OCR Text |
Show I Oice in a While. H My pessism has suffered a very serious re- H lape as a result of the week's doings politically H as well as otherwise; and I am prepared to hail H the millennium's dawn with the rest of the un- M cored believers. Verily, verily, we are all soon H to be of one mind and see eye to eye politically, H if not religiously, and that is much to be thank- H ful for. In the last election we had Gentiles, B jews, Mormons, saloonkeepers, gamblers and those unhappily distinguished as the under half of the world, all voting one way because. vice was to be fl stamped from the face of our city. That was a II great step forward. . Gambling ceased, the un-II un-II happy wretches who sell their bodies for the pit-U pit-U tance bestowed were driven from the ground floors H of the squalid dens they used to advertise their H willingness to sin. Even the loftier ones who fl held high revel on- the upper floors were compelled to remove their names from I the lamps that tempted the wildly flying moth B from the poor earth to flights not dreamed of by I those that loved them. Ah, it was bravely done and all rejoiced! But it was too bright, too beau-H beau-H tiful to last. The ground floors are reoccupied; H the public lamp in front of the alluring highway H is once more adorned with the spell binding names H that have the old familiar sound. The gambling fl houses are in blastier blast than eVer. Sumptu-fl Sumptu-fl ous spreads, and free drinks are for all who en-B en-B ter, while invitations are extended by enterprising B proprietors by means of printed cards which they B do not hesitate to hand to business men in the fl presence of other business men who are holding B private conversations in the public streets. 'Tis fl true, the existing picture is somewhat blotched II and smudged when compared with the one prom-fl prom-fl ised immediately before the municipal campaign fl and rigidly enforced for a time thereafter. But ll I am not wholly cast down, for we are not as those II without hope. There will be another municipal I campaign when the promises made and broken 11 will be renewed and we shall again have church-B church-B man and laymen, Mormon, Gentile and Jew, sa-B sa-B loonkeeper, prostitute and gambler all voting one B way and the beautiful spectacle of a renewed B crusade against- all vice will pass before our de-B de-B lighted eyes. Then why should we mourn? Not fl more surely does day follow night, and night day, fl summer succeed winter, and winter succeed sum-B sum-B mer, trees wither and bare their stems to the chill -B blasts of winter only again to leaf and bloom and sigh with summer zephyrs than is the rampant I flaunting of existing and odorous vice certain to bo followed by a promise of united, determined, unending contest and conquering of the vicious element immediately preceding each succeeding fl campaign. And so we are full of hope, though the fl joy thereof is subdued and chastened by the B thought that, after all, those only labor and endure en-dure to the end who have some selfish purpose ahead. Wreathed in smiles and wearing with modesty tlit honors of an easy conscience which applauds a noble deed nobly done, L. W. Shurtliff paced the streets of Salt Lake the other day. He met an acquaintance who had served in the same Legislature Legis-lature with him and after a few preliminary re-Wdrks re-Wdrks Shurtliff expressed the opinion that Democ-ra- y must now be pretty sick. "Not so sick," replied re-plied the acquaintance "it has vomited." 1Arom appearances at the Republican county convention of Weber county the other day it looks B as if the organized movement of aspirants for legislative honors, sought for with a view to stop-B stop-B Plug the purchasing of U. S. Senatorships by B breaking the buyers, were fully warranted. There B is a pretty tough fight for the position of State Committeeman from ' that county. Despite the assistance pf Brother Shurtliff. the Kearns man won by a narrow and for the position, an expensive margin. I submit a question in mathematics which may be of vital interest to the candidates for the coming Legislature. If it costs about $3000 to secure the choice of a special brand of State committeemen, com-mitteemen, how much will it cost to select the same brand of a United States Senator from Utah? And behold we are all inclining toward Republicanism Repub-licanism with a vast and unfathomable inclining. I have heard it said of the Latter-day Saint that political prostitution was one of the mental conditions con-ditions that followed obedience to a priesthood which looks with unfriendly eye upon all yield ing that is not base and servile. The fruits of the work of earlier years become more and more manifest. Time was when certain of the brethren breth-ren in this and adjoining States had to be called upon missions to be Republicans; and these men felt degraded in their own eyes as in the eyes of their fellows, because they forsook the political convictions at the behest of high churchmen or their representatives. But Lord bless you, the practice has become so common that men now boast of their perfidy like L..W. Shurtliff much as a debased woman flaunts her shame before those who despise her. Yet even in this we see reason to hope, xj'or we are departing from the ways of the late Apostle Geo. Q. Cannon, whose political axiom was that "our people must be so evenly divided that the weight of a yellow dog will throw an election any way we want it." And we are likely to have so numerous a Republican party that the brethren may no longer be feared as political factors. There is therefore hope even in the apostacy of political prostitutes. Besides, as already said, we are becoming of one mind and seeing eye to eye. This is a con-sumation con-sumation so devoutly to be wished that it fills every longing and satisfies every ambitious aspiration. aspira-tion. Verily, it is good to be an optimist. It might have been noted during the week that the church organ the Deseret News discussed the trust question in a spirit of such remoteness that no reader would dream that trust effects were prevalent where the brethren dwelt in peace and brotherly love. It cannot be that this is the same paper (voicing the views of those whose utterances ut-terances are guided by the spirit of truth), which some time ago declared that in parting with their holdings in the Utah Sugar company, the "brethren" "breth-ren" were not selling out to the trust, now making a handsome "rake off." No, it couldn't have been the News; but perhaps there is no Utah Sugar company. It is very painful, also, to have evil minded persons suggest that the reason the "brethren" are retained to control the factories is because they can handle the "Saints" much more easily than the wealth seeking outsiders. How rejoiced I am to feel that this cannot be true. Why in Brother B. H. Roberts play of "Corianton" probably by some credited to a person named Bean 0. U. Bean does not the high priest Alma rebuke Korihor, who intimates that the priests are taking the substance of their followers, by declaring de-claring that he (Alma) with his own hands had toiled and produced to care for his family and that not one cent had he ever received in return for his priestly offices. So also Samuel, the prophet declared he had toiled with his own hands that he and his family might not be a burden upon up-on his people. And does any one suppose that the "brethren" of this day would go into a stock deal, and while selling out, still retain positions that their people might the easier be fleeced? Who ever it was said "Forbid it heaven." Him I quote in reply, even if it were Patrick Henry. We may next expect to hear that Brother Heber J. Grant has a scheme on hand. Brother Joseph F. Smith did not head the local salt trust to charge more for salt. Of course not, but if salt has risen, it has risen in spite of the efforts to crush out all competition and it must be a good thing or President Joseph F. Smith would not be in it. Nor are any of the higher "brethren" a burthen to their people. With their own hands JllLiB they support their families and themselves. That jjr lifjfl is why they are engaged in banking, railroading, ' 'W jH pleasure resorts, merchandising, real estate, insur- Ji ;l ance, that is why they are selling implements, 4 ayM manufacturing sugar, dealing in stocks, running iff ill publications, erecting buildings, dealing in cattle lit II and sheep, operating gas and lighting plants and ' fffi,H selling United States Senatorships and small jobs P (I for lesser sums. The sweat that follows honest jfl toil drops from the brow of every one of them! ''Hill Their muscles knotted and their hands horny. "1ifl Their children clad in homespun all that they "JlnH may not be a burthen to their people. In speak- l$!fl ing during a compaign of the poverty he endured , jfl by reason of the ascendancy of Democratic prin- tfi'l ciples I remember Apostle John Henry Smith de- M daring he was so poor that "I have to help my ' 'i fl wife wash myself!" " ' fl And it must rejoice the Saints, that whatever ' .1; 'fl way they turn they can see that the brethren are ' ,, ,fl controlling all these interests so as not to take $$ fl anything from the Saints. I confess it is strange " ,'i'fl they should pay such big dividends because the gfffl Saints do business with them when they are not lnSj' H "working" the people or proving a burden to $ flfB them. "Howsomdever" as Tom says, the brethren 'ifl say the people are blessed and X know that must " be so because I'm THE OPTIMIST. J fl |