Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-18
VISITING THE WEST

EMERSON HoUGH is a writer
l. for eastern newspapers. He's
also a fool, judging from a late
contribution copyrighted by the
Public Ledger Publishing Com
pany, which surely went to a need
less expense in copyrighting his
outpourings. No sane man would
want to republish them. Apparent
ly Emerson Hough is n of those
nuisances who think it IN evidence
of brains to nurse a perpetual
crouch. He could find nothing
worth doing or seeing in our ma
tional parks. He could find no
scenery there because all the for
ests had been cut down to furnish
lumber for the thrifty western
SPECTATORS. He could find no trout
fishing because the trout had all
been caught and sold by western
residents. He could find no wild
animals because the grass was all
gone, sold to sheep and cattle men.
In fact, he says the wild west is a
fraud, advertised only to catch
eastern suckers who may be in
duced to come here as tourists, and
when they do they find things just
as they are at home in Pennsyl-
vania, only less comfortable. He
advises eastern men to avoid COM
ing west as tourists and to 60 to
Europe instead. Assuming that
Mr.. Hough is honest and not SUBJ
sidized by the steamship companies
to write such stuff, he must be in
miserable health to write such utter
rot. Perhaps he has a bad case of
Indigestion, which has been known
to make the whole world and every
thing in it look blue to the mar
that suffers from it. Another ex-
PLANTATION of his grotesoue mall
formation of the truth is that he
never was in the west or visited our
national parks. The man with a
soul so dead that he a find no
beauty there is in the condition of
Lazarus, who was dead so long that
it was said of him, The stinketh."
IF he could catch no trout in the
streams, it was because he did not
know how to catch them. A Rocky
Mountain trout knows more than
some eastern dudes give them
credit for knowing. They do not
Jump into fish baskets when the
fisherman whistles for them, but
many a te%n-year-old boy could
have shown Mr. Hough that there
were plenty of trout in the park
streams for amateur fishermen. OF
course, it is false that they are
sold commercially. The streams are
better stocked than they we're a
score of years ago.
A good deal of tourist traffic
comes this way that in years be-
fore the war went to Europe. That
is not pleasing to eastern seaports
and steamship companies. Hence
these tears from Emerson Hough.
1t touches the eastern pocket book.
European travel is not as popular
as it was, largely because the Amer
lean is now regarded over there as
legitimate prey for the profiteers
who run hotels and other places
which they frequent. They are not
only charged three prices, but they
are subjected to great annoyance
and expense every time they cross
a frontier. On the other hand,
when they come west they receive
every courtesy from the cities and
towns they pass through if they
come by motor car, as many do.
They do not even have to pay a
hotel bill unless they wish to do
so. most of the western cities hav-
ing provided free camping grounds
for auto tourists with all sorts of
comforts and facilities. And these
conveniences are quite often paid
for by local subscription of the
merchants or others or by the tax
payers. Under such circumstances,
il is not strange that western tour
Ist traffic is growing by leaps and
bounds, and will continue to grow
in spite Of the untruthful and dys-
peptic vail of this eastern news
paper writer. We have seldom, in
deed, had one of these tourists who
had visited our parks and noun
tain scenery, fished in our lakes
and ponds. and become acquainted
with our people, who was not glad
he came west instead Of going east
to pass away his vacation. And
they 60 back and tell their friends