Emulate, Don’t Venerate Pioneers, DUP Exhorted By Barbara Springer Tribune Staff Writer "Our veneration of the pioneers is largely verbal — we extol them but we do not emulate them," Neal A .Maxwell, commissioner of education, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Saturday at Hotel Utah. Mr. Maxwell, luncheon speaker dur¬ing the. day-long national convention of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP), outlined to some 275 women the charac¬teristics of the pioneers, comparing their traits with those evident today. First, "These gallant men and women had a specific purpose and mission — they knew where they were going." the former executive vice president at the University of Utah said. "But if fI were to cite one word to describe modern Ameri¬cans, it would not be 'certitude,' but 'am¬bivalence'." The second trait was the pioneers' courage in facing practical problems. Harsh as the challenges were that the pioneers faced. Mr. Maxwell said, "The issues were simple, measurable and con¬gruent. "Today America faces a cluster of crises," be continued. "We are trying to treat a body politic that has several sick¬nesses simultaneously. Our situation is inlaid with irony in that we may be suc¬cessful in treating one disease while the patient is dying from another." And while the pioneers had a "sense of community," he said, "it is just possi¬ble that our more newly acquired sense of belonging to the community of all men lessens, ironically, our sense of obliga¬tion to our actual community, since our circle of concern is as wide as the world but we perspire little over proximate problems." Mr. Maxwell said the pioneers adjust¬ed to "the necessary existence of author¬ity." while we, increasingly, resist it. The pioneers experienced economic humility. Today, however, "affluence seems to make it more difficult to muster the same consistent, concerted civic effort in the taming of our asphalt jungle that was present in subduing the sagebrush a cen¬tury ago," the LDS commissioner of edu¬cation said. "The need then for citizens to take their turn in the chores of the commun¬ity was reasonably well established . . . See Page B-11, Column 1 DUP Meeting Hears Call To Fire Pioneer Spirit Continued From Page B-l Today the hedonism of surburbia may be the sign of a tired democracy." The problems of community size beset Americans today with its resulting complexities and interdependence. And "in facing things as they really were, the pioneers offered us another object Ses­sion for life today," he contin­ued. "Whether one is a politi­cal conservative or a liberal, he needs to know both the strengths and weaknesses of his position." 'Stern Challengers' Expressing a hope that the' "stern challenges" of today may call forth the pioneer spirit, Mr. Maxwell added, "In many ways we have been drawing on a storehouse of virtues which the pioneers filled for us but which we must now refill and replenish lest we find ourselves guard­ing and venerating an empty granary!" Emphasizing that of all so­ciety's institutions, the home is the most crucial, Mr. Max­well said, "A few alienated sons and daughters are more distant than any star.' Try as we may, if we poison the headwaters it is exceedingly difficult to depollute down­stream. And the economic, educational and political insti­tutions, even when combined, often cannot compensate for those original failures in the home. Home's the Place "Truly, if one were to ask himself on what he might con­centrate in order to be like the pioneers, one might say of the home: 'This is the Place!' he concluded. While giving the president's message Saturday morning, Mrs. Kate B. Carter told more than 850 women that the DUP presents the story of the Mor­mon pioneers through mark­ers, relics and publications. There is "a multitude of pioneer material, records, autobiographies and histories which we do not have," said Mrs. Carter who encouraged the women "to seek out the history and records of your ancestors." Mrs. Carter also said a Tuc­son, Ariz., woman had willed her $194,000 estate to the or­ganization. The proceeds will be used to buy or build a pio­neer carriage house. DUP Memorial "We must be true to our trust and carry out the wishes of Mrs. (Saramarie) Van Dyke," Mrs. Carter said. In her will, Mrs. Van Dyke had stipulated that" funds from the sale of her estate be used for a DUP memorial. Mrs. Carter added that one room of the building - which will be used to house pioneer vehicles - "must be set aside as a memorial to her and the building itself must bear her name." Mrs. Calvin L. Rampton i also spoke on woman suffrage. Saturday afternoon, the women - all descendants of those who entered the Salt Lake Valley before 1869 - visited Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.