The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-29
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH
UTAH


The call for volunteers for the war
with Spain is an appeal TO the patri-
otism of the American people. 1t is a
matter of painful regret that the people
of Utah have not promptly responded
to this patriotic call This is not the
only matter of regret in connection
with this call Elsewhere in this issue
will be found a letter from the first
presidency of the Mormon church to
Governor Wells, in which President
! Woodruff and his counsellors practic-
ally call upon the members of their
! church to step forward in response to
! the call for volunteers. The letter does
honor to those who sent it to his ex-
cellency and is certain to have the eff
! feet to cause those to whom it appeals
I to respond to the call for volunteers.
But the promptings Of patriotism alone
should be sufficient to cause the citi-
zens of Utah to Offer their services to
their country when it calls upon them.
DO the men to whom this letter will
most strongly appeal wish to have it
said of them that they responded to
their country's call only when hidden
to do so by heir religious leaders? Do
they wish to be pointed out as being
part of the American army that is dis
tinct and not thoroughly coalesced? And
such may be the case as the result of
this letter. It is humiliating thought
that the spur to volunteering should
have to come from anything but the
Hottest patriotism. This call for volun-
teers was the opportunity for the peo-
pie Of Utah to give the strongest evil
dence of their devotion to the Union
and all that it means; TO prove to the
people of the country and the world
that the people of Utah are one and
that their first thought is for their
first allegiance to the United States.
But they have not seized this oppor-
tunity with avidity; on the contrary
they have shown much apathy. We
have written earnestly on this subject.
because of the gravity of the times and
the danger of a disgrace being put upon
the state. and disgrace will be put
upon it if the volunteering is not
prompted by a desire to serve the
country.
Can any citizen of Utah compare the
returns of the recruiting officers in this
state with those in Idaho and not
blush? The small town of Wardner
reports eighty-tive volunteers applied
and eighty-ffve enlisted. That is twenty
more than the capital of the state of
Utah, which has a population half as
large as the state of Idaho. has en-
listed. Idaho. with less than half
Utah's population, asks the privilege of |
sending more than double the number I
of men she was asked for, several hun
NIC1 IIlOIC lIiS1l Cldlf Qutld- 4AOIl-
tana, with about three-ifths the pop |
ulation of this state. asks to send more |
than double her quota, and both she
and Idaho viii have their enlarged !
quotas full before Utah's is half full,
in all probability.
Utah is falling far behind expecta-
tons in this matter of furnishing vol
unteers. It is true that recruiting has
been going on but two days. but if
Ctahs reputation is to be saved the
apathy Of the past must be wiped out
by the activity Of the present. Let it
not be necessary to have any more let
ters like the one addressed by Presi-
dent Woodruff to Governor Wells, or
people everywhere throughout the land
will be asking, What's the matter with
TTtah9"