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Show AJifa.tr s ToIMcclI. ' f I D M THE LYNCH APPOINTMENT. ) H tH The appointment t. Mayor Thompson of W. J. ' B Lynch as chief of police did not meet with the H unqualified approval of the Salt Lake populace ' M without respect to their political affiliations. H There was no objection whatever to Mr. Lynch B as the prospective head of the police department, B but the action of his honor looks like an overt at- H tempt to hamper and cripple the effectiveness of H the Incoming administration. H But there are a few other phases of the situa- " tion which make the attitude of the mayor look H not in the least reprehensible. Mr. R. P. Morris H was not elected to the mayoralty by Democratic H votes solely, a fact with which he is perfectly M familiar. The defeat of the Republican candidate M for Mayor was due solely to the, battle waged by independent Republicans against machine methods M in general and Mr. T. Kearns in particular. Know- fl ing this to be so, the mayor-elect immediately af- , ter his election announced his intention to recogn M nise in the distribution of patronage and political fl favors that portion of the Republican party which fl opposed the election of his opponent. Had Mr. M Morris adhered to that determination, there would M have been no friction between him and the mom- M bers of the Republican majority of the council. But unfortunately Mr. Morris and the Democratic M committee changed the furniture of their mind j in this respect, and decided upon a slate of pros- M pectlve appointees which totally ignored the inde- B pendent Republican element. B This naturally placed the Republican .majority , ' fl in the council in a peculiar position. The light i B which resulted in Mr. Morris' election was an , B open and unequivocal protest against machine B methods in politics, and the position of the mayor- B elect foreshadowed the installation ot a Demo- fl cratic machine as a substitute for the Republican fl machine menace which by their ballots they had fl overthrown. That threatened evil resulted In the fl self-protection alliance of the Republicans, which fl resulted in tho appointment and confirmation of fl B ' 1 a i It W. J. Lynch, who occupies a more or less negative H I v I IS positive in Republican politics and is unallied with Hj 1 ; ,H ' either faction. H 'h !-8 A point still mote vital in this connection was H j fl ! tho suspicion of Mayor Thompson that Captain H h w Burbidge would not be selected for the position by Hr ' i fl ! the mayor-elect, but that the place would be B i M awaided to Arthur Pratt in recognition of his dis- B U Ml tinguished services in his fight against the Re- B i Jj G, pliblican municipal ticket. The mayor's position H . fw was that while he was not strenuously in favor Hj I 9 of Mr. Lynch for the place, he was stiongly par- H ( I 3 j tial to any man whose selection would squelch the H JSt aspirations of Pratt. H ' , 4 w I There was no occasion for the present friction H i JfflL 'and the Democrats are themselves to blame for H 5 im the Impending breach. Had the mayor-elect ad- H J lit hcred to his original intention to recognize the in- H i i PS dependent Republicans in the distribution of pa- H flh tionage, everything would have been satisfactorily H I j M adjusted. But the Democratic mayor had, with H i fl the connivance of the committee, framed up a H H slate utterly over-looking the Republicans, who H ( j , i H by virtue of having a majority in the incoming H flf council, if for no other reason, are entitled to Hj ', HI recognition. The prospective appointees are, or fl . ! rwere, about as follows: Chief of Police, Captain fl ( John Burbidge; Chief of Fire Department, W. H. B fl! Bywater; Superintendent of Waterworks, Eli Fol- B ' 1 j Vj land; Superintendent of Streets, Joseph H. Has- H I ,'jlff lam; Land and Water Commissioner, Ben E. Luce; H Hi Health Commissioner, Dr. Douglas; City Engineer, j , W' George W. Snow; City Sexton, Edgar Angell. H i jH Some of the gentlemen above mentioned are so Bl ! j )' jjjfl sure of election that they have already looked Um I i'L ' U Int0 the worlclngs of the departments over which Hi , J ! they expect to preside; they have stated further H $ i ? jl tnat lfc was a Democratic victory, and that in con- Ww ' M l sequence it was the duty of Republicans to sanc- B I ' HI tion any appointment the Democratic mayor might H ! '' I I make. It is just this attitude that has biought the Republicans together and resulted in their firm resolution that a non-partisan victory shall not be converted into a Democratic triumph and that they will not surrender all the patronage to the incoming Democratic administration. , ,' tJw iffi (J A feature in the presentation of Mr. JJynch's name which caused considerable amusement on both sides was the manner in which Mr. A. J. Davis was forced to show his hand. His actions on that occasion confirmed what has been said in these columns regarding his overtures to and alliance with the Democratic mayor-elect. He kept his promise to vote against the confirmation of a Republican to the extent of voting against Lynch on the first ballot, with the result of a tie vote, which would have resulted in his non-formation had the wily gentleman from the fifth maintained main-tained his position. But Davis, fearing criticism from the Republicans, changed his vote to the affirmative af-firmative and in this action was followed by Hewlett and Eardley. It was a harrowing predicament predica-ment for Davis, as it resulted in placing him in the dubious and unreliable column with both the Democrats, whom he catered to, and the Republicans, Republi-cans, whom he feared. C v t Tlie withdrawal of E. H. Callister from the lis of aspii ants -for the governorship shows that that astute politician is a close student of the signs of the political zodiac. Possibly he also thought that Senator Kearns would make an effort to force him to resign his Internal Revenue position for violation of rule that federal officials should not run for office. The quaky status of the Smoot case at Washington probably also gave the collector a large visitation of stage fright. 6 tJw 5 One awe-inspiring incident of the vote on Lynch in the council was the split in the ranks of the erstwhile Eight Immaculates. Ibis is the only time in the present administration that these remaikable municipalists did not hang together like a bunch of glue-stained palmettos. The reason rea-son for the dissolution is believed to be tfiie late-born late-born ambition of Councilmen Cottrell and Robinson, Robin-son, the woist obstiuictionists In the council, to become county commissioners next year. t j & When Councilman Davis changed his vote pn the Lynch confirmation, he said adios to his ambition ambi-tion to be president of the council, as he cannot now expect to receive Democratic support, and without that he will look like a bundle of well-threshed well-threshed straw in the fight for the councilmanic presidency. iffi ( Viking Lawson swallowed a large lotion of anguish an-guish when Lynch was appointed, as he narrowly 03caped being given the place two weeks ago. |