OCR Text |
Show " is II HIS STATUE SHOULD BE THERE. M It seems exceedingly foolish that there should M be any question about placing the statue of Brig- U ham Young in the Hall of Fame at the St. Louis exposition. The exposition would be pointless if ' nothing were to be celebrated save the purchase of the squatter title of France to a vast area of wilderness which it could not hold. The industrial triumphs of a century upon that soil; its redemp- i tion and transformation are really what are to be I celebrated. Those most conspicuous in those 0i triumphs and in that transformation are the ones whose statues should have honored places in that t hall. That being the real truth the statue of Brig- J ham Young must be there. In his generation he I was a great compelling force. Amid poverty and apprehension and fear he led a little band a thou- !sand miles into the wilderness and amid discouragements discour-agements which can hardly be comprehended now, laid the foundations of a state and for thlr-I thlr-I ty years directed the progress of that community in a way which held to him the I full confidence and affection of his peo- pie and their insistance is that as between them his judgments were always just. He had that virile, sensuous nature which with a suave exterior never fails to give to a person that some-, some-, thing which draws men and especially women, II and which is known as personal magnetism. We $ do not think he possessed great personal courage g but he did possess a yieldless will and a persistence L . which never wavered. He was not by nature a Vri builder, but he was by nature an architect. He ' Jlcould plan and lay out better than he could exe- cute. With such material as he had he carried forward his purposes without a break. That he TO. cared no more for outsiders than did Joshua of I old has nothing to do with the question in hand; that his life was not ordered after the fashions of 1 other men; that he was selfish and given to bluffing bluff-ing sometimes does not matter in the consideration L of this question. It is a question of giving places I I to the statues of men who wrought great triumphs 1 in the wilderness and the triumph of Brigham I Young may not be ignored. I Napoleon's statue will be there, but if the jj question of morality were to be raised he would I be shut out for he was a law unto himself from birth to the hour lie was sent to Elba. There will bo statues of plenty of men who were never i restricted by the world's conventionalities, of some who sought the wilderness to give what was lawless in their natures free rein. There will be statues of other men who earned fame cheaply, who drew pensions all their lives from the romance ro-mance of their exploits and whose memories because be-cause of the romance attaching to their exploits will be recalled for perhaps half a dozen generations genera-tions to come. Only leaders are remembered long. The monument at Arlington over the remains of hundreds of "unknown dead" tells the story of the world. Leaders alone are remembered. And coming back to this theme Brigham Young was a leader who held sway over a people for a generation, who led them deep into the wilderness; wil-derness; who on an arid belt laid the foundations of a state and left his people far better off than when he assumed their leadership. He began his work amid such poverty, despair and hardships as were heart-breaking, he fought it out on that line and whatever may havo been his misgivings the face he turned to his people was always one of determination a,id hope. Whatever were his faults, his imperfections or eccentricities, he wrought a mighty industrial triumph and In a celebration of the triumphs that have redeemed half a continent from the wilderness his statue deserves a high place. |