Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], December 30, 1916, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
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Vol. 27 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, DECEMBER 30, 1916 No. 25 H
An Independent Paper Published Under
:: the Management of T. L. Holman ::
EDITORIALS BY JUDGE C. C. GOODWIN
New Year's Day
THE New Year will dawn filled with ma
terial promises of good for Utah.
The mines are yielding wonderfully, never be
fore wore there such dividends being paid, such
pay-rolls being carried; never before was the
promise of a long continuance of the dividends,
and of the great pay-roll so great. And much that
they produce enters into the permanent wealth
of the world and is a fruit of labor that becomes
immortal and draws interest forever. This is
what magnifies mining and makes it the one ln-
dustry that more directly affects and concerns
, and influences civilization than any other.. Think
how poor and narrow and provincial our own
country had become when the thrill of the finding
of gold in California was felt.
The farmers and range men exult over the
' early great fall of snow, for it means good pas-,
turage and the perfect fitting of the soil for plant
ing the spring crops, and beyond the great de
mand for all that the ranges and the farms can
produce.
The manufacturers of Utah have no surplus
left over; there has been a call for all they could
supply during the year just closing, and they know
i that a market is open for all that they can sup-
. ply in the new year.
, More marriage bells have been rung during the
year just closing than in any previous year; the
voices of more children give Utah benediction
i than ever before; in the never ceasing march be-
tween the cradle and the grave, during the clos-
ml ing year many much-loved men and women, over
wearied, have folded their hands, and fallen into
that sleep, the awakening from which is beyond
the stars.
IThe celebrating of New Year's day is the old
est of all. When men learned first the proces
sions of the stars and the seasons, the beginning
of the year was determined; the time when the
, sun which had seemed to be retreating, had
stopped in his wanderings and had started back;
j when in cold countries flowers began to bloom
beneath the snows; when in warmer lands the
birds began to mate and to build their new
houses; confident that another spring and sum
i mer would come with their seed time and their
. period of growth to insure another harvest. And
r the hope of it all caused men to first hail their
fellow men with Happy New Year greetings, to
' realize that the world's annual life symboled
man's life, and out of it sprang the hope that
for them, when the chill of their winter shall
; have passed, there would be for them another
spring, another summer and a harvest loaded
with blessings. And as civilization advanced,
more and more ostentatious honors began to bo
paid the day; it became a custom i.o ring the old
, year out, and the new year in; to hail the day
with joyous greetings, to fill it with stately mu-
sic; with feasts and presents, with all that sym
bols the hopes of men in the day.
The men of Utah have every reason to exult
over this New Year's day. They have health;
their business is prosperous, all the portents are
for a successful year, and the success to come
from natural causes, lrom the yield of field and
range and orchard and mine, and through trans
forming raw material into forms of beauty or use.
The Happy New Year greetings should have
full zest, for they should come from hearts at
once filled with thankfulness for blessings re
ceived and hopes for blessings which the new
year will hold in store for them.
The White Christmas
IT was sure enough a white Christmas. The
clerk of the weather bureau rather overworked
things, considering that Salt Lake is in the arid
belt. But it was a scientific calculation. ( He
must have set his pumps going out in mid-Pacific
about a month ago. From experience he must
have known how much moisture California and
Oregon would need, and then how much it would
be necessary to send over the mountains for the
use of the so-called arid states. So he set the
pumps working, called up the clouds and loaded
them with the moisture, then instructed the winds
to deliver what the coast states needed and to
carry the balance over the Cascades and the
Sierra Nevadas; where the cold would convert
it into snow, and then to bear it further on and
unload where the residents of the arid belt were
supplicating him for a white Christmas, and to
dump it upon them in such quantities that the
"short water shriekers" would be hushed at least
through the holidays.
And the calculation worked out like a charm.
And what a delicious thought it is, while watch
ing the falling snow to think that all that came,
through the action of a divine law, established
when the world was created, to compel the great
ocean to give up its moisture, to compel the vag
rant winds to do their part, the cold to play its
part, and to unload that moisture from the deep
sea upon us in the form of snow, to prepare our
soils for another harvest; to feed at the same time
the springs in the hills, that when the summer
come would insure the harvest. The whole phe
nomenon, if reduced to a picture, would be the
most wonderful ever seen.
Special Honors To Governor Spry
THE ovation given Governor Spry on Tuesday
evening was something that ought to keep the
Governor's heart warm as long as that heart
continues to throb.
It was most appropriate, too, and should bo
most useful. It was an expression of affection
and admiration tor a retiring official which must
have been most gratifying to the retiring official;
it was a notice to other officeholders that the peo
ple aie watching and are ready to honor those
who faithfully serve them.
Moreover it was not political. It came from all
classes and creeds and straight from the hearts
of the people.
Politically Utah is much perturbed just now.
Most of the people feel that they have been scan- j H
dalized and humiliated during the past year, that J H
no political celebrations should be held in Utah 1 H
this year except by the sugar company and that H
by them about all the demonstration that should 1 H
be made, should be by the singing of the hymn, j H
"We Thank Thee, O Lord, for a Large Profit" !
Hence this spontaneous ovation to Governor H
Spry was the more significant for it came straight 1 H
from the hearts of the people and was a mute 1 H
protest against the political wrongs of last sum- 1 H
mer. 1 H
We congratulate Governor Spry. The ovation I
was one seldom tendered to a retiring officer, and H
was a Christmas wreath that will not fade dur- : H
ing all his life though he may live to the age of
Methuselah. , H
It should make the sunlight sweeter to him H
and the world around him fairer. It was an ex- '
pression of sentiment for the man and his work U M
most beautiful to see and to be remembered so !
long as life lasts. , IM
i IH
Governor Bamberger J H
uHTHE King is dead. Long live the King." On j fl
Monday the Governor will become the ex- r
Governor; the Governor-elect will be the Governor j! H
in fact. We congratulate him. We believe ho I
will make a first class executive. Surely he will jj
have every incentive to do his very best In the j H
high office. ' fl
He will carry to it the ripe experience of a M
man who through many difficulties has won out, M
and he will have that experience to help him in M
the new duties he will assume on Monday. Again H
his life for forty years past has made him fa- ' H
miliar with all the business of the state, and when j H
it comes to considering any measure advanced ho H
will be no novice. He knows the conditions in : H
every section of the state and he has a clear L M
judgment of what should be. Wo bespeak for him M
full success in his new high position. j M
The Great Storm v H
ON Christmas a mighty storm swept tlio two jj M
million square miles west of the Mississippi. 1 j
The storm, too, brought with it all its outrid- i H
ers of cold, rain, snow, fog and the winds were 1 H
its orchestra and played their most stirring num- I JM
bers. 1 H
In Arkansas they took on cyclone proportions, i M
leaving wreck and death in their path. When f
the snow began to fall they picked it up and F JH
piled it in mighty drifts and the snows extended ifl
further south than they have before for a full ifil
generation. x jjfl
The cold seized all the north country from the !l
great lakes to the Pacific and for days held the t
mighty area as in a vice. v jjJ
There was congestion in traffic over half a . H
continent. There was confusion in distributing r H
Christmas gifts; everybody was willing to declare ftl
that he lived in the meanest place on earth until 'jH
ho picked up the newspaper and read that the i'jl
storm had been impartial and had driven all the M
people of the land to their trenches. 11
And Btill the phenomenon of a great storm is J
very splendid. When we think of the power that jhH
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