The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-09
"sEE AMERICA FIRST"
New York Times.)

tNSW 10TH lIAeS-J
A movement originating curious
ly but quite naturally, in Salt Lake
City, and doomed by the local organs
of that hustling town, Mormon and
GENTLE alike, has now taken on seri-
Gus proportions. The plain fact is that
many millions are spent by Americans
every year in pleasure travel, and that
a large proportion of these millions is
spent in Europe. The "See America
First" organization undertakes, we be-
lieve, to say what proportion, but obvi-
ously any attempt in that direction
must be mere guesswOrk. The organi-
zation desires that THE Pactolian
stream should be as much as possible
diverted, like other streams, to irrigate
the arid places of our own continent. Tt
has held a convention of interested
governors and issued a pamphlet in
that behalf.
Obviously it is useless to try to bully
anybody into seeing America first mo
man. observes the learned Dr. John
son, rs a hypocrite in his pleasures"
A man with a fixed amount of time
and fixed amount of money to spend
on his pleasure will go where he ex-
poets the most pleasure for the money
and in the time. Appeals TO his patriot
ic duty will not move him, or will move
only such small proportion of him as
to be practically negligible So, and
perhaps still more so, with his wife.
may say, is born with an innate desire
to See Europe" The further west you
go the stronger, perhaps, is this de-
sire. AS no New Yorker or BostOnian
or Philadelphian finds it laid upon him
to see San Francisco and Salt Lake
city and Los Angeles before seeing
London and Paris and Rome even less
does any Franciscan or Salt Lake citi-
zen or ANGLICAN find it incumbent
upon him to see the cities of the east
before seeing the European capitals.
See America first is a mistaken adj
Duration when addressed to an Ameri-
can or any part who has time and
money whereWithal to see Europe.
But TO the ordinary holiday maker,
who has not money Oneugh, and above
all who has not time enough really to
see Europe, who has. say, fortnight's
holiday and, say, $3.50 wherewith to en-
JOY it, the appeal that comes from the
intramOntane region ought to be af-
fecting, especially when he has already
seen Europe" more especially when
time is of the essence" For. in a
mere fortnight one can do nothing in
the way of seeing Europe" He can
in effect, see the Atlantic ocean. both
ways, and that is all That may suit
him perfectly, and suit his DOCTORS if
he happens to be on the verge of ner-
vous prOstration, and, to any over
worked and over worried man, it is a
appreciably enlarge his store of i'm
preSSiOns and of memories. On the
other hand, in a fortnight the far east
erner can really go far west and see
things worth seeing, see many scenic
wonders by the way, instead of seeing
only the melancholy waste of the
North Atlantic by the way, and see
"cities of men and manners distinctly
different from what he has left, with
out being so different as to be unin-
telligible. And similarly the far west
erner coming far east, and finding a
great deal of interest and gra LITIGATION
before he even arrives at his port of
departure for Europe.
Our esteemed contemporary the
Evening Post has been pointing out.
very properly, that the difference in
the cost per diem of travel and sub
siStence is a weighty consideration in
favor of Europe. So it is. So it might
be added is the European advantage in
the fabrication of the general social
froction of travel and of sojourn in
strange places. With a month to spend
on shore in Europe, possibly with even
a fortnight to spare, the preponderat-
ing attraction for the untraVeled would
be eastward The See American
FirSt"-erS have no cOunterVailing al
lUrement to offer They ought to drop
the first" and to devote themselves
to showing what can be seen on this
continent within a certain limit of
money, and, what is of even more i'm
pOrtance, within certain limit of
time. That looks like the most feast
BILE method of attaining the object of
their organization.