The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-11-25
THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING.

A day of thanks comes this week and
no people on the face of this big globe
have more occasion to observe the oc-
casion than have the people of this
state and the region surrounding it.
Compared with that day when the GUS
tom was first inaugurated on New Eng
lands bleak shore, this year of grace,
1906, is a festival time. The crops were
never better, the mines never as pro-
ductive, the kindness of Providence
never so conspicuous in all the outward
manifestations of bounty. Thanks are
! due from every man, woman and child
IN the nation at large. and particularly
: from those who live in the shadows of
the Wasatch or in the magnificent ter
ritory Mat lies between them and the
Sierras, Ia.
h.any single cause for rejoicing were
be, chosen IL would not be material
bIeSslng,c The productiveness of the
Eoifs7 the richness of the mines, the mu-
{, nifeent returns from the. ranges are all
sufficient reason for gratitude to the
esiyer-of all goeds but better than thar,
s;nors permanent in. its value. more
3 profitable in the final reckoning is the
AVA kshirfg OF the national. conscience.
ssise ravigal of convictious that make for
Righteousness in the individual and the
state.
In the short twelve month that has
). elapsed since the last. national Thanks
giving there has been menaenteus
change in the public. attitude, re-
turn to- betterS things that had
been forgotten or ignored in the
universal. desire Tor <Realth at
any cost. The exposuresAof xrong-
doing in high places. the revelations OF
malfeasance in the MANAGEMENT OF
great trusts. the sudden and xiofeni
demonstration Of the lengths to which
men were willing to go in their soriic
ambition for power and moneyzaI
these have been followed by, a sincere
and determined effort by the nation t.
recover its early-day sanity and retulI
10 the old and tried standards of pro
bity and honor.
II the salvation of one soul that ha
wandered awrong is of great moment
the promise Of a national awakenirj
that shall lead to repentance and re
form is cause for unstinted thanks.
y x
Nor has this awakening of the ma
tional conscience been without fruits a
all men who know who have watches
the capitalization of Indignation int
effective legislation made doubly pow
erful by the power Of an aroused publi
sentiment. Laws that have lain dor
mant on the statute books have beer
enforced successfully; practices coun
tenanced or condoned by disregard TO
ethics have become powerful weapons
in the hands of intelligent public serv
ants; monopoly, so arrogant but shor
time since, has been driven, cringing
into a defensive attitude; and the d.,
of the common people has dawneC
again after an observation of decades.
This swinging of the pendulum bacl
to the standards of the Pilgrim Father.
would profit little if it went no further
than the limits of public service. Bacl
OF the national life is the individual
character, and If 1t fails to hold to higf
standards there can be no permanent
good in the nation. Happily the events
OF the year have shown the power Of
right-minded individualism in the rails.
ins OF governmental standards Bach
OF the sickenlng exposures of greed ane
corruption in high places has beer
PROOF that the nation is sound at tht
core, that the units of its citizenship ir
the mass are still devoted to splendid
Ideals, and that the American people
arc determined to retrace their steps
back to the old guide-posts of the re.
public that We're erected by the Pill.
grims and made solid by the revolu
tlonary leaders of 70.
Surely, the years proof of nationa
soundness and integrity is cause for re
ioicing.
Anfffef Utah. Has the year in civil
s. fife brought forth cause for thanks
Docs the fruitlen OF the tweIve-montl
give promise Of greater, better thing
for the state ana its people?
We think 50. In every materaa ave