The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-08-18
THE EXPOSITION CAR.
Its Mission Throughout the
East.
THE OLD AND THE NEW UTAH.
Writes of the Past and
the Future.
TROY, N. Y, August IL, 1888.

To the Editor of THE HERALD:
Upon Thursday the Utah Exposition
Palace Car reached Troy. Residing as
1 do some three miles eastward of the
city proper, and upon the hills which
overlook it and the beautiful valley of
the Hudson River, it was not until
Friday that L learned of the cars ar
rival. Friday afternoon 1 called upon
Mr.. Culmer, AID enjoyed long visit
Utah affairs, the progress of
the Exposition Car, of which THE
HERALD columns had kept me advised
up to the date of that papers reports
therefrom, and conversing of the
present whereabouts of my old friends
and acquaintances in Utah and the
changes which ten years have bought
to them.
While Mr.. Gunner himself has grown
stouter and more mature with the
lapse of years, otherwise found him
the same keen, bright and enterprising
representative of young o tab that he
was years ago, time having evidently
developed the brain power that shows
so plainly from his brow.
The trip Of the car, as yourself and
readers already know, has been d
remarkable success throughout, and
the results cannot be other than bene-
fetal to Utah and her interests, in
showing to the east that the era of de-
fam alton and falsehood must end before
the selfevident truth and the facts when
once they are presented. From Buffalo
to Troy, Mr.. Culmer interviewed some
twenty-six daily newspaper proprietors,
securing from them notices Of the car
and Of Utah's products and industries
which the writer hereof and he
estim ated could not have been secured
in the way of paid advertising for less
than $1,000. And even then there
o5uid never have been obtgiued
that moral influence and effect which
the inspection of the car and contents
exercised upon every one who visited
it; be he newspaper editor or leyman
among the great 'Oi polJ0i of America-
the common people of the land. Could
the stay in Troy been four days instead
of two, the result would have been
much greater, because IN the circle Of
my own acquaintance 1 have thus far
failed to find one person who had Wis
tied the ear. Had the stay been longer
this certainly would not have been
so, and as it was l myself.
although watching the progress Of
the car by means of THE HERALD. knew
nothing of its being at Troy until the
second dsy. This indicates how profit
ably double the time allowed might
have been consumed, and goes to show
that, if up to date 10000 visitors had
oeen thus silently instructed, twice that
number might have been reached by
making longer stops, at least in the
larger cities.
The novel idea of thus informing the
country Of something of Utah ana her
possibilities has certainly had an en-
thusaslic exponent in the person of
Mr.. Gunner, and the work con
nect' with thus Frightening the peo-
PIE has been far removed from sinecur-
ism.
why is it," asked he, that it is so
difficult to impress upon the public that
life and property are safe in Utah; that
the Mormons are not heathens.
have talked and argued with hundreds
or pc ople during my trip, and have at
times almost become angry at their
dense ignorance concerning Utah and
The Mormons. The day our car arrived
IN Toy l walked down TO the n-ws-
paper Offices and looked at the bulletins
If daily news to see if perchance
[ could read just one line about
the exposition car. Instead
[ saw bulletined in great, flaring let
tiers: GA Mormon bishop arrested in
Utah for murder twenty-nine years
ago. Were there no murders COM
mitted anywhere else twenty-nine
years ago? Why is it that this is the
only kind of information about Utah
that the people of the east are supplied
with?
could not satisfactorily answer Mr..
Cnlmer. Unjust as it was, to the enter,
prise that constructed and fitted up
and sent out this exposition car, to
totally ignore its arrival upon the daily
bulletin board. It is as difficult to ex-
plain why 1t was so, or why for
twenty years SO dense ignorance
mas prevailed concerning the Mormons
as 10 explain thousand other anoma-
lies existing among a people SO en-
iehtened as are the people of the.
United States.
Gd1u L W 4h1s OQlnOl, tuc
princi ofpolygamy is undoubtedly ct
the foundation of the prejudice against
Utah.
"But you know that not over tenth
of the MOrmons are poligamists," he
replied.
Yes, but this is not known or believed
in the States generally. Ninety-nine
people out of every hundred be-
lleve that Every Mormon who is
married at all has more than
one wife, and they are inclined to
doubt the sanity of the pereon who
denies this assertion. Thousands of
times have | been compelled to do it,
since left Utah ten years ago, and the
only reason that my denial has re-
ceived credence has come from my ex-
PLANTATION that having resided six years |
at Salt Lake City certainly knew as
much about the matter as those whose
information comes from the telegrsphIc |
that have formed the basis |
of all their information regarding o tab.