The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-07-25
THE EASTERN MANS IGNORANCE

ming against the woefu ignorance OF
the eastern man, who has never left bis
eastern environment. of the conditions
that prevail in the western country.
We often think, when we hear Of
mothers warning their sons. who are
iourneying to the west, TO beware Of
Indians and TO make an attempt TO act
as missionaries to the crude western
ers, that they are jokes. But they are
too often true. Chas. Hall. who re-
Gently was back m his old home in
Pennsylvania, says he called on a col
lege friend "After telling him that
was in the telephone business and
was east to purchase equipment, he
asked me if we were just installing
our telephone systems. He actually
seemed TO think. says Mr.. Hall.
that we had but very few eonven-
fences here"
When the easterner makes money
enough he never thinks of seeing the
west, The obsessicn 10 see the Holy
Land or gaze at the domes Of Constan-
tinople siezes him. The excerpts from
recent editorial in the Chicago Amer
lean by Francis l.. Garside depicts the
class excellently;
'The eastern man lives so close TO
the Atlantic coast that he forgets his
country has any other boundary line.
In dim, distant way he has heard
there are cities and rivers and forests
out west, but that there is anything of |
interest there he doubts.
lie does not know IL st. Louis is
situated at the north of the Rio
Grande or at the headwaters of the st.
Lawrence, but he does know mote his
pompous tread , just how much enjoy
ment there is in trip up the Nile.
''The big trees of California awaken
no desire to see them. 4 am more in
terested, he says, in the Black Forest
of Germany.
''He knows that somewhere in the {
west there is town devoted to the
Touring industry, but speaking of flour I
reminds him of loaves of bread you can j
get abroad that are half a yard long. I
"The petrifed forests of the west !
fail to awaken his interest, and any t
allusion to that great freak Of nature {
that immense chasm across Mother
Natures face the Grand Canyon of
Arizona, is met with his opinion that d
such descriptions are exaggerated. "
Down in the bottom of his heart he e
thinks this Grand Canyon of Arizona Il
is so narrow that real live man from Il
New York could jump it and have "
breath to spare. el
Somewhere up in the state of New f
York they are building dam. Won Y
derful, wonderful 7 he exclaims, and 0
refuses to credit the immensity Of the t
great irrigation ditch that is making s.
the cactuscovered plains of the west s,
blossom like the rose. "
He has been abroad. He IS going 81
again. The chateaus of France are
more interesting to him than the cliff
dweleis of New Mexico. In a patri-
otic red, white and blue way, he knows I
the political and agricultural possibil- 5
tiles of the land lying west of the
Mississippi, and the war horse in him !
prances and paws at any hint of for
eign invasion. But that there are any 7
scenic delights out there worth his G
while is something beyond his two by I
four comprehension.
"He has the European habit. He is
infected with the going-abroad germ.
He goes every time he can afford the
time and money. and just as often
when he cant.
"Ile sends his wife and daughters
that they may not be socially handi
capped when they meet other wives
and daughters who have been over.
When he cant send them. his wife and
daughters get up aluring pamphlets
showing pictures of Napoleon's tomb
and the Coliseum These they send
out west, with the information that
they have engaged in conducting tour
lists parties at so.much per-
"These pamphlets announce that the
woman who will take the tourists un-
der her travel wing at so much per is
well versed in all the foreign Ian
guages. and is lady of culture and
refinement.
at is a rare opportunity, the pam
phets say, to see Europe with so much
culture throw in.
In some sections of the United
States, notably the rural sections,s the
charge is made that some women be-
come missionaries so that they may
get q trip abroad with expenses paid,
to say nothing Of the farewell teas
given by the church sewing circle be-
fore they depart.
~ Aht 1doA AiAG Notiah NAN NohNn
to go abroad adopts the role of guide,
and beckons to the untraveled of the
west to come with their pocketbooks,
and go under her wing.
IF the charge against the mission
airy is true, which it isn't, it can at
least be said of her that she doesn't
expect to take her family along.
"The cultured and refined eastern
woman hopes to make enough out of
the wetsern purse to take her entire
family and the dog.
ut is anything and any means to see
Europe in the east. 1t is the Prom
ised Land of the tourist, who sails
away leaving greater scenic delights
in his own country uncredited and un.
seen.