Is Utah Civilized?

IS UTAH CIVILIZED?* By L. P. Roberts In the American Mercury Magazine about a year ago, a Mr. De- Voto gave us a very striking picture of Utah. What he said is, no doubt, regarded by many readers outside the state as entirely true because the gentleman is, himself, a native of the state and should, therefore, have the facts at his command. While space will not permit me to reply in detail to all of his charges perhaps, for the sake of truth, I may be permitted to point out just a few of the author's most obvious errors. It seems that Mr. DeVoto was asked by the wife of a Harvard professor if it can be true that people "really live in Utah." In reply he launches into a wholesale attack upon the state, the absurdity of which can only be appreciated by those who have been to Utah and have seen the people and conditions as they are. A careful reading of the article reveals not only a careless' disregard for the truth, but the fact that in his anxiety to make his condemnation com- plete he has even gone so far as to contradict himself upon several occasions. His entire treatment of the subject resembles a "Hymn of Hate" so closely that it must be difficult even for an outsider to regard it as a calm survey of facts. "Civilized life," says Mr. DeVoto, "does not exist in Utah." Let us examine that statement for a moment. Without saying so in so many words he implies that civilized life does exist everywhere throughout the United States except within the borders of Utah. Travelers, then, crossing the country from coast to coast, must pre- pare when they leave Colorado to leave behind them all the luxury, the culture, and the refinement of modern life and plunge headlong into the primitive. To the average person the above statement sug- gests the uncharted wilderness, the smoke rising above thatched huts, and naked savages performing some tribal dance as they "keep time" to the weird throb of the tom-tom. Perhaps the uninformed Easterner, having viewed with appre- hension Mr. DeVoto's picture of Utah, imagines hopefully for a mo- ment that at sometime in the far-distant future civilization may penetrate even into the fastnesses of this state. If he does have any such fantastic dreams the writer soon sets his mind at rest upon that score. Continuing, Mr. DeVoto says that civilization "never has existed" in Utah; then turning his all-seeing eye upon the future this author-prophet predicts that "it never will exist there." And thus with one sweep of his omnipotent pen he condemns almost ♦Answer to Bernard DeVoto's Article on Utah, published in the March number of the American Mercury Magazine, 1926. This article contains some facts that all Utah people should know, or of which, not knowing, they should be informed. — Ed.

506 IMPROVEMENT ERA a half million of the American people to everlasting barbarism. There are, no doubt, a few sections in darkest Africa where cannibalism still exists; where civilization, as we understand the term, is still a vague future possibility; but even so there arc few writers who would have the supreme egotism to predict that civilization never will exist in those places. Yet that is exactly what Mr. DeVoto has predicted for one of our American states. But why is Utah doomed to remain forever outside the pale of civilized life? The author does not tell us. It seems that it just is because it is Utah. During the past I have read many attacks upon "Mormons" and "Mormonism," but such attacks were usually directed against some principle or practice of the Church. Never before have I read an attack upon the entire population of any state, "Mormons," Jews and Gentiles, simply because they were guilty of living within its borders. Never before have I seen four hundred and fifty thousand American people condemned to endless savagery for the crime of geographical location. A day's visit in Salt Lake City, with its wide streets, its fine homes, its modern business structures and its general air of busy prosperity, is all that is needed to give the lie to Mr. DeVoto's absurd statement. But such a visit is not within the realm of possibility for most of his readers; nor is it necessary. The contradictory gentle- man proves with his own words the absurdity of his charges. He concedes that in Utah poverty "is rare," and this statement is verified by the well-known writer Kenneth L. Roberts in his article on "Mormonism," published in the Saturday Evening Post. "Morality, the unassuming morality of unassuming folk," con- fesses DeVoto, "is high." Thus in one sentence he confesses his inability to find fault with the state from the standpoint of morals and decency — the one ground upon which the people of Utah have been most bitterly assailed by the uninformed people outside the state. That this writer admits the high standard of morals in Utah is significant. Further, he admits that in matters of tolerance, schools, state roads, civic virtue and patriotism Utah is well above the average. Having heard his confessions, perhaps I may be permitted to make one of my own. If lack of poverty, civic virtue, the pos- session of good schools, a high standard of morals, and withal a spirit of tolerance — if these are not the distinguishing character- istics of our highest civilization, I confess I do not understand the term. Speaking of artists, Mr. DeVoto remarks, in his very charitable manner, "I defy Mr. Masters or anyone else to find one artist or! even a quasi-artist in all the wide expanse of Utah, from Soda Springs to Hurricane, from Roosevelt to St. George." I am unable to determine just how wide an expanse the author has included in this sweeping statement, but I am inclined to think that his enthusiasm has swept him entirely out of the state because

IS UTAH CIVILIZED? 507 there is no such place in Utah as Soda Springs. There is, however, a Soda Springs in Idaho about forty-five miles north of the Utah border and I am inclined to believe that this is the town referred to because, judging by some of his other "facts," forty-five miles is not too great a distance for this author to deviate from the truth in order to make his point. I mention this matter, not because it is important, but simply because it is an error which anyone living outside the state can verify by a glance at the map. It is unimportant except as it suggests the author's lack of even an elementary knowledge of his home state, and the possibility that he may have made other more vital errors. But to return to DeVoto's defiant challenge. Is it true that there is not one artist in Utah? One of the most coveted honors to be gained in the field of art is the distinction of exhibiting a picture in the Paris Salon. It is an honor that comes only to artists of unusual ability. Lee Green Richards has received this honor many times and upon one occasion his work was given honorable mention. James T. Harwood, head of the art department of the University of Utah, has exhibited in the Salon a number of times'. In 1903 he was the winner of the Academy Julian Medal together with a cash prize. Mary Teasdale has exhibited at the Paris Salon and the St. Louis Exposition. Alma B. Wright has received recog- nition from the Paris Salon and the St. Louis Exposition. Edwin Evans exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago and more recently at the French Salon. Myra Sawyer was given recognition by the Salon and has had two of her miniatures accepted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. All of these artists, as well as numerous others, are living in Utah. Of sculpture Mr. DeVoto says, "You will find in Utah one exquisite monument to the sea gulls and three dozen wooden Indians covered with tin plate and named after the martyrs." This statement, like most of his statements of "facts," is vague and contradictory. Two of the most prominent statutes of "martyrs" in Utah are the figures of Joseph and Hyrum Smith located on the temple block, and these are no doubt two of the figures to which he refers. Mr. DeVoto is apparently unaware that they are the work of Mahonri Young, the same artist whose Sea Gull Monument the author admits is "exquisite." No doubt Mr. DeVoto refers also to the statue of Brigham Young and other figures by C. E. Dallin, whose "wooden Indians" have received considerable recognition in Utah. If he were fair, however, in his appraisal of Mr. Dallin's "wooden Indians," he would inform us that this artist received honorable mention for one of them (The Signal of Peace) at the Paris Salon in 1890. But since he does not call attention to this fact let me mention in passing that Mr. Dallin won a medal for one of his "wooden Indians" at the World's Fair in Chicago and that this same statue was purchased for that city and stands today in Lincoln Park as a memorial to the American

508 IMPROVEMENT ERA Indian. Nor was Chicago the only city to recognize his genius. His "Medicine Man" was purchased by a group of Philadelphia art critics and placed in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The Fine Arts Museum of Boston acquired his "Appeal to the Great Spirit." Some of his other works are his statue of Sir Isaac Newton in the rotunda of the Library of Congress, "The Scout," Kansas City, and the "Statue of Massasoit," at Plymouth, Mass. So if Utah has erred in giving recognition to Dallin's "wooden Indians," she, at least, has the consolation of knowing that she is not alone in her folly. Is it true, as Mr. DeVoto charges, that Utah has no interest in social, intellectual or artistic life? The facts do not seem to bear him out. Even while the people of the state were fighting to make the desert habitable, Brigham Young brought Julia Dean Hayne, one of the greatest actresses of her time, all the way from the East to give the people the best that could be obtained in the field of drama. This talented actress not only produced the best plays of her time, but trained entire companies of Utah players that they might be able to "carry on" after she had gone. And today dramatic art holds a high place in Utah communities. One of the first large buildings erected in Utah was the Salt Lake Theater, dedicated in 1862. It was the first theater built in the West and was for many years the largest theater west of New York City. The greatest actors and actresses known to the stage have presented their performances in this pioneer showhouse. And the finest plays on the boards today may still be seen there. Edwin Booth, Lawrence Barrett and Louis James have given their stellar presentations of Shakespeare. John McCullough, E. A. South- ern, Robert Keene and Robert Mantell have also given their splendid interpretations of this master playwright. Mrs. Fiske, Nance O'Niel, Mrs. Leslie Carter, David Warfield, John and Lionel Barrymore and a host of others, from experience, could bear witness to Utah's love of good drama. Does Utah have any interest in the artistic? Anyone who thinks she does not will have difficulty in explaining why it was that Utah established the first art school in the West and why Utah was the first state in the union to create a state art department at public expense. Does Utah have any interest in music? The fact that shortly after the pioneers arrived they built one of the largest pipe-organs in the world for their tabernacle would seem to indicate that they were not entirely devoid of musical appreciation. When one realizes that much of the material to build this huge instrument had to be transported across the country by ox-teams, one can gain some idea of the immensity of the undertaking. Nor is this organ used to furnish music for Church services alone. Every week-day through the year it is used to give a recital to the

IS UTAH CIVILIZED? 509 public, free of charge, and the music is rendered by organists of recog- nized ability. The Mutual Improvement. Associations of the "Mormon" Church conduct contests in which cash prizes are given for the musical selections most successfully rendered. The Utah schools are provided with good music departments and the result of musical encouragement is shown by the fact that a Utah choir won second place at the World's Fair in Chicago against the finest choirs in the country. This same state, in spite of it's youth, has given the United States three outstanding stars of the opera and concert stage — Emma Lucy Gates, Margaret Romaine and Irene Williams. Nor is Utah isolated from the best music that is to be heard in the East. Perhaps the Easterner who prides himself on having heard such artists as Emma Clave, Patti, Galli-Curci, Heifetz or John McCormack will be surprised to learn that these musicians have performed in the wilds of Utah, not once, but many times. You may have heard the masterful renditions of Schumann-Heink and Paderewski in New York or Boston and I, too, have heard them in the Salt Lake .Tabernacle, within a short time of each other. Does Utah have any interest in intellectual life? The two thousand nine hundred students enrolled in the state university together with the thirteen hundred enrolled in the Brigham Young University would lead us to think so. The seven hundred graduates from the two schools stand ready to dispute the claim that in Utah people "talk only of the Prophet, hogs, and Fords." If any one is foolish enough to suppose that these subjects form the only topics of Utah con- versation let him engage some of these students in a discussion of Keats, Shelley, Chaucer or Milton, and their knowledge of these authors will be a revelation to him. In paying a doubtful compliment to Dr. Kerr of the University of Utah, Mr. DeVoto says, "he stands out like a sequoia amidst sagebrush — a scholar alone in a mob of 'Mormon' bishops, tank town annotaters and hicks." If this is true it is indeed painful to learn that such a laxness of standards exists at Mr. DeVoto's own dear old Harvard. For surely the blame for such "scholastic ignorance" rests largely upon the school from which these men received their education, and a study of the facts reveals that sixteen members of the present faculty of the University of Utah are from Harvard students. George Thomas, president of the University, received his master's degree from that institution. It seems to me that it is very unfortunate that Harvard has degenerated into a machine for the manufacture of "tank-town annotaters and hicks." As to the other members of the faculty, they are without exception, graduates of schools of recognized scholastic standing. The most convincing answer to this charge against the U. of U. faculty is the fact that this school is a member of the Association of

5 10 IMPROVEMENT ERA American Universities, with which only the leading universities of the United States are affiliated. Membership in this organization means that all work done at the Utah school is accepted on an equal basis with that of Harvard, Princeton, Johns Hopkins or any other university of high standard. While this complete recognition has not yet been accorded to the Brigham Young University, an indication of the type of students found in the "Mormon" school is given by the fact that the past year's graduating law classes of both the University of Chicago and the George Washington University were led in the matter of scholar- ship by former B. Y. U. graduates. "Who ever heard of a Utahn?" inquires DeVoto with child- like naivete. The world of music has heard of Margaret Romaine and Emma Lucy Gates. They have become famous on the concert and opera stage. Irene Williams has achieved fame both here and abroad as a Mozart artist. New York and Boston have heard of John J. McClellan, who was one of the world's greatest organists. Maude Adams was one of the greatest actresses, if not the greatest, of her time, and her superb portrayal of the role of "Peter Pan" has never been equaled. The world of art has heard of Mahonri Young, who won a silver medal at the Panama Exposition, in 1915, and who is one of the leading sculptors of New York City today. Philadelphia, Boston and Paris have heard of John Hafen, who was one of our finest landscape painters. Paris has heard of Rose Hartwell and Ralston Gibbs, who have both exhibited at the Salon. The first time in history that beauty-loving turned to America for a piece of her art it was the work of C. E. Dallin that she requested — a statue that stands today in Vienna, Austria, as an example of the best that America can produce. Merely to have his work exhibited in the French Salon is suf- ficient distinction to mark an artist as great, and many Utah people have gained this honor, but it is interesting to note that the youngest person ever admitted to the Salon was also a Utahn — Avard Fair- banks of Springville, who gained this signal distinction at the age of fifteen. Nor is Utah unknown in the field of commercial art. John Held, Jr., of Salt Lake City holds a high place among the cartoonists, his work being featured almost every week in Life, Judge, and other magazines. Another Salt Lake boy, Clyde Squires, is one of America's finest illustrators. His picture, "Her Gift," hangs in thousands of homes and is perhaps as well known as anything of its kind. "Who ever heard of a Utah playwright?" Broadway has heard and is still hearing of the Utah boy, Otto Haurbach, who has won

IS UTAH CIVILIZED? 511 his place among the playwrights with such succeses as "No, No, Nanette," "Rose-Marie," and "Wild-Flower." Utah has contributed two recognized "stars" to motion pictures — Betty Compson and John Gilbert. No doubt Mr. DeVoto has never heard of them but almost every patron of the "movies" has. One of the greatest motion pictures ever produced was "The Covered Wagon," and the man who directed it and was largely responsible for its success was James Cruze of Ogden. In the field of scenario writing there are few who have achieved greater success than has June Mathis of Utah. Who ever heard of a Utahn indeed! About a year ago the entire world was thrilled by the achievement of Lieutenant Russel L. Maughan, who made the first successful flight from coast to coast in a single day. One of the great inventors of modern firearms was John M. Browning of Ogden. His automatic pistol was adopted by the U. S. government in 1908. His guns have been adopted by a number of European countries and his machine-gun and machine rifle were adopted by the U. S. government in 1918. In the field of law this state is also represented. One of the judges on the bench of the highest court in the land — the U. S. Supreme Court — is George Sutherland of Utah. In the Senate of the United States there is perhaps no committee of greater importance than the finance committee — the watch-dog of the treasury. To be elected to this body is an honor; to be chosen as its head is to gain distinct recognition. At the present time this body is headed by the Utah senator, Reed Smoot. Who's Who in America, which lists the names of those who have accomplished some noteworthy achievement or gained some posi- tion of prominence, gives Utah as the birthplace of more of its "elect" than can be claimed by any other of the eight states in the Rocky- Mountain region. Even Colorado, with a population almost twice as great, falls far below this state as a cradle of greatness. Nor is it true that those who become prominent must leave the state to do it. Eighty-six people listed in Who's Who? are living in Utah today. Yes, people really live in Utah! The best that the world of music, of art or of drama has to offer is theirs to enjoy. Theirs, also, are those simpler joys of living that are lost forever to those living in our crowded centers of population. Thousands of people living in our great cities are so busy making a living that they can find no time to live. They are so busy defending themselves in the battle for a mere existence that they have hardly a moment to pause and ask themselves what it is all about. In Utah the battle to live has not yet achieved such titantic pro- portions. One still has time to pause long enough to enjoy the beauty of the sunset; to look up at the stars; to laugh and to live. In Utah there is still room for the man of moderate means to have

512 IMPROVEMENT ERA a home of his own with a lawn in front and a garden in the rear, and the overwhelming majority of Utahns do live in such homes in striking contrast to the congestion of the apartment-house districts of Chicago or the squalor of the tenement districts of New York. The Utahn still has time to have "neighbors" as well as friends, and to extend to the stranger the smile of good-fellowship. What, then, is the excuse for DeVoto's article? Perhaps the explanation for such an imaginative outburst lies in some real or fancied hurt suffered by the author. Perhaps (and this is, I think, the more probable explanation), finding himself unable to sell his literary wares, he has turned at last, in desperation, to the ancient subterfuge of sensationalism as a means of gaining a market for writ- ings of doubtful literary merit. To attack Utah is the popular thing to do and, because it usually attracts favorable attention from the editors to do so, many an author of mediocre ability has bitterly condemned the Utah people, with little regard for the truth, and with no other purpose in mind than the saving of his literary efforts from the oblivion of the waste-basket. The Old West The ,ripin' an' tearin' an' roarin' old West Is passing out over the hills, And into its place comes a gentler quest Of life, with its triumph and thrills. The day of the scabbard and pistol and knife Is gone with the Indian's whoop, While Industry's hum replaces the strife, And peace reigns supreme in the group. The drinkin' an' shootin' an' fightin' old West Is gone with the old schooner trails, Slow lumbering oxen have taken their rest, Replaced by the gleaming steel rails. The red-skin no longer goes crouching at dawn, To capture his foe unaware. The danger of forest and mountain are gone, With the lion and bob-cat and bear. But the strength of the old is passed to the new, An heritage worthy of men; The will or the courage to dare and to do, Still pulses today same as then. The throb and the hum of this vibrant new life, Demands that a man do his best To fight and to win, not counting the strife; It was ever the test of the West. Sigurd, Utah. IRVIN L. WARNOCK.