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Show THE SEARCHLIGHT What's Back of Gus Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles exposing the makeup, politics, and the pernicious activities of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce together with its satellite and allied organizations. This article deals with the part played in the Skulduggery of the combine by the Utah Manufacturers Association. Other articles will discuss the cold-blooded determination of the Chamber Inner Ring to rule Utah even though it must Shatter every ideal and tenet of representative democracy to do so. sought out many of the top quality citizens in the community and used them as a cover behind which the general purposes of the combine might be carried on. The Utah Manufacturers Association had enjoyed a good reputation for fair dealing up to twenty years ago. While the Chamber and the late unlamented Associated Industries (including the Tax Dodgers Association) were generally appraised at their none to enviable worth, the Manufacturers the Inner Ring was to smooth over any glar- ing deficiencies in the character and ethics of the agents of predatory business, and adorn them with shining halos. The worst usurers were dressed up to resemble ministering angels. The tightest, most ruthless, skinflint exploiter was portrayed as a guileless emissary of righteousness. Adverse news reflecting on the personnel of the combine was either distorted or suppressed altogether. The Chamber and confederate organizations MERA St OUTRO Y ee Te To. Deas Representing ioe Ud ET 09 was_ be- heved to be above their sordid level. That To obtain a clear picture of the technique employed by the pillaging corporations that have seized control of much of the political and economic life of Utah, readers should remember that each instrument of control follows a master pattern that was designed to govern not only the daily life of the people but was to guide their thinking as well. The daily press, the radio, and the service clubs were to act as propaganda units of the combine to drive home the propriety and soundness of the economic standards set up by the corporations as suited to their needs. Constant repetition and reiteration dressed up in various disguises were planned to make the monstrous tricks of gluttonous corporations seem a part of ‘‘The American Pattern of Free Enterprise’’. Another task of the propaganda division of Association reputation was an asset that could be used by the pillagers to cover their corrupt tracks. They organized an inside group within the Association and assigned it a role of political manipulation and corruption. With characteristic impudence they ealled it ‘‘ Build Utah’’. It should have been named ‘‘Debauch Uta: ~ So putrid did its activities become that it finally attracted the attention of Federal invesigators who followed its devious the Statehouse and elsewhere. papers played down trails into The daily news- the references to the ac- tivities of the Federal authorities or suppressed them altogether. Qne concern—Utah Power & Light Company—confessed judgment in Federal Court when the Securities & Exchange Commission sought an injunction to restrain the Company from further participation in the shady political activities of the Association. Pre-occupation with matters incident to the war is reported to have kept the Department of Justice from rounding up the agents of other corporations engaged in the same offenses. In order to force public disclosures of the inside activities of ‘‘Build Utah’’, and the Association in general, the Searchlight is sending the following letter to every member. Whether any or all of the members reply, we propose to make available facts known to the public. The letter reads: Company in The Utah Manufacturers Association. Dear Sir: In previous articles the Searchlight, among other disclosures, has established the ing facts relative to the policies and activities of the Utah Manufacturers Association. follow- |