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Show !H 1 1 Doin's Politically. BBi IE 'H Tn0 Preliminares of the autumn political cam- Hsr m m paign in Utah are being arranged. The effort is Bj ' jft 91 being made to give it all the air of sincerity, as Hap I ft 11 though it were to be a campaign of principle. Yet IBSl'1 fii iff ne PGle are disquieted because there is a H'' If if grotesque sadness in converting a serious election Hb 1 i in an American State into a howling farce. Two Hfi v 9 years ago there was a campaign. Earnest men BUt II m worked for the triumph of what they believed to Hf J I 11 be correct principles. Meetings were called, Hhj j j M speeches were made, money spent, hard work per- HhE1 I J formed, only to have it demonstrated at last that Hnh . J the public had been treated to a Punch and Judy HPctli show; that the strings were from the first pulled lilf!! j J by unseen hands; that a few characterless men BH1 I) I from the beginning knew exactly what the result WKj ', ; J would be. That would have been a disgrace in Ml any other State of the Republic, in Utah it was a ! ij J crime. Hffjjjpl I n -ns State there are thousands of men from BBfil 4 J twenty-five years of age upward, who never in Hnli U J their childhood received the first lesson on the yp i 1 i blessings of free government, on the splendor of Rmn, j $ the government of the United States, on the duties J j 9 o citizenship in a Republic like ours. They were 1 M brought up under the rigid rule of a yieldless the- ; M ocracy, their first allegiance was given to a creed and that allegiance was made to compass- not J J only their religious convictions, but also to include j 9 their political opinions. It was as deplorable a MET sill m spectacle as could possibly be revealed under a Hl SI M government which has no insurance upon its life Bl ill m except in the support of a free, enlightened and HK S ! patriotic people. Erai Kb 1 With the issuance of the manifesto, and the ini- Hnflj i F t I mediate changes that come under it; with the dec- lljjlf I laraticns of the First Presidency and Apostles of Hfllf , ' . i 1 the dominant creed that henceforth the people H&jlf , I should be absolutely, politically free, that the Kflfli i ; church had taken its iron hands away from the BrPl II n political throat of Utah and henceforth the people HrfltjM M should be free agents to think as they pleased, to HpHs jj ' fl vote as they pleased; a new hope that this was H ! I really to be an American State in its legitimate Effjj' I' W sense was born. For a year or two the skies HfH f ' S seemed clear. The first alarming symptom of HljlL treachery was when B. H. Roberts was nominated Bf (fell 9 for Congress. It was not so much that he was an IKliU ' m open and defiant law-breaker, not so much that HPt" . 8 ne was trying to bring to shame the Constitution Ho' J ' ' 9 that he had helped to frame, as it was that a clear Hoy: . t I euort was to be made to reward him for betraying Kft , 2 the political party that he had pretended to en- E & H dorse, betrayed it at the order of the church Hi&nj ; ' fi power, thus making clear that after all he had no Hl-; " I j M ieal alleSiance t0 any government sae tJiat of the H;il';! m church which from the beginning had filled Utah Hu' I I'll with heart burnings. H& r i 'i T& e treatnient that Roberts received in Wash- B f f M ington ought to have been a clear notice to the B Pr 1 authorities of the dominant church here, of the He Hli n estimation in which their maneuvers in politics B 1 tl - ' are eld, but when again the test came we find HP- " ' u tue uea(i f the church selling for money a United i 1 1 i ' W States Senator ship and a slavish Legislature, j ! m brain-clouded by superstition and fear, ratifying Rf M ; 1 j the infamous sale. H y g ! Now new preparations are being made for a Ip'Im political campaign; there are to be conventions, H 1 j j nominations the heat and worry of a campaign. He 'II What assurances have the people that a slate has H I 1 U not already Deen prepared, that it is not fully un- Byl I i ' ! ' derstood right now, who are to be elected to office, HH i m wu0 thrown down? What assurances have the Hul' ' people that the unholy combine between a brutal HH ' if political machine and unscrupulous church lead- OBwIl ers, is not now in full force and effect even as it I was two year.s ago? What courage will any self-respecting self-respecting American have to, advocate the elec tion of any ticket this year? How can such an American face the people and give his reasons for his political beliefs and urge the people to adopt them? Under the rule that has governed since Roberts was nominated, Utah will in ten years be as alien a State as though its people were Mohamedans. Ben D. Luce says he is not in politics. We suspected sus-pected that when we heard he was a candidate for the Legislature on the Democratic ticket. Governor Wells was out driving last Sunday and purely by accident, he drove to the junioi Senator's Sena-tor's house just before the Senator reached it. He talked to the junior Senator some time, then drove away. That's all. A CORRECTION. Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 10, 1902. Editor Goodwin Weekly: In last week's issue of your bright paper I am credited as being a recent re-cent convert from the Democratic ranks. While I believe that the man who is brave enough to ignore party ties whenever he believes that the best interests of the State or Nation is being subserved sub-served by the policies of the opposite party, is entitled to credit only, I cannot claim any from that source. I have never voted the Democratic ticket, and my only lapse from Republican steadfastness stead-fastness was in 1896 when I voted the "Silver Republican Re-publican Ticket" which fact is probably responsible responsi-ble for the statement in your paper. Very respectfully, respect-fully, H. H. HARDER. |