Show WHEN HE GOES EAST HE SPEAKS WELL OF UTAH AND HER PEOPLE he believes in telling the truth and giving real facts about utah john P meakin who is well known and has a host of in every valley of utah is one who believes in advertising ver utah in the right way the follow ing from the journal shows how he talks ia the east mr john P an old and highly esteemed resident of salt lake city utah is a guest at the harms hotel A reporter of the journal called on mr meakin and put a number of questions as to the conditions in utah and also about the investigation going on as to senator in answer to the questions he replied let me say fairer than any other state in america excepting probably iowa and illinois or any land under heaven Is utah her scenery is more majestic than that of switzerland from extreme north to extreme south extends a chain of valleys gemmec gemmed with lakes wherein every pastoral picture ever seen or sung is reproduced the people of utah are just as pure just as honest and virtuous as any class of people in the union the cormons mormons are plain kindly and hospitable to any one within their gates their platform and pulpit is open to any visitor the ever uppermost question of polygamy is dying out rapidly the manifesto went only to future marriages most ista were old people the great majority of them were poor they could not give their poly wives separate homes and desert them for years chev bad known no other relations moreover they believed it was a divine relation what could they do and was it not clear that with the marriages stopped it would be but a little while when the system would cease to exist the manifesto was issued in years ago one third of the polygamists men that were alive then arc now dead in a few years more they will all be gone 1 I say god bless them both here anu hereafter for they were and are grand souls and I 1 respect them even in their deluded belief 1 I have known tor many years senator reed smoot whom I 1 know to be one of the purest and best of men his home life is ideal yet real there would not be a kick from any true american as to his right lawfully and morally if they knew him and his loved ones he Is in heart and mind an american faithful to his native state and the nation he has never broken one of ita laws he is not a polygamist and never has been nearly all creeds known to christendom are united ia utah cormons mormons and non cormons mormons mingle socially and in business the visitor to utah is not able to distinguish one from the other and one finds both equally intelligent and progressive no sir 1 am not a mormon I 1 am a I 1 have been a resident of salt lake utah since 1869 my purpose here is to visit my son chas W meakin who is with the eben holdan company I 1 intend visiting new york city philadelphia washington D before I 1 return to my mountain home utah we love thee |