The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-04
Civic Pride as An Asset.
By HORACE z FLEMING.

more conspicuous. We have grown not
merely in wealth, but in civic virtue.
If you feel pessimistic, study history
Nor need you go far back in time nor
to other countries to receive encourage
ment. Familiarize yourself with the in
innate details Of the political, business
and social life of your own country
since 1850, and see how decade by dec
ade the standard is ever higher. No,
we need not despair of our country or
Of our city, nor lament the decadence
Of our day and generation. But what
Of you and me? That is the real, the
vital question. What are we doing to
make the world better? What are we
doing to make this noble city of ours a
yet nobler city? And if to these qUes-
tons We must answer we have slight
consciousness, or none at all, Of honest
personal effort, and we feel no shame,
however large our bank account or
fourishing our business, civic pride IS
wanting from our assets.
Is the day far distant when the
aroused and intelligent patriotism of
our business men will attack the prob
lem Of city government in the same
clear-cut, acute constructive fashloE
that such men employ in any other i'm
pOrtant manner demanding attention
outside their regular callings. When
en- experienced man builds O factory,
he does not assume to be an architect
or an engineer, but he knows how to
find architects and engineers, and COM
petent ones. When the product Of his
mill is poor in quality, he does not in
sist upon using the old machinery ana
the same superintendent and foolishly
blame the bad product. He does not
hesitate to invest in new machinery and
to find better superintendent. There
is no blind fetichism in the makeup or
EoTT-4 ina GO
man. He hOnOrs his ancestors, but MS
ancestor worship does not make him
prefer a horse car to a trolley car, a
bod carrier to a hosting engine, or re-
fuse TO install a telephone because his
father employed the mail or messenger.
BigOtry and blind adherence to tradl-
ton are short-lved in the business
world. But in the business mans po-
litical attitude there is still a deal OF
bigotry and his thoughts on political
matters are apt to be saturated with
benumbing traditiOnalism- How else
shall we explain the clinging to anti
quated, Cumbrous, expensive electoral
methods that end to put the actual
conduct Of the public affairs IN the
hands Of q distinctly mediocre class OF
men as compared with men in positions
Of corresponding responsibility in the
business world? Yet the conduct OF
government is far more difficult in it
self, and it's correct and efficient con-
duct far more vital to human progress
than any private business whatsoever.
The primary cause of municipal evils,
the reason for their existence that over
shadows all others In the ultimate
analysis, is that our electoral and gov
ernmental systems are obstacles to eff
ficient and high-class administration of
the city's business. With all the prog
ress We have made, with all the bless
ings We enjoy, we must recognize that,
considered from the administrative side,
our city governments and our political
methods generally are inefficient and
defective Business men would not toll