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Show JONAH JARVIS, JOURNALIST. Jonah Jarvis was a trained journalist. He had worked on the most famous papers and magazines maga-zines of the East and was much sought for because be-cause he was a profound scholar, posted up to date on all public questions, and had a happy faculty fac-ulty of expressing his ideas in writing. But hard work and the villainous climate of the East had undermined his health .and his physicians advised him to spend some months in the dry atmosphere of the high lands between the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas. He came to Salt Lake City, and feeling feel-ing better, and not being overburdened with ready money, he sought employment on the daily papers of this city. After several months of experience he wrote the following letter, which we have been permitted to copy, to his mother: "Dear Mother: If convenient send me money enough to purchase a half-fare ticket home. I am growing homesick, and I am so much improved in health that I think I can safely return. I have not only gained in strength, but much in exper'ence, since my coming here. I first sought employment on a leading paper called the Tribune. The editor-in-chief looked over my credentials and told me he was looking for just such a man as myself, my-self, and bade me begin when I pleased on editorial edi-torial work. When I asked if there was anything which he desired me to write upon he answered cheerily that I might select my own themes until he could better judge the bent of my mind. In a vague way I knew something of the history of the Tribune, so I prepared an article taking the ground that this must be in spirit and truth an American State and sharply criticised an article in another paper, the Deseret News, which referred re-ferred to people here who were still keeping alive the old dissensions and the old hate agairs; the Mormons. I shook up the News writer a good deal, asking why it was that while all the other sects lived in peace there had from the first been clash-ings clash-ings wherever the Saints had planted their stakes. "I carried the article to the editor, who glanced over it, then crushed it in his hand and tossed it into the waste basket, informing me at the same time that all that kind of writing had become obsolete in Utah; that the Gentiles here no longer cared to incite animosities or to defend the work of the men who fought the wrongs here until it was possible to establish, at least in form, an American State. I explained that I was but poorly posted and again timidly asked for a theme on which to write. The editor handed me a copy of Senator Kearns' revised mining bill and told me to speak in praise of it, and incidentally write a little eulogy of its author. I asked some questions regarding the Senator, learned his nativity, his rapid progress, etc., and then went to my desk again to make a second essay. Suddenly the vision vis-ion of Edmund Burke arose before me, the Irish-Englishman Irish-Englishman even as the Senator here is an iiish- , . , American, and what I wrote of the Senator was f f 5 ! really my idea of the great statesman, an hour's " :- M talk with whom was equivalent to a liberal edu- , H cation. I saw him as he was when he held Par- , (I liament spellbound by his eloquence, setting to f UM words the infinite knowledge with which his mind V'fl was stored. Again I approached the editor with , Q 9 my manuscript. He looked at it and then burst 1 fl out with: 'You blankety blank idiot! Such stuff H as this has no application here. The Senator is a . ' i'B man of affairs; he does not belong to the classic i yiH school; he is one of the forceful agents to carry j 'ft jH on the world's material work; he does not stop to jf ifH discuss questions, he merely drives through them, 1$ fl and heeds nothing of the newspapers except un- llB stinted praise without careful regard for either ' "iPM facts, details or logic' He then crushed the sec- .vifB ond manuscript into a shapeless mass, tossed it I into the waste basket and then turned to his 1 desk apparently unconscious of my presence. I h 4J I went away and kept myself close to my room for iH -'JlM several days. m ijHM "One morning, however, I saw a cartoon of the $ ;jM Senator in the Salt Lake Herald which gave me ik ;!flsH an Inspiration. I walked to the office of that paper and once more presented my credentials. I was j ijgfl cordially met and was told that the Herald was I HIM on the lookout for just such a man as the ere- jl '.IJftH dentials described. I was told further that the edl- f Trfl tor was a good deal overworked and it would m ; ffl be a favor if I began at once. Keeping the cartoon , fl in mind, I wrote another article in my best style, , H my long experience in describing Tammany lead- 1 fl ers coming grandly to my assistance. I carried IJtM the manuscript to the editor. He colored as he Jfl read it, and then sat in deep thought for some sec- f; 'ffffl onds. At last he looked up and said: 'I fear J 1 JIm can hardly make you understand the real situ- , (inl ation. This paper was bought ostensibly by Sena- ! iffS tor Clark of Montana. It was given out that way JEH in order that there could never be any doubt about W Efl the genuineness of the Democracy of the sheet, but l ,f&9 there was a serious stipulation that while we might if Jjfl in a friendly way cartoon our Senator, enough to ji tlffifl advertise him, and while we might' "josh" him a lit Jflfl little sometimes to cause people to remember our M fPfl unwavering Democracy, there must never be any- ' Ijffl thing like real criticism, no exposing of his meth- ) ffifl ods, no picture of his real self.' j ffjfl "I went away despondent and for several days 111 continually questioned myself as to where I was at. (j Jflfl "But one evening I picked up the News and liffiPfl read an article on the thorough Americanism of 'ffiiHfl tho Mormon people, their devotion to the Consti- lllrPifl tution and the flag, and my heart warmed to them. '! "liiH Next morning I presented myself at tho office and J'iJmfl once more presented my credentials. Again I was IflPfl cordially received and was told that, while no as- j j ffl sistant editor was needed, short essays on varied h IJflfl subjects would be gladly received and generously ,' PtPfl paid for. ; Jff?H "Then I took for my theme the editorial of the j tjijl previous day and launched out in a eulogy of 'fItoH the Mormon people. I told how long they had ? IgHfl been misjudged and explained that while they FlffiH were earnest believers in their creed, when It "MilM came to political opinions they were free-born jllrafl Americans; that were any priest, from the presi- fnSfflHfl dent of the church down, to try to dictate IBffifliS politics to the humblest lay member, it would be wfiHifl received with scorn and resented as would be a HHI blow in the face. I explained how their devotion mfll to the Constitution made it impossible for them iHinH MJM 1 jHH ' to brook even the appearance of slavery, and de-1 de-1 j nounced the vicious enemies who had been slan-M slan-M dering this people so long. I carried the manual manu-al script to the editor; he read it, and as he read he blushed and Anally softly said that -while the article in the main was true there were mysteries ' connected with the Mormon religion which I, of j course, could not understand the mystery which made perfect obedience perfect freedom. I was a I trifle staggered, but finally asked which side of jf politics the News was on. The editor explained ' that the News was apparently a political eunuch, but it never failed when there was a chance to boost a Democrat or to smite a Republican under j the fifth rib. Then I bethought me of the article I I had previously written for the Herald and sat f I down and wrote the substance of it anew, only 1 leaving out all reference to the Herald or its car- toon. I carried it to the editor and he again blushed and said: 'There are reasons why the 3 News cannot criticise our Senator, weighty rea- sons. He enjoys the confidence of our foremost 1 teachers and we have received more valuable con-1 con-1 side-ration at his hands than from any other Gen-f Gen-f tile'' g "I had made the acquaintance of a gentleman at Ml m my boarding house and that night I told him what I i my experience had been in Salt Lake journalism. I i f He heard me through and then said: 'There is I i -5 nothing remarkable about it except that you made jj the editor of the News blush; such a thing was I 4 never heard of before.' f , j "Dear mother, 1 want to go home. I " J Your affectionate son, ME; I j "Sept. 10, 1902. "JONAH JARVIS." if - |