
stampede of buffalo herds or outbreaks of Indians. He will meet hosts 
 of peers in education and the finer amenities of life, and at educational 
 gatherings will be thrown into contact with graduates of the greatest 
 universities, introduced to him by his familiar Greek-letter badge. Bear¬ 
 ers of literary honors, academic and graduate degrees, are doing service 
 of the highest order in village and city schools, as well as in colleges and 
 universities. 
 
 It is confidently claimed that northwestern patrons of schools in all 
 departments are peerless in a union of popular intelligence, in cheerful 
 support of schools, in interest in their progress, and in a progressiveness 
 which is patient of experimentation in courses and instruction. With 
 this support, and with a free and hospitable social life, originality in 
 methods of instruction and discussion of the same, and with the activity, 
 robustness and self-reliance of the student body, the teacher of heart 
 and spirit has here a most inviting field for the exercise of the best that 
 is in him, and rare facilities for making an enviable pedagogical record. 
 
 One with a special education bearing upon the more material enter¬ 
 prises of business, or upon explorations for purely scientific discoveries, 
 does not lack for opportunities. Minnesota in particular has appreciated 
 the value of men trained in college and university laboratories, and has 
 called large numbers into her service, while other states have been 
 scarcely second to her, if not her match. Statesmen have learned that 
 their employment averts enormous losses suffered by other parts of the 
 country through speculators taking up state lands for rich deposits known 
 only to themselves, as also from unscientific experiments and chance in¬ 
 vestments for development of resources which do not exist. The services 
 of college men, some fresh from student work in laboratories, have in 
 these directions been of untold profit to mining, agriculture, dairying 
 and the like, and the states have learned that it abundantly pays to em¬ 
 ploy them. Private parties and corporations have not been slow to take 
 a like course, and are with like profit seeking the aid of scientists in 
 prospecting and in operation of industries. 
 
 Discovery of processes for reduction of rich ores heretofore not yield¬ 
 ing up their treasures, and of improved methods in processes now in use, 
 is an inviting and lucrative object of endeavor for the scientific student. 
 It is but one of many. The operations in iron, building stone, timber and 
 the like, afford an almost limitless field for the original investigator. De¬ 
 posits of coal and lignite in several states, as yet known to few, await 
 exploration and experimentation, and the long distance from the old 
 coal fields is a sufficient hint as to the economic importance of the fuel 
 , question and the substantial certainty of money-making. 
 
 The discovery of artesian basins has opened a new and most interest¬ 
 ing field for the geologist and engineer, and one of immense possibilities. 
 For domestic use, for live stock, fire protection, and for power, the water 
 has already proved a great boon, but unscientific location and sinking 
 of wells, and crude methods of utilization of the supply have wrought 
 a loss and waste which will be disastrous if the supply should not prove 
 to be inexhaustible. Its permanent or temporary character must be 
 
 15 
 
determined by intelligent geologic investigations, and its most profitable 
 utilization be attained by expert engineering. 
 
 One might with equal pertinence refer to varied water powers to be 
 applied to the generation and transmission of electricity, to the demands 
 for intelligent forestry, to soils peculiarly adapted to scientific agriculture, 
 and to other opportunities for applying the sciences taught in the col¬ 
 leges. 
 
 The high-minded young man who loves science for truth’s sake, is, 
 however, not in the northwest limited to economic applications of his 
 training. The country has a rare wealth of fossiliferous remains, and a 
 profusion of those specimens which are of such entrancing interest to the 
 devotee of science. The numerous exploring parties sent out by societies 
 and institutions of learning, are the strongest of testimony to the peculiar 
 scientific interest attaching to this country, and their great collections are 
 but suggestions of what the zealous young scientist may find. The coun¬ 
 try will continue to afford extraordinary opportunities for the ambitious 
 man to make contributions to science and win for himself an enduring 
 record in its literature. 
 
 Joseph W. Mauck resigned the presidency of the University of 
 South Dakota on the first day of last October, having succeeded the late 
 Professor Olson on the first of October, 1891. Professor Mauck, who is 
 now 45 years of age, spent his boyhood on an Ohio farm. After preparing 
 for college at the Cheshire, Ohio, academy, he entered Hillsdale college 
 at Hillsdale, Mich., from which he graduated in 1875. He took graduate 
 study at Johns Hopkins University, and after a connection of twenty 
 years as a student, professor and trustee with Hillsdale college, he spent 
 eight years in business in Chicago and Minneapolis prior to his election 
 to the presidency of the University of South Dakota. His resignation 
 last October was offered to enable him to return to business, a favorable 
 opportunity having offered itself in Chicago. President Mauck left a 
 permanent impression upon the educational work of South Dakota, and 
 carried the university through a season of serious disturbance and strife 
 in the governing boards, the faculty and student body. The task was a 
 difficult one, but was discharged by him in such a way as to command 
 the confidence and respect of the people of the state in a very high 
 degree. The accompanying article was written while Professor Mauck 
 was still at the head of the South Dakota university. 
 
 16 
 
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17th, 1897. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 OF TODAY. 
 
 By Rev. James M. Cleary. 
 
 To Emerson, I believe, the credit has been given of claiming that 
 America is but another name for opportunity. This country of ours is 
 in very truth the land of opportunity. Every man can be the architect 
 of his own fortune. We have no attractive positions that fall to men 
 as a family inheritance. We have no traditions that can hold unde¬ 
 serving men in situations of honor and profit. Every man’s claim to 
 success must, therefore, rest upon his personal merit, upon his industry, 
 talent and integrity. Greater, or better incentives to honorable ambi¬ 
 tion are not known among men. The man of sterling worth rejoices 
 in the golden opportunity of creating his own fortune and of building 
 the enduring edifice of his well-earned fame. 
 
 The older a community becomes, the more its members, naturally, 
 rely on precedents, and honor traditions that seem sacred to them. 
 The bold innovator is regarded with some suspicion. In communities 
 comparatively new, precedents have no weight, and traditions are 
 unknown. What would seem to be unpardonable boldness in a com¬ 
 munity bound by conservative lines, is applauded in a new community, 
 and honored as an evidence of superior merit, bordering on genius. 
 
 Hence, in our glorious northwest, the opportunities for young men 
 of education, talent, industry, integrity and ambition, are unequalled 
 in any part of the world. They surpass the opportunities of older sec¬ 
 tions of this country as far as these sections surpass the settled condi¬ 
 tions of the old world. The young men who have come to the north¬ 
 west from the New England village or the New England farm, and 
 have passed, by leaps and bounds, the conservatism of their sturdy and 
 
 • industrious ancestry, and who have done so much in the development of 
 this vast territory, have simply opened the way, and have demonstrated 
 to the young men of this generation what possibilities are within their 
 reach. All the good chances are by no means pre-empted; there is more 
 
 * room for genuine ability than ever before. The summit of ambition’s 
 peak is never overcrowded. The young men of this generation enjoy 
 many advantages over the early pioneers of the west, who surveyed 
 our prairies, forded the rivers and followed the Indian’s trail through 
 the forest. 
 
 The precious time spent by the daring men who “blazed” their way 
 to home and fortune through the unexplored wilderness, in necessary 
 
 17 
 
preparation for their lifework, can now be profitably employed by those 
 who reap where they had sown, in building fame and fortune on foun¬ 
 dations already well laid. We have passed through the formative stage 
 of our western civilization. State, municipal, county and township laws 
 and charters have all been well and carefully established. The rights 
 of property are protected, and the rights of the individual are not in 
 danger. Most of our municipalities and corporations had no existence 
 a generation ago. We are but in our infancy. The young man’s oppor¬ 
 tunity is right at our doors. Society everywhere is undergoing a 
 change. Our industrial conditions cannot continue as they are. Sordid 
 greed for wealth, the spirit of invention, and the restlessness of the 
 American people have combined to revolutionize our social conditions. 
 What the outcome in the near future may be, the wisest prophet cannot 
 tell. But in any event, the safest advantage to the honest and indus¬ 
 trious man must be found where nature conceals her richest treasures. 
 
 The fertility of our soil, the healthfulness of our climate, are foun¬ 
 dations of prosperity and wealth which no combinations suggested by 
 selfish greed can destroy. We cannot long continue in our present 
 anomalous condition in this country of witnessing the dangerous con¬ 
 gestion of wealth in those sections of country that do not produce it. 
 The wealth of a nation should be garnered where its foundations are 
 laid. 
 
 More finished scholarship may be found among the few, in older 
 sections of the country than we meet with in the northwest. But here 
 there is found a more widely extended mental activity, and greater 
 intellectual vigor than in older sections; a condition that gives far 
 greater promise for the country’s general welfare. A vigorous activity 
 and dauntless energy characterizes western industry. These qualities 
 exert a most beneficial influence in shaping a career of usefulness and 
 honor for the professional young man. In the sharp attrition of intel¬ 
 lect all a young man’s best possibilities will be awakened, his faculties 
 sharpened, his industry challenged, and his mental powers developed to 
 their fullest capacity. 
 
 The “sharp” and “smart” young man has given the northwest some 
 salutary lessons during the brief period of his inglorious career. He 
 has visited the northwest, sometimes shone for a while and won 
 admiration for his ingenious rascality. But his ignominious fall, and 
 short-lived prosperity have taught the people of the northwest that dis¬ 
 honest methods do not pay, and that honesty and integrity, after all, 
 are the only reliable foundations of prosperity, reputation and fame. 
 The juggling trickster with the rights and the property of other men, 
 is doomed to disgrace in the northwest as well as in any other section 
 of the country. 
 
 We need, however, the sharpened intellects of honest young men 
 to expose the knavery of conscienceless schemers. The honest and 
 upright man has nothing to fear from the chicanery of rogues. Dis¬ 
 honesty may seem to prosper for a while, but it is sure to meet its 
 doom. An enlightened public conscience will reward honesty with 
 
 18 
 
substantial tokens of indorsement, and brand dishonorable trickery 
 with the odium it deserves. Young men of fearless convictions, of keen 
 minds and courageous hearts can find in the great northwest the most 
 inviting field for honorable activity. The sluggard, the drone and 
 the leach can find no welcome in the northwest. A young man to suc¬ 
 ceed must establish for himself a safe reputation for industry, ability, 
 integrity and honesty, and the northwest will give him a warm wel¬ 
 come, and in due time richly reward him. 
 
 Many of the great social problems that engage the attention of 
 earnest minds will find, I feel confident, their best solution in the north¬ 
 west. Intelligent, bright young men, of this generation, have the oppor¬ 
 tunity of sharing the honors in solving vexatious problems. They 
 should be industrious students of the great questions of the day, and 
 fit themselves to take an honorable part in the discussion of sociological 
 problems. The important problem of municipal government in this 
 country, that now so seriously engages the attention of statesmen 
 and scholars, will find the best solution in the new and thriving cities 
 of the northwest. 
 
 The difficult saloon problem, that has been practically abandoned 
 in despair by philanthropists and moralists in the cities of England, 
 and that disheartens all good men in the older cities of this country, 
 will, we have every reason to hope, find its best solution in our ambi¬ 
 tious cities of the northwest. The metropolis of the northwest, our 
 flourishing Minneapolis, enjoys the distinction of being blessed with 
 the very best legal regulation of the liquor traffic of any city in the land. 
 Our condition is, of course, not ideal, and much remains to be done for 
 the proper enforcement of existing laws, but the fact that such admir¬ 
 able laws exist for the regulation of the liquor traffic is most encourag¬ 
 ing, and offers opportunities to the coming generation to master this 
 great difficulty. 
 
 Flourishing schools, colleges, academies and universities in the 
 northwest bear abundant testimony to the zeal of the people for the 
 diffusion of knowledge, and to the respect that they have for mental 
 culture. The two thousand students of the flourishing university of the 
 state of Minnesota, bear cheering testimony to the popular demand 
 for the diffusion of useful knowledge. The crowded condition of all 
 our schools, public and private, notwithstanding their generous provi- 
 ^ sions for all, indicate plainly the hopes centered by the people in popu¬ 
 lar education. Our numerous and well-attended churches demonstrate 
 that the people of the northwest do not place unbounded confidence in 
 the training of the mind, but rely upon the sacred influences of religion, 
 ,to cultivate the hearts and the consciences of its citizens. 
 
 No doubt can be entertained by the observing man about the attrac¬ 
 tive opportunities presented by the northwest to ambitious, honest, 
 industrious and capable young men. We have room for them all, gen¬ 
 erous rewards for the deserving, kind encouragement for the industrious, 
 and positions of trust and honor for the law-abiding, the God-fearing 
 and the honest._ 
 
 James M. Cleary is the pastor of St. Charles’ Catholic church. 
 
 19 
 
Father Cleary has earned and enjoys the esteem of the people of this 
 community in a very high degree. To know him is to become his 
 friend, and to know of his faithful work in the sacred office into which 
 he has entered is to entertain the highest respect for his efficiency and 
 usefulness. He is introduced here in this series because of his warm 
 sympathy for young men. James M. Cleary is one of the large hearted, 
 generous, sympathetic men, whose warm hand clasp is worth more to 
 a man who needs sympathy and encouragement than any man’s dollars. 
 In his work as a pastor he has always had his heart open, and his eyes, 
 to opportunities to do good to the boys and young men who come 
 under his influence. He is a student of their peculiar surroundings 
 and conditions, and of the opportunities, temptations, the hopes, the 
 ambitions and the discouragements which young men encounter. He 
 is, too, a man of affairs, interested in the welfare of the community 
 outside the boundaries of his own parish, a large minded, liberal, pro¬ 
 gressive citizen, who discharges his duties to the state none the less 
 diligently and faithfully for his fidelity to those of the church. 
 
 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18th, 1897. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK BEFORE THE YOUNG MAN 
 OF TODAY. 
 
 By President Webster Merrifield, University of North Dakota. 
 
 An experience of nearly twenty years in the training of young men, 
 the larger part of it in connection with the state university of one of 
 the newer northwestern states, doubtless suggested the writer to the 
 editor of The Journal as one who ought to be able to say something 
 about “the general conditions and opportunities which meet the young 
 man of 21 in the northwest today.” I believe I appreciate the feeling 
 of apprehension, often amounting to a positive dread, with which the 
 more thoughtful young men look out upon the busy world they are soon * 
 to enter; and I should be glad if I might say something to allay this 
 apprehension and, in some small degree, to give purpose and direction 
 to the lives of the young men whom I am addressing. 
 
 I may say, to begin with, that I consider the young men of the - ' 
 northwest fortunate in the field of labor which has fallen to them. I 
 am fairly familiar, from observation, with most parts of the United 
 States, as well as with countries of western Europe; and I am by no 
 means insensible to the attractions offered by other parts of the world 
 when I express the belief that the northwest of our own country, and 
 particularly Minnesota and the Dakotas, are the region of the greatest 
 
 20 
 
opportunity for the young man starting out in life today with limited 
 means. My reasons for this belief are based in part upon the follow¬ 
 ing considerations: 
 
 (1) I know of no other region whose climate is at once so health¬ 
 ful and so favorable to sustain mental and physical exertion. 
 
 (2) No other region possesses such an extent of cheap land— 
 much of it still open to homestead entry—at once so fertile, so easily 
 cultivated and so accessible to the great markets. 
 
 (3) The northwest is exceptionally favored in the character of its 
 population. Composed of representatives of the three branches of the 
 Teutonic race—the Anglo-Saxon, Germans and Scandinavians, the great 
 conquering and civilized peoples of modern history—the population of 
 the northwest seems likely to develop the highest type of civilization 
 yet produced in the world. 
 
 (4) To such a people, applying itself in such a climate to such a 
 *soil, exceptional prosperity cannot long remain a stranger. In this 
 
 prosperity the young man coming of age in the northwest this year 
 will be, perforce, a sharer. 
 
 4 Times have been undeniably hard in the northwest in recent years; 
 but not harder, less hard, in truth, here than elsewhere, according to 
 the testimony alike of the press, of travelers and of industrial and social 
 statistics. Fortunately, hard times bear within themselves the germs 
 of their own cure. Perhaps never before was the northwest or the 
 country at large living so generally within its income. Loan agents 
 tell me that more loans have been paid off in North Dakota in the last 
 three years than in the previous ten; while the excess of exports over 
 imports for the year 1896 amounted for the entire country to the enor¬ 
 mous and unprecedented aggregate of $325,000,000. Precisely similar 
 conditions prevailed in 1879, the last of the six lean years following the 
 panic of 1873, and ushered in the era of prosperity which began in 
 1880. There are good reasons also for believing that the special diffi¬ 
 culties under which the northwest has been laboring for some years 
 past will henceforth rapidly disappear. The fierce competition in 
 wheat culture with which the northwest has been confronted in recent 
 years in consequence of the opening up of new wheat areas in India, 
 Russia and Argentine, has largely spent its force, and a somewhat higher 
 level of wheat prices may reasonably be expected from now on. 
 
 4 Another force operating in the same direction is the rapid exhaus¬ 
 tion of our arable public domain. When we cease to throw a new Red 
 River Valley on the market every few years—and Red River Valleys are 
 getting scarce, as the land hunters are painfully aware—demand for 
 the products of the farm will soon overtake the supply, the price of 
 farm products, and, consequently, of farm lands, will rapidly appreciate, 
 and the farmer’s occupation will gain in remunerativeness, ease and 
 dignity. 
 
 Diversified farming will promote the same end. Ex-Governor Sher¬ 
 man said a few years ago that the good old cow had lifted more mort¬ 
 gages in Iowa than all the other products of the farm combined. Gov- 
 
 21 
 
ernor Sherman’s good old cow is coming north. She has already- 
 reached southern Minnesota, and will soon be in northern Minnesota 
 and the Dakotas. When she reaches here, her reign will be as benefi¬ 
 cent as it has been in Iowa and elsewhere. Following in her train 
 will come rotation of crops and the intensive cultivation which every¬ 
 where marks a highly developed agiiculture. Anything under forty 
 bushels of wheat to the acre will, before many years, mean a partial 
 crop failure in the Red River Valley, as it already does in England and 
 western Europe generally. 
 
 I have thus far written mainly for the young man on the farm, on 
 the supposition that most of the young men who will read this article 
 have grown up on the farm and are looking to farming as their vocation. 
 
 If the northwest is the land of opportunity for the young man on 
 the farm, it is, I believe, equally so for the young man in the store and 
 in the professions. Everywhere and always a prosperous agriculture 
 means prosperous merchandising. When the former languishes, the A 
 latter is sure to languish with it. The inference is obvious. 
 
 According to the census of 1890, there are in the country at large, 
 one physician to each 600, and one lawyer to each 700, of the popula¬ 
 tion. In North Dakota—and the ratio will hold good substantially for 
 South Dakota and Minnesota—there is one physician for each 1,200, 
 and one practising lawyer for each 1,500 (approximately) of the popula¬ 
 tion. In the older states the universal complaint comes from the 
 young professional men that the old lawyer and the old doctor are 
 doing all the business. In the northwest there is not the same preju¬ 
 dice against the young professional man; or, perhaps, more correctly, 
 not the same prestige attaches to mere age as in the East. Indeed, the 
 thoroughly equipped young lawyer and physician are already displac¬ 
 ing the old practitioners who drifted in with the prairie schooners in 
 the early days, when every man who possessed a copy of Blackstone, 
 and “Every man his own lawyer,” could set up as an attorney, and a 
 very ordinary acquaintance with the pharmacopoeias of commerce con¬ 
 stituted an ample equipment for the country doctor. 
 
 The need of the most thorough preparation and the most unremit¬ 
 ting devotion to his chosen calling cannot be too strongly impressed 
 upon the young man entering upon active life in the northwest or else¬ 
 where today. The day when anybody, regardless of his equipment, 
 can succeed on the farm or in the professions, has forever passed. / 
 
 A word in closing, as to the qualities which command success in 
 our time. Careful observation of the subsequent careers of my early 
 schoolmates, my later college-mates, and the thousand or more youpg 
 men who passed under my instruction at Yale college—many of whom 
 have already made names for themselves in various callings—has led 
 to the belief that the following, in about the order given, are the quali¬ 
 ties that make for success in life—at least, fair ability always being taken 
 for granted: Sterling character, vigorous health, a capacity for per¬ 
 sistent and systematic hard work, and agreeable manners. The world 
 simply will not bother with a slippery man, no matter what other quali- 
 
 22 
 
ties he may possess. Young men, as a rule, do not appreciate the high 
 commercial value placed upon character by modern society, else they 
 would spend laborious days and studious nights in its acquisition. 
 Character cannot be bought, nor inherited, nor won by a dash. It 
 must be built up by infinitesimal accretions, like a coral reef; and I 
 know of no better method of character-building for a young man than to 
 put the very best there is in him into the performance of even the 
 commonest and homeliest duties of every-day life. Next to high char¬ 
 acter I place good health—without which there cannot be any large 
 measure either of happiness or usefulness, nor, of course, of success. 
 
 Dr. Johnson defined genius as an infinite capacity for taking pains, 
 and I have never known any success worthy of the name to be won by 
 a charge. When I was in college “a dig” was a term of opprobrium; 
 but the conspicuous successes among my college mates have been won 
 by men who have been “digs” in their profession if they were not in 
 College. 
 
 Last come good manners; and I am increasingly convinced that, in 
 most occupations, agreeable manners have more to do with success 
 than most people suppose. Cut deep in the keystone over the entrance 
 *gate at Winchester school, in England, are the words, “Manners Maketh 
 Man.” Certain it is that we all like to have agreeable folks about us. 
 Society will tolerate a dissipated man, and even a man of questionable 
 honesty, but it will not tolerate a boor. 
 
 Webster Merrifield, president of the University of North Dakota, 
 at Grand Forks, has been at the head of that institution since 1891. His 
 connection with the university began, however, in 1884, when he 
 resigned an instructorship in Yale college to accept the professorship 
 of Greek and Latin in the North Dakota university. President Merri¬ 
 field is a native of Vermont. He received his early training in the com¬ 
 mon schools, at Cushman academy, Bernardston, Mass.; at Wesleyan 
 academy, Wilbraham, Mass., and at Yale college, graduating from the 
 latter university in the class of 77. After two years spent in teaching, 
 he removed, in 1879, to Dakota and located at Grand Forks, but, as 
 indicated above, was recalled toJdie east in the fall of the same year 
 to a position in the faculty of Yale college. President Merrifield is 
 recognized as one of the leaders in educational work in the northwest, 
 aijd from his experience and natural instincts is peculiarly qualified to 
 speak to the young men of this section with regard to the opportunities 
 that lie before them. It should be said that the article produced above 
 was prepared several months ago, but is on that account none the less 
 tinjely. 
 
 23 
 
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