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WHO ARE WANTED IN MINNESOTA
We want farmers -- strong, robust, active men, who know the way, and have the will
and means to tame our wild uncultivated soil, and develop its surprising fertility and unsurpassed resources. Let them if
possible possess some means -- enough at least to break and fence a few acres, and put up a cabin for a temporary home.
More if possible, but this much is almost absolutely necessary. The best of land can be obtained, whether pre-empted or
purchased of individuals on a credit of at least a year. But there are no farms in Minnesota, ready fenced and ploughed, to be
given away or disposed of for a song. Farming is too profitable here to favor the idea of such generosity. Lands broken
and fenced are worth from 10 to 30 and 50 dollars per acre according to situation. It is true that there is no
western state where improvements will pay so certain and large a profit as in Minnesota. Large sums are annually sent out of the
Territory for grain and provisions -- not because we have not a soil which produces luxuriantly, nor a climate which does not ripen
to perfection every vegetable and species of grass, grain, and fruit of the temperate zone, nor a cash market of the highest price
at our own doors, but solely because there are not farmers enough to supply the market. Let it be distinctly understood then that
farming is by far the most profitable business at present in Minnesota and is likely long to continue so.
Next, mechanics are wanted -- men of industry, enterprise and who thoroughly
understand their business. Such cannot fail to do well. There are not enough such to supply the demand; there is not sufficient
competition to reduce the price of mechanical labor to its proper standard, as compared with other employments. Unless we are
greatly mistaken, mechanics receive much higher wages in proportion, than professional men or farmers. The same is true of
laboring men. Two and three dollars per day is a high price to pay an ordinary mechanic, and a dollar and a half is too much for
a common hand, at hoeing corn and potatoes. The farmer cannot afford to hire at that high price. Let the laborer be well,
even generously paid, for faithful toil. He deserves to be paid a good price for a good days work. And after all, any
slight disproportion which may exist in the compensation of different employments can be only temporary. Time will make it all right.
But it is a truth which all feel, that good mechanics are much wanted in Minnesota. With temperance, prudence and industry, none can
fail to thrive -- some will make fortunes.
Lawyers are wanted in Minnesota -- men of education, character and refinement,
who thoroughly understand both the science and practice of their profession -- men who adorn that profession by irreproachable
lives, and high moral virtues, men whose severe study, unswerving integrity and enlarged views evince their love for the noble
science of the law, and afford security of their usefulness in society. A lawyer in Minnesota should be able to plead a cause
in law, to advise a client of his rights, to wield an axe or handle the hoe. He will not have business in his profession to occupy
all his time, and he must think no honest labor beneath him or whatever kind it may be. Our Territory is large, but there is no
room for miserable pettifoggers, who gain a wretched subsistence by stirring up quarrels in the community -- vampyres,
who drain the blood of society, too lazy to work, too ignorant to harbor an idea, too stupid to have a sense of shame,
hated of the gods and despised of man.
We want ministers -- learned, pious, self-denying men, who have not entered
the ministry as a darnier [last] resort, to get a living which they are too lazy or inefficient to earn by any other means.
We want men of independent thought, untrammeled by creeds or dogmas, who will preach the bible in its purity, whether or not is
accord with the teachings of men or sects. Men especially, who shall not be afraid of work, who can plane a board, drive
a nail, dig a well, stone a cellar or handle a spade none the less skillfully, than they preach with all the fevor and eloquence
of a Paul or Apollos. Thank God, we have some such, hundreds more will be welcomed. Let them come.
Physicians who expect to live by the practice of their profession will
find Minnesota a poor field for a location. If there is any one peculiar characteristic of this Territory, it is its
exceedingly healthy climate. Life Insurance Companies are at a discount. There are already a goodly number of the disciples of
Galen [doctors] among us, who will find "their occupation gone," as soon as they gave cure or killed, such desperate
cases a come here infected with the thousand dangerous and complicated diseases of other parts of the Union, and have been given over
by the "regulars" of eastern and more southern states.
Last, but not least, young ladies are wanted. By this term, it is not meant
that class to which it is usually misapplied -- so called genteel young misses, brought up to read yellow-covered literature,
to idleness and tight lacing, to sing a sentimental song or play a tune on the piano, dance the polka and talk fashionable
nonsense. There is no room for such in Minnesota. We use the term "young lady" in its legitimate sense, as meaning one who is ready
to engage in any labor that may be useful and necessary, whether it be to wash or bake, mop the floor, clean house, or patch a worn
garment. These are your true ladies, more worthy of honor than those to whom armed knights of old paid homage -- who give
dignity to labor by a noble example, render homes happy, and become ornaments to society. Such can command from two to three
dollars per week for their work, break the hearts of industrious and enterprising young men by their charms, heal them by
consenting to become happy wives and mothers, and become the founders of great and prosperous commonwealth. Let such young
ladies come to Minnesota.
The St. Anthony Express, June 21, 1851 "Who Are Wanted in Minnesota" Übersetzt durch Ingrid Seliger |
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