Show THE CASE AGAINST THE registrars THE decision of the utah commission leaves in great doubt the question how far may a registration officer go in a direction at variance with the spirit and letter of the law without being in danger of removal mention of mccallum winters and morris it was abundantly shown that mr clute and mr hyams had disregarded the explicit provisions of the law and had been guilty of conduct afan of an extraordinary character in an officer who is under sacred obligations to act with fidelity and impartiality tia lity it was shown that mcclute Mr Clute had kursu pursued bd a ver very erratic course in making the house to house canvass of his precinct that he be had devoted much of his time to other matters than the canvass during the period in which it should have been actively prosecuted that he had discriminated in many instances in registering some applicants and refusing other sand that he had utterly failed to make any canvass at all of considerable portions of his district which were thickly inhabited by peoples peopled party men paying no regard to the provisions of the law which required him to make a diligent and complete house to house visitation one fact was proven against mr clute and not denied by him which alone ought to have been deemed ample cause for his removal he had visited the premises of the rio grande western railway company and had bad found there large numbers of workmen whom he had registered ered knowing that they were all members of his own party without making any attempt to find their homes and thereby ascertain that they lived in his precinct yet he continually refused to register peoples peopled party men anywhere except at their homes in a contest as 1 close as the coming municipal election such acts of discrimination might easily give the victory to the minority the derelictions derelict ions shown to exist on the part of hyams were still more flagrant they were proven by his own testimony when on the stand he did not deny having taken the position that it was unnecessary for him to visit the houses of his district nor aid he deny that he be had utterly failed to visit whole blonks blocks he further admitted that he be had bad registered hundreds of liberals without going to their homes but that he be had uniformly refused to do the same thing with peoples peopled party men his attempt at palliating pallia ting such flagrant discrimination WHO was of a character to I 1 increase nerease his bis offense he said he be registered I 1 liberals because he I 1 knew them and refused peopled koples party men because he did hallow them he thus added to the statutory qualifications of an applicant for registration the condition of a personal acquaintance with himself if hyams did not deserve desero to be removed what could he haye have done to make his dismissal proper and necessary the decision of the commission says that the die registrars did not absolutely deny any electoral rights to voters this they did not have the power nor opportunity to do the thing was impossible for them to accomplish but hyams went as far in that direction as he well go it was abundantly shown and not denied nor palliated pallia ted that each of the registrars bad usurped judicial functions in permitting persons to take the oath or ir denying them that brivil privilege ege their attorneys in the arguments actu actually alfy and unblushingly held that it was right proper and even necessary that thay should do this yet their assumption of such powers was alone ample ground for their dismissal in view of the explicit language of the law and d the mandamus decision of judge dge zane every one of the registrars ought on 0 o the showing made to have been rei removed noved they were all proven guilty of discrimination intolerable III n officers performing their functions and it was not even denied by them that they had usurped powers belonging elo nging only to courts in refusing in to dis dismiss iss any of them the commission sion has as virtually endorsed the conduct of all of them |