THE CAUSE OF THE WEST IS THE CAUSE OF THE NATION. 



INFLUENCE OF THE BOSTON MEETING. 



The following circular, issued by leading citizens 

 of Boston, tells its own story of the influence of the 

 Boston meeting: 



The organization of the annual emigration from Massachusetts 

 to the West is a matter which deserves much more attention than 

 it has received. Forty thousand persons go from Massachusetts 

 into other states every year. Of course, in many instances, 

 people know what they are about and go without hardship. On 

 the other hand, in many instances, they are fleeced at every 

 corner, arrive at their destination penniless and are great 

 sufferers. 



As a consequence of the recent visit of Mr. Smythe, the chair- 

 man of the National Irrigation Commission, several gentlemen 

 have interested themselves in the formation of a Colony Club. It 

 is not proposed that the members of the club shall themselves 

 emigrate. It is proposed that an office shall be established here, 

 which may receive and may scatter information on this subject 

 from our Western States. You would be surprised if you knew how 

 large a body of curious information has already been sent to this 

 office, simply because of a meeting held by Mr. Smythe in this city. 

 It is wholly impossible for us to attend to this correspondence, and 

 it has seemed desirable that an organization should be formed 

 which may care for such matters. 



At a meeting of a few gentlemen at this office yesterday it was 

 determined to invite the following persons to meet at the rooms 

 of the Twentieth Century Club, 14 Ashburton Place, next Friday 

 at noon. May we not ask you to be present then for half an 

 hour's conference as to the formation of such an organization? 



Please extend this invitation to any persons who you think 

 would be interested. 



The following gentlemen are those invited to attend the 

 meeting. 



Messrs. 



Chas. Carleton Coffin, Edwin A. Abbott, 



D. Webster King, W. A. Mowry, 



W. L. Rutan, A. C. Stockm, 



Isaac K Paul, D.H.Clark, 



Jonathan A. Lane, S. N D. North, 



Rev Thomas Van Ness, Rev. Christopher R. Eliot, 



Francis Bellamy, Charles H. Ames, 



Sylvester Baxter, John Holmes, 



Rev. D. W Waldron, Rev. Philip S. Moxom, 



Prof. Davis R. Dewey, Rev. W. E. Barton, 

 J. G. Thropp, Jr. 



With great respect, we have the honor to be 



Your obedient servants, 



EDWARD E. HALE, 

 D. C. HEATH, 

 J. M. RODOCANACHI, 

 ALBERT WHITE VORSE. 

 Boston, April 9, 1895. 



II -THE MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO. 



The work favorably inaugurated in New England, 

 Mr. Smythe proceeded at once to Chicago to set the 

 wheels in motion there. He was tendered the cordial 

 support of the Home Seekers' Association, an organ- 

 ization recently started by prominent Chicago min- 

 isters. This was accepted and a public meeting ar- 

 ranged for April llth at the First Methodist Church, 

 corner Washington and Clark streets. This is a 

 favorite public hall, in the heart of Chicago's business 

 district. The Chicago newspapers gave the meeting 

 very generous attention, and it drew a large audience. 

 Rev. Dr. John Rusk presided and opened with a state- 

 ment of the objects of the Home Seekers' Association 

 and the irrigation propaganda. 



Mr. Smythe declared that the issue now raised is 

 not simply that of making homes for the people on 

 agricultural lands, "but the mightier issue of found- 



ing a civilization, in a virgin empire, under a nobler 

 conception of the rights of man." He followed the 

 lines of his Boston speech, but made a striking com- 

 parison between Brigham Young and George M. 

 Pullman as founders of industrial systems. Here is a 

 part of it: 



UTAH AND PULLMAN COMPARED. 



" Both men are entitled to be called great captains 

 of industry. Both men selected tracts of land which 

 were barren and worthless until they reclaimed them. 

 Both men gave large employment to labor, and 

 directed that labor to the production of enormous 

 wealth. But there was a wide difference in their 

 methods, and a difference yet wider in the distribu- 

 tion of the wealth which the genius of each called in- 

 to being. 



" In Utah every laborer is a landed proprietor; in 

 Pullman all are hopeless tenants. In Utah the many 

 receive the benefit of increased real estate values 

 which accrue from the coming of population; at Pull- 

 man these increased values are credited to the land- 

 lord and lay a new burden, in the shape of increased 

 rent, upon the tenant. In Utah every laborer has the 

 privilege of becoming a partner in factory, store and 

 bank; at Pullman laborers are the compulsory patrons 

 of these institutions and are made to pay dividends, 

 rather than entitled to receive them. In Utah, under 

 a system I have described, the laborer receives prac- 

 tically all he produces; in Pullman, under a system 

 which the world knows by heart, the laborer receives 

 only so much as suffices for a bare subsistance, and 

 the rest of what he produces goes to the account of 

 increased capital and to surplus and dividend funds. 



" Now, when the depression of 1893 came on, the 

 laborers at Pullman had nothing to fall back upon. 

 They had received for their toil only enough to pay 

 their living from day to day. Doubtless they had 

 worked as faithfully as the men of Utah, but they had 

 not received a fair share of what they produced. They 

 did not own the soil on which they walked, nor the 

 roof which sheltered them. No Mormon laborer felt 

 perceptibly the pressure of hard times. No landlord 

 knocked at his door to demand the rent. He stood 

 there and looked the world in the face, the master of 

 his acres. From those acres he can coin a prosperous 

 living, while the earth yields her increase. And this, 

 my friends, is the difference between these two 

 systems of industry." 



A large number of people joined the Colonial Clubs 

 after the meeting. Other and larger meetings will 

 shortly be held in Chicago, which is doubtless 

 destined to be a storm center of the movement. 



Mr. Smythe addressed the students of Chicago 

 University on the evening of April 18th. 



THE FUTURE OF THE MOVEMENT. 



The campaign in the East has only begun. It will 

 not reach its height until next autumn or winter, and 

 perhaps not then, but it will constantly expand. 

 Everything indicates that the membership of Colonial 

 Clubs will quickly mount into the thousands. 



It is also proposed to push arrangements for labor 

 colonies on public lands as rapidly. 



