The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-01-15
THE CARPET-BAGGER.
To the Editor of THE HERALD.

To the Editor of THE HERALD:
Shortly after the introduction of Mr.. HAYES
into the office for which President Tilden hal
been elected, the New York San, in its own epi
gram matte way, coined the redoubtable phrase
| The Republcan party must go, y and ever after
II closed with this sentence every editorial that
appeared in its columns. Whether writing or
| the prevalence of measles in thesSumS of New
York, or on the feast made off foreign mission
airy by the FIJI Islanders, each article concluded
allke-''The Republican party must co.
L fear, dear editor, you are falling into the
same habit regarding the miserable carpet
baggers,'' of whom am one. Now does il
never occur to you that the carpet-baeger NAV
after ALL be blessing in disguise and that dis
gulse not very dense either. For years all the
western states have We'd with each other to in
! duce the carpet-bagger to settle among them
realzlng that his presence implied push activ-
| lily ana rapid development. With his help such
| cities as Omaha, Denver, Kansas City, ct al.
were created Out OF little or nothing. You would
have your readers believe the carpet-bagger is
a species of tramp whereas in truth he is quite
a respectable gentleman of character and good
manners, with, generally, a considerable re-
serve OF cash, and more considerable ability to
draw out the ShebelS of bloated eastern bond
holders for investment in bricks and mortar and
otherwise in any city he may infest
rms cry OF carpet Dagger originated in the
south lmmedla ely after the war, but time has
obiiterated the opprobious meaning of the word.
ana to-day the new south cries for the CARPET
Dagger TO come down and raise her industries
out of the slUm. The Indians. too object to the
carpet-bagger on the same theory you do and
yet his advent tends to reclaim vast wilder.
ness and transform it into a rich empire of
helds and gardens, railroads and manufacture
CIVILIZATION cannot be shocked by an offensive
eplthet whether at Standing Rock, the home of
Sitting Bull, or in Salt Lake city, the Zion OF
Brlgham Young. 1t is, l take it, the privilege
OF every american citizen to go wherever he
pIeases, and talk out of meeting whenever he
chooses without risking insult or affront. lam
yours truly, ALEXANDER L. POIIoCK-
SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 12 1890.
The HERALD is the peoples paper, and
all the people, or all of them who are re
putable and respectable, have the right to
be heard through its columns Hence the
publication of the letter above. But we
regret two things-first, that Mr.. POLLOCK
announces himself carpet Dagger. and,
second, that he entertains such peculiar
and favorable opinions of the value of tn e
owner of the grip. Either our cores
pendent or TaE HERALD is in error as to
what constitutes carpet Dagger, and also
of the popular esteem in which that char
acter is held. THE HERALD's idea of a
carpet-bagger is certainly squarely the
opposite to that of our correspondent, for
we do not admit, nor can we conceive, that
the carpet-bagger which exists in our
mind has ever done or can do any
good to any city or state, except
leaving it. Our carpet Dagger, and the
one against which THE HERALD complains.
is not the man that Mr.. POLLOCK describes,
"a respectable gentleman of character and
good manners, with, generally, consider
oh ef oh
able ability to draw out the shekels of the
bloated eastern bondholder for investment
in brick and MORTAR This being Mr..
PoLLocK's carpet-bagger, the gentleman
named has no kick" against THE HERALD.
for his carpet Dagger is the man we have
been all our lives trying to induce to come
here. Heis the man for whom we have ad-
vertised, to interest whom this paper
assisted to send an exposition car through
the country, to excite whose interestin our
resources and opportunities for investment
we are all the time publishing valuable IL
formation regarding Salt Lake and Utah.
and to induce hither we are daily
telling the world of our rare
climate, our charming scenery, our
health and C Epleasure resorts, our
mines, our agricultural resources and
manufacturing advantages. We want him
to come here with his Responsibility" his
''good manners his considerable reserve
of cash." and his ability to induce other
capitalists to invest in brick and mortar.
If Mr.. POLLOCK has ever found in THE
HERALD word rejecting on the carpet
Dagger whom he protects before an assault
has been made, he has discovered some
thing that has escaped the eyes of the
papers editors and publishers.
The carpet Dagger for whom THE
HERALD has neither love nor respect be-
longs to the family which overran the
south after the war, and who is as offensive
there to-day, as at any time He is the
fellow without money and whose
ability and enterprise are employed
in wrong directions; the fellow who
enters a community, not for it's
benefit materially or morally, but to prey
upon it; the fellow who is without interest
in the place where he lives, and whose res
idence is only temporary; the fellow who
went into the south in the hope of taking
advantage of the hard pressed and afflicted
people to get office, to despon those among
whom he dwelt and with his ill-gotten
gains, to depart for his home elsewhere;
the fellow who comes to Utah, not with
the view to the investment of dollar in
any permanent improvement or in any
worthy enterprise, but to get Office if he
can, to lord it over the bona fide citizens,
to vote them down at elections, to deprive
them of their political rights, and having
plundered them, to go hence, leaving moth
ing to remind of his sojourn save an un-
pleasant memory. The carpet Dagger
against whom THE HERALD protests, and
against whom its force will ever
be turned, never helped city, our
correspondents suggestion to the con-
trary Notwithstanding. Omaha, Den
yer, Kansas City, and other cities were
created not by carpet baggers, nor by the
''bloated eastern bondholders'' whose
shekels were 'sdrawn out'' by carpet-bag
gers; they were created by solid, substan
tial men, who put their money into brick
and mortar, established industrial enter
priscs, provided employment for labor
ers, and made those cities capable of sus-
tanning greater population than they had