Shirreff, a Scotsman, stated that "labor is scarce and highly remunerated. A good farming help obtains $120, an in|different one $100 a year, with bed and board." He calcu|lated that this was equivalent to eighty acres of land a year, and in proportion to the cost of living and of land, about 800 times as much as English farm laborers got. Clarke pleaded with his family to send one of the boys to Illinois. "If he will learn house carpenters trade and come into this country," he wrote, "I will warrant him a rich man in a few years, finally tradesmen of all kinds are in great demand here and will be for many years, they get from two to five dollars pr. day." Under such circumstances Lincoln could have had no difficulty in earning a living, and certainly there was little chance of his being in want.
But he was looking for a chance to become something more than a laborer; and on May 7, 1833, his ambition was gratified to some extent when he was appointed postmaster at New Salem, succeeding Samuel Hill. His explanation of his securing the position under President Jackson when he was "an avowed Clay man," was that the office was "too in|significant to make his politics an objection." He retained the position until the removal of the office to Petersburg on May 30, 1836.
According to one story, Lincoln's appointment was the result of a petition circulated by the New Salem women. Irked at the treatment accorded them by Hill, who neg|lected the distribution of mail while he sold liquor to the men, they petitioned the Post Office Department for his removal. Herndon did not know whether Lincoln solicited the appointment or whether it came to him without effort on his part. Upon appointment, Lincoln, like other post|masters, was required to furnish bond of $500. Nelson Alley and Alexander Trent were his bondsmen.
New Salem was on a mail route which ran from Spring|field through Sangamontown, Athens, New Salem, Havana, Lewistown, Jackson Grove, Canton and Knox Courthouse
