214. Soule, John. Autograph letter signed (“J.B.L. Soule”), 3 pages (5 x 8 in.; 127 x 203 mm.), front & verso, two conjoined sheets, Highland Park (Illinois), 12 July 1881. His sister May has penciled an ALS on the second page and beneath John’s signature on the fourth page. With original transmittal envelope addressed by Soule to his son, “Mr. W.L. Soule, Las Vegas, New Mexico”, postmarked “Highland Park, ILL, July 12.” Paper loss at upper edge of page 1, not affecting text.

John Soule, who actually said “Go west, young man” – not Horace Greeley – writes to his son about his travels: “...do you feel that you had better continue there for an indefinite time? …  If not, shake Vegas dust off your feet, and try some other place. - By the way, be wary of strangers…”  

Soule writes in part: Sorry to hear that you do not feel well – though that, as you say, may be from fatigue & temporary. But your weight – that’s awful – but that may be for want of palatable food and hot weather … Do you even think or feel that you had better come back, or do you feel that you had better continue there for an indefinite time? … If not, shake Vegas dust off your feet, and try some other place. - By the way, be wary of strangers, however pleasant & friendly. Don’t be enticed by one to go to any strange place or to go out at night … Don’t expose yourself to great heat. You couldn’t bear a sunstroke…

Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune, has long been quoted for his line “Go West, young man,” in a 13 July 1865 editorial. In their 1981 book, The People’s Almanac, David Wallechinsky and his father, Irving Wallace, claimed that John B. L. Soule (1815-1891) penned the line 14 years earlier in the title of his editorial in the Terra Haute, Indiana, Express. John Babson Lane Soule was later Professor of Ancient Languages in Blackburn University, Illinois for eleven years, then pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago. After seven years in this position, he resigned, and retired from active public duties.

There have been newspaper reports as early as 1890 attributing the advice to Soule. The 17 August 1890 edition of the Los Angeles Times reports that “an old timer at the Chicago club” said the “advice to young men, ‘Go west,’ so generally attributed to Horace Greeley was not original with him … It all came about this way: John L.B. Soule was the editor of The Terre Haute Express back in the 50’s and one day in ’51, if I remember right, he and Dick Thompson, afterward secretary of war [actually Hayes Navy Secretary] were covering in the former’s sanctum. Thompson had just finished advising Soule to go west and grow up with the country and was praising his talents as a writer. ‘Why, John,’ he said, ‘You could write an article that would be attributed to Horace Greeley if you tried.’ ‘No, I couldn’t,’ responded Mr. Soule modestly. ‘I’ll bet I couldn’t. ‘I’ll bet a barrel of flour you can if you’ll promise to try your best, the flour to go to some deserving poor person.’ ‘All right. I’ll try,’ responded Soule.”

“He did try, writing a column editorial on the subject of discussion – the opportunities offered to young men by the west. He started in by saying Horace Greeley could never have given a young man better advice than that contained in the words, ‘Go west, young man.’ Of course the advice wasn’t quoted from Greeley, merely compared to what he might have said, but in a few weeks the exchange began coming into The Express office with the epigram reprinted and accredited to Greeley almost universally … The New York Tribune came out editorially, reprinted The Express article, and said in a foot note: ‘The expression of this sentiment has been attributed to the editor of The Tribune erroneously. But so heartily does he concur in the advice it gives that he indorses most heartily the epigrammatic advice of The Terre Haute Express, and joins in saying ‘Go west, young man, go west.’”

The Boston Daily Globe, 3 November 1907, begins an article, “When John L. Soule of Terre Haute wrote the famous words popularly attributed to Horace Greeley, ‘Go west, young man, and grow up with the country,’ it was obvious that he considered the West a land of opportunity: a new and all but unknown region well suited to youth and industry…”

Photocopies of the two articles are present. $2,000 - $3,000