Show THE E TRUTH ABOUT W C A SMOOT Some Somo people seem to find satisfaction in the tho statements made mada at the recent American party p banquet by W C A Smoot an aged man who came to Utah with the pioneers In 1847 and who Is heralded as a Mormon a brother of Senator Smoot and of sound mino and aid memory Mr Smoot told of what he lie said was the tho rich and fertile ferUle ap appearance ape appearance e ronce of the Salt Lake valley when the pioneers of 1847 18 7 entered it that there was nothing of the barren and desolate outlook which every one else of ot that company saw and which was beheld b held by tOO the thousands who followed them that what was said cold to be sage saga sagebrush bush brush on the present site of Salt Lake was avae in reality rich mountain bunch grass grain that there was abundance of pleas Clear water at hand han that even the American flag which tho the pioneers car carMod Mod across the plains and which every evero everyone one who saw it unfurled at the en roste oste celebration of Independence day daySen dayen Sen en wastes recognized as the Stars and Stripes they had so often otten beheld became when unfolded untold d to the in this valley a mere red 1 bandana handkerchief It pay for anybody to find Satisfaction tJ in vicious untruths sooner Or later these turn um to Dead sea apples After all mon men cannot afford to gloat over falsehood even to satiate the un unholy unholy holy boly appetite to injure by belittling fond end berating those to whom they have taken a 0 dislike It pays only to state fairly the facts for ultimately the peo pea people pealIe people lIe will learn the truth froth and despise 1 those who make a business of disseminating disseminating disseminating falsehood W C A Smoot is not a 0 Mormon He once was a member of that communion but was eliminated good cause on his part as many Salt Lakers remember Long before he be became became became came an old man he grow to be an intense in intense intense tense detailing the bit bitterest bitterest bitterest terest falsehoods and railings against his former associates while these have returned good for evil by doing him constant honor with the worthy pio pioneers pioneers pioneers and without a reference to the he heb gall b ll and wormwood that have flowed fio ed abundantly from frem his lips Further Furthermore Furthermore Furthermore more he Is not a brother of Senator Reed Smoot in n his veins there is not a drop of the Smoot family blood His real name is W C Atkinson and for forthe forthe forthe the sympathy and care and advantages advantages advantages which cane came ca e to him through the late Abraham 0 O Smoot one of the most honored and a d sturdiest of the Utah pioneers having adopted as his son the child W C Atkinson the the latter as asa asa asa a man has returned a baseness of In Ingratitude Ingratitude ingratitude gratitude that is beyond the measure me of ot decent comprehension As An to the native barrenness and desolation of this region there is not only the direct evidence of the people who vho came to the Salt Lake valley dur during durIng during ing the first twenty years of ot set of ot whom there are thousands living laving here heTe but the other thousands of ot otmen men mien and women in the prime of ot life Who lobo have resided here for a quarter of ot ofa ota ofa a century can recall the time when the place of some of our most pleasant and finest city residences and even busi business business business ness houses house were covered with sage sagebrush sagebrush sagebrush brush dating long anterior to the ar arrival arrival arrival rival of the pioneers and which never was bunch grass even the boys and girls can see by surrounding valleys In tr and Idaho just what this valley was before the mountain streams were husbanded In canals and reservoirs and turned tamed on to the land All these in Utah know W C A Smoots picture ef of this valley in 1847 18 7 does not depict the thereal thereal real Teal seen scena As to W C Atkinson Smoot being of ot sound mind and memory at his present pre ent advanced age in charity we will neither deny nor affirm but recalling tits his record and secessionist tendencies It is no surprise to have him describe the stars an and Stripes as a red ban bandana bandana bandana dana other men of his ilk Ille and sym sympathies sympathies sympathies called It even worse than that when they were trying during the four years ears of ot Civil war to tear it down But the flag of the American Union still waves as clearly in Its stars and bars bar and blue field as it did when the pioneers pio pioneers pioneers of this valley flung it to the breeze on what was was then Mexican soil and It waves for the too righteousness and truth that never can calf be dimmed by the slanderer who would rob tho Utah pio plo pioneers pioneers of the meed of ot praise so Justly due them for their great work in valleys s |