94 TOM’S EXPERIENCE 
I read this carefully, and when I had finished he 
asked : 
“ Well, what do you think of it, sir?” 
AN ANSWER TO A NEWSPAPER. 
‘There is a good deal in it that is true, and a good 
deal that is not. The writer of that article puts all 
mechanics in one class, and they don’t belong there. 
No two are alike or situated alike. Now I am very 
far from advising everybody to go west; on the other 
hand I advise a great many not to go, and there is 
not the least danger that so many will go that there 
will be nobody left to ‘make the clothing, the 
threshing machines,’ etc., as this paper says. ‘There 
are plenty of men working at these and all other 
trades who are doing better where they are than they 
would do in the west. They ought not to go, and 
many of them never will. 
“Then, on the other hand, there are a great many 
who could do much better in the west than where 
they are. Thousands of these have gone and are 
doing well, and thousands of others are going. Of 
course some of those who ought to have remained 
where they were have gone, too, and others of the 
same class will go. People don’t always get into the 
place that fits them best, and many who do get there 
don't stay. That man does a good work who helps 
people into the places they can best fill and kelps to 
keep them there. 
“ But let us return to your case. You could land 
