The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-03-23
THE TRUTH ABOUT
w. c. A. SMOOT.


Some people seem to find satisfaction
in the statements made at the recent
American party banquet by w. c. A.
Smoot, an aged man, who came to Utah
with the pioneers in 1S47, and who is
heralded as "a Mormon, a brother OF
Senator Smoot," and "of sound mino
and memory" Mr. Smoot told of what
he said was the rich and fertile ap-
pearance Of the Salt Lake valley when
the pioneers of 1S47 entered it; that
there was nothing Of the barren and
desolate outlook which every one else
OF that company saw. and which was
beheld by the thousands who followed
Ehem: that what was said TO be sage
brush on the present site Of Salt Lake
was in reality rich mountain bunch
grass; that there was abundance OF
clear water at hand; that even the
American flag which the pioneers car
Eied across the plains, and which everv
one who saw 1t unfurled at the en-
route celebration OF Independence day
On Wyorning,s wastes, recognized as
the Stars and Stripes they had SO
often beheld. became, when unfolded to
the breeze in this valley, mere red
bandana handkerchief.
1t doesn't pay for anybody to find
satisfaction IN vicious untruths; sooner
or later these turn to Dead sea apples.
After all, men cannot afford to gloat
over falsshood, even TO satiate the I'M
holy appetite to injure by belittling
and beraxing those to whom they have
taken a dislike. It pays only to state
fairly the facts, for ultimately the peo-
pie VIII learn the truth, and despise
those who make a business of dissem-
mating falsehood
W c. A. Smoot is not a Mormon. He
once was a member OF that communion,
but was eliminated thersfrom for good
cause-on his part, as many Salt
Lakers remember. Long before he be-
came an old man he grew to be an in
tense Mormon-hater. detailing the Bit
terest falsehoods and ratings against
his former associates; while these have
returned good for evil by doing him
constant honor with the worthy pio-
neers, and without a reference to the
gall and NORWOOD that have fowed
abundantly from his lips. Further
more, he is not a brother of Senator
Reed SmoOt; in his veins there is not a
drop of the Smoot family blood. His
real name is W. c. Atkinson; and for
the sympathy, and care, and advan-
tages which came to him through the
late Abraham o. Smoot, one of the
most honored and sturdiest Of the Utah
pioneers, having adopted as his son
the child, w. c. Atkinson, the latter. as
a man. has returned a baseness of in
gratitude that is beyond the measure
OF decent comprehension.
AS TO the native barrenness and
desolation of this region there is not
only the direct evidence of the people
who came to the Salt Lake valley dur
ing the first twenty years of Utah's set
tlemen, Of whom there are thousands
living here, but the other thousands OF
men and women in the prime Of life
who have resided here for a quarter OF
a century can recall the time when the
place of some of our most pleasant and
finest city residences, and even bust
ness houses, were covered with sage
brush. dating long anterior to the ar
rival Of the pioneers, and which never
was bunch grass" even the boys and
girls can see by surrounding valleys In
UtaI. and Idaho just what this valley
was before the mountain streams were
husbanded In canals and reservoirs and
turned on TO the land. All these IL
Utah know ". C. A. Shoots picture
of this valley in 1s47 does not depict the
real scena.
AS to w. C. Atkinson Smoot being "oi
sound mind and memory at his present
advanced age, in charity we VIII
neither deny nor affirm; but recalling
MS record and secessionist tendencies
It is no surprise to have him describ,
the Stars and Stripes as a red ban.
dana" other men of his ilk and sym.
pathies called it even worse than thai
when they were trying during the foui
years Of Civil war to tear it down. Blu
the flag of the American Union still
waves, as clearly in its stars and bar.
and blue field as it did when the pic.
neers Of this valley flung 1t to the
breeze on what was then Mexican soil
and it waves for the righteousness and
truth that never can be dimmed by the
elanderer who would rob the Utah pio-
neers of the need OF praise so justly
due them for their great work in Utah.
valleys.