Show TILE THE AND ITS bene nENE rITS wilm recent arrival of the company of emigrants in this territory from great britain is the commencement of a new era in the gathering of the saints to zion we can scarcely realize the fact that in about twenty three days from the time they stepped on the vessel in the port ot of f liverpool they were safely landed in 0 oden oed oen ded and the traveling time was even three days less than this this thia isa is a briefer period than it requires for the elders eldera to go goon on a preaching visit to 0 our oun ur southern settler settlements rieks W when hen wo we reflect u pon pen the time which 1 t occupied no luger longer ago than two years to make the journey from europe to this point the change appears almost marvelous there were were but few minds in the community i during the first years of our settlement here who could conceive in the space that of time which has since elapsed such stupendous changes would be effected but we live in a fast a age ae 0 e an age in which one great gread improvement ment treads on the heels of another with such remarkable rapidity that it requires me men meo n to be thoroughly wideawake wide awake to keep pace with them the wonderful progress which the world is making in inventions and discoveries co and the tireless energy w with ith which they are practically applied to the purposes of life ilfe are are ire among the most noticeable features in the operations of our generation it seems as if the powers of heaven were moved to aid man in effecting the results which we witness by quickening his intellect revealing sig hidden bidden powers unto him and by infusing into luto him an almost superhuman energy to practically carry out his conceptions to j judge by what we wesee see accomplished we should conclude there id Is a necessity for extraordinary activity as though an immense amount of labor had to be done in a brief space of time we hail bail the railroad as a great auxiliary in the work which we are destined to perform sot not only this but we welcome with joy every discovery that can be made to aid man in the peford ance of his slop already we use electricity to addan advantage tage I 1 in n our terri tory tors it id is admirably adapted to meet the wants and answer the purposes of a people such as we areford it promotes organization I 1 by bind binding ing the must d distant members almost al most as closely to the head or centre as those drelling dv eiling louato it so with steam also it must perform its great part for us theresias there siao s MO people upon the tho earth according to our numbers to whom it presents sq binany many benefits as to us we hope no not only to have it used on lines running across our territory but to have our facilities of travel and communication increased by its use throughout the length of our settlements many have had bad the idea that we dreaded the comp completion letio a of the continental railroad but why should we fear it the advantages which it comfers confers very greatly outweigh any disadvantages which it may occasion the disadvantages we can control and if prudent eventually remove as they are likely mainly to consist in draining the country of money to pay for the cost and freight of articles imported from abroad the production and manufacture at home of a wider range of articles for our own use uso and for exportation will correct this but its ad vantages are very great by its aid our missionary operations at home and abroad will be greatly promoted our elders ciders can travel with expedition and ease to the tho most distant parts perform their turn with equal facility bringing with the nithe fruits of their labors surely Sur elythe the prophet isaiah mus had reference to the they would gather the saints from afar by means of the great improvements of af modern times when speak speaking ng of the gathering to zion of the people of the last days he inquire inquires who are these that fly as ii a y cloud and as is the doves ta t their windows Is it too much to assume that lie he saw in vision I 1 the flying locomotive with its cloudlike cloud like smoke and its long train of cars laden with the gathering saints and there is another advantage about the railroad which we have already ef es perien ced if it brings mean contemptible men here her e bad citizens it also carries them off with no less speed since its completion another class of people has visited this country men of liberality of broad and enlightened views who have jome iome and d examined for themselves selver selves 4 the lies which have been for long years told about 1 the people of utah aro are now producing good fruit for us everybody who has read them or heard of them and who is there in these days day a of newspapers who has not if he has lent credence to them comes cornea here prepared pre pared to see a very wicked turbulent dangerous people living in cities and settlements where law and order are trampled under foot at the bidding of unreasoning fanaticism the contrast is isso so striking between the descriptions and tho the reality that they are surprised and if the visitors are honest a reaction re action of sentiment take takes place and they feel disgusted at the impositions in PO sitione which have been practiced upon them these will exerciser exercise a 13 marked effect upon our future history no one at all familiar with utah and its people can fail fall to perceive that the building and completion of the tho ballad ro road have brought the latter day saints prominently into botica before the tho world and that we as a people have within the last year taken a great stride in advance in many quarters there must be disappointment felt at the results which have thus far attended the construction of the railroad so far as we are con arned it was asserted by those who desired evil to come upon us that when the men and women reached this territory who by their licentiousness and disgusting abominations rendered the names of the towns on the line of the railroad infamous and tho the very synonyms for fop forhand pandemonium wo we would have an element to deal with of which we then knew nothing and the result could not be doubtful it would overs laugh us to merely human eyes it seemed likely that when this element should surge into our settlements and cities if it did not overwhelm us it would at least give us considerable trouble but w what at has been the result the waves of that filthy misnamed civilization which was to effectually eradicate us I 1 have fallen in harmless foam at our feet and today to day scarcely a t trace race of their existence can be seen we were favored with a winter season of extraordinary mildness during 1868 9 which admitted of work being done on the line at a time of year when as it had bad been the previous winter it was expected that camps and settlements would be thronged thron ged t with idle mischievous and villainous men and their dissolute companions of the other sex by this means providence preserved us from even the defilement of contact with the leprous element looking at the pacific railroad therefore from every point the people of utah have good reasons for being satisfied that it is an accomplished fact |