--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Bowman, John F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 32 number: 8 published: 1929-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "John F. Bowman, “A Challenge to M Men,” *Improvement Era* 32, no. 8 (June 1929): 646–648." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3208unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3208unse start_page: 646 end_page: 648 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1929-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3208unse publication_year: 1929 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1929, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Challenge to M Men A Challenge to M Men By John F. Bowman, Mayor of Salt Lake City and Chairman of the M Men Committee of the General Board I HAD the pleasure, last September, of visiting the Southern Utah wonders and being present at the dedication of Bryce Canyon National Park, and also of attending the dedicatory exercises that were held at the Union Pacific Lodge on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The party, numbering about 200, was made up largely of business and professional men, and public officials, of the western states, including our beloved Presidents Grant and Ivins. The visitors were guests of Mr. Carl R. Gray, president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. They gathered from their respective sections at Cedar City, from which point they made the trip to Zion's National Park, and from these by way of Pipe Springs to the Union Pacific Lodge on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, then back to Bryce Canyon and from there over the Kolob Plateau to Cedar Breaks, thence back to Cedar City. The caravan passed through many of our "Mormon" settlements, the transportation used being the regular busses of the Utah Parks Company. These busses were handled by as fine a group of young men as the world produces, all of them being students of the University of Utah, the Brigham Young University at Provo, or the Agricultural College at Logan, and all "Mormon" boys. Most of them were M Men. So far as I could learn there wasn't a smoker in the group of twenty- five or thirty young men, and they were such outstanding specimens, both physically, intellectually, and morally that they were frequently the subject of comment and conversation of all in the party, and were also recipients of gifts of appreciation in which all of the 200 guests participated. At Zion's National Park a large group of very attractive, in- telligent, and beautiful young ladies, gathered largely from the settlements of Southern Utah, most of them college and high school girls, as well as Gleaner Girls of the M. I. A., did the serving at the tables. They also did part of the entertaining, in the way of singing on the evening program, and very impressively sang for the guests, as they were departing the following morning, one of our "Mormon" hymns, which has been adopted as the official Zion's National Park Song, viz: "Our Mountain Home So Dear." Every feature of the trip from the beginning to the end was tied into the colonization of the West and necessarily, of course, to June. 1929 A CHALLENGE TO M MEN 647 the "Mormon" Church, its leaders, and people. This was evidenced time and again by numerous calls on President Grant and President Ivins for stories and information concerning many points of Church history. I think our leaders have never been more signally honored or appreciated than were Presidents Grant and Ivins on this trip, by the many outstanding men of affairs in the party. It was evident to everyone that the history of the colonization of the Intermountain West is very largely a history of the "Mormon" Church in the West. These great Southern Utah and Northern Arizona parks, together with our settlements all around them, will carry to the world the great, romantic, dramatic, and many times thrilling and tragic story of our pioneer builders, as nothing else will. For every visitor we have to these Southern wonders now, we will have a hundred within the next ten or fifteen years. People will surely come from the ends of the earth to visit these outstanding places, as their glories and charm are heralded abroad by those who have seen and been enthralled by them. These visitors will hear the story of the building of the West and the tremendous part taken in it by our "Mormon" empire builders. What an opportunity to give a correct and favorable impression of our State and its people! But (hey are going to judge us, not entirely by what they hear, but also by what they see, and the eye ofttimes carries more convincing proof, and gives a more lasting impression to a casual visitor than does the ear. What can we do, then, to create the proper impression? Many things might be suggested, but the one to which I want particularly to call attention is the condition of our premises up and down the highways over which our visitors travel, and in the cities and towns through which they travel. Church leaders have urged the cleaning up of our premises for more than sixty years, but still we have many unsightly and un- necessary outbuildings, broken-down fences, dilapidated barns and sheds, corrals and pig-sties, dead trees, unkempt and unkept yards, which offend the aesthetic ideas of many of our visitors and leave them with a very unfavorable impression of our people, largely off- setting the tremendous impression of the dauntless spirit and heroic courage of our early colonists and pioneers and their work. Can we afford to have a single visitor leave with an unfavorable im- pression of our State and people, if reasonable effort will avoid it? It is not intended to give the impression that the premises in our settlements are generally in the condition herein indicated, but some of these conditions exist in most places. There were some very noticeable and outstanding exceptions, where every fence was in repair, every house, barn, and outbuilding painted and every yard in an inviting condition, and these places were the subject of very 648 IMPROVEMENT ERA June. 1929 favorable comment by the visitors. They produced a lasting, favor- able impression. Wouldn't it be a fine thing if everyone of our towns could be placed in such a condition? How can we do it? Let a civic pride campaign be inaugurated throughout the State and let the responsibility of organizing the campaign and carrying it through to a successful conclusion be assumed by the M Men or- ganization of the town or district. The stake organization can func- tion as a unit with supervisory responsibility over all organizations within the stake. These organizations can probably get the Com- mercial Clubs and other clubs to cooperate in a clean-up, paint-up, and beautification program. I feel sure if the M Men will assume responsibility of this work, that it will be accomplished to their credit and honor for all time. Now, M Men, what do you think about it? Can you con- ceive of a better project? Here is a real opportunity for service to your city, to your community, to your Church. Let's accept the challenge and build a monument to the initiative ability and interest in things worth while to our young manhood. Golden Hair When grandfather crossed the plains, Weary, one day, he stopped to rest, And saw strands of golden hair, Twisted and tangled in the brush. The bars of his heavy handcart dropped: He paused to finger the gold in the leaves. To stroke and twine the silken threads, Gleaming and netted from twig to twig. Grandfather's tired head bent down, His lips touched the brightness there: The carts creaked on and passed him by, And the plain was gray and still. He had left his own little girl, A little one with golden hair, Shallow-buried on the banks of old Missouri And her English mother sleeping there. Salt Lake City, Utah MRS. VESTA P. CRAWFORD