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Show Urihtine Holts Republican UtcKet Attitude Strongly Criticised by 'Republicans Has K.earns With-dratvnjrom With-dratvnjrom Senatorship Race? 'Political JVotes The Tribune refuses to support the stato ticket recently nominated by the Republicans. The refusal is based on the ground that the nominations were dictated by Apostle Reed Smoot. The orlticism may be well founded, but it Qomes with ill grace from the organ of Senator Kearns to show its talons because one man not in harmony with the Park Cityite is in control of the state machinery. The position which Mr. Smoot now occupies is the one which was coveted by Mr. Kearns, and had the senior Senator been able to defeat the junior in the race for the Republican Re-publican dictatorial throne, there would have I been no such peevish wail from the supposed organ of Utah Republicanism. Both Mr. Kearns and Mr. Smoot builded a personal machine In the state, by which each expected ex-pected to gain the supremacy. But Mr. Kearns in his clash with Senator Smooth was signally defeated de-feated at his own game. He should take his defeat de-feat gracefully. The declination of the Tribune to accept the ticket nominated by the Republicans in the recent re-cent state convention merely shows that the paper pa-per never was entitled to the designation of Republican Re-publican organ, but that it was merely a persona? vehicle solely subservient to the ambitions of Mr. Kearns and solely consecrated to the advocacy advo-cacy of the personal ambitions of Senator Kearns, Avithout respect to whether or not the success of the party were involved in the wholly selfish ! and sinister campaign. I This attitude of the Tribune is bogus and I without basic support not because there is any palliation for Mr. Smoot's apostolic interference, but for the reason that Mr. Kearns is equally culpable cul-pable and was vanquished by methods no less worthy than his own. There is another and still more potent reason why there should be no sympathy with the Tribune Tri-bune in its present hostility toward the Republican state ticket. Prom the first the guiding spirits of the organ professed to be violently antagonistic toward the candidacy of John C. Cutler. But in the face of that, neither. the paper nor its manager nor any of its myrmidons did any effective work on behalf of either of the other opposing candidates. candi-dates. There was absolutely no alliance between the Tribune and the forces of Governor Wells and Secretary Hammond. Mr. Kearns and his organ or-gan and his satellites merely permitted the nom-1 nation to go against them by default, and their puerile voice was only raised against Cutler after the Smoot candidate was safely ensaddled and their opportunity for successful work against the Cutler bulwarks was already past. The policy of the Tribune's management appears to have been to occupy a cosy place on the observation seat and then to claim all the fruits of victory in case of a triumph for Governor Wells. For that reason, if for no other, the present carping attitude of the Tribune toward the state ticket is utterly infantile. If that organ and its sponsors had made a gallant but unavailing fight against Mr. Smoot's candidate, it might have been in a position to criticise the methods by which Mr. Cutler was successful. But since Mr. Koarns and his political gladiators made no effective effort to thwart the Smoot qampaign, they above all persons should try to listen with a decent equa- si j 8E nimity to the discordant music of defeat. J BH The Tribune one year ago, when the Kearns 1 slate was shattered at the polls, thundered bla- j H tantly about bolters and traitors, and vociferated H H the retirement of many worthy persons from the fl party for lack of loyalty. Now the situation is re- j j H versed, and the Tribune, like the "bolters' whom ; it anathematized a year ago, has folded around ii- ; 1 self the vestments of political purity and is sulk- j H ing in its sable tent. The Tribune is a wonderful ( j 1 H etymologist. A bolter is primarily and essentially , ', J H a person who is opposed to a life term in the sen- . H ate for Thomas Koarns. The man who bolted last H year as a rebuke to Thomas Kearns' dictation was 1 1 H a traitor; the men who bolt this year because of ' ! H the supremacy of Senator Smoot are winged j H saints and paragons of political chastity. H If the Tribune were not covered with the same i H limbo with which it is now attempting to bespat- ,, ' M ter Senator Smoot, by which is meant the gubor- t H natorial nominee, fair-minded people might have 1 H some sympathy with the guileless organ in its H present bereavement. But its protests are false, H in its whine there is treachery, in its childish plea ' j jf j j M is the cry of a knave who has been felled by the j ; j M weapon he had forged for another. (1 jJ The defection of the Tribune places the Re- M publican party in the same remarkable attitude ' M as the Democrats in the state without a single M daily newspaper of consequence as the recognized t M organ of the party. 'j j H w W W , In its belligerent demeanor toward the state 1 H ticket, the Tribune is not sincere. The ruggel u H personality behind that organ realizes that he can '? j H never tfe re-elected to the Senate without ac- r j H quiring the same influence by which he was sent , j M there before. Consequently the Tribune's appar- j; ' H ent wrath toward Mr. J. 0. Cutler and the other 1 H nominees of the party is not to be taken sori- H ously. Their overt revolt is merely a bluff by ' H II which tho senior Senator and his liautenunts ex- I pact to regain the ecclesiastical support which J ' ' they vainly strove for, but wMch was not with I their lethargic ranks in the recent state conven tion. They now wish to convince the president i of the Mormon church that they nave no hope ot avoiding tho auamadvorsions of the Gentiles, rep- "! resented by the Immaculate Tribute, unless they 1 I send the robust Senator from Park City back to tho Washington corridors, whicli during the past , two years lie has made immortal. In other ,, words, Mr. T. Kearns has reverted to his old 1 i tactics. Having failed to secure the influence he 1 desires by purchase or otherwise, he proceeds to , threaten. 4-v i&ri ? The paramount political question Just now Is, " has Thomas Kearns decided to withdraw from the race for the Senatorship or is he bolting the Republican ticket and making open warfare on Senator Smoot through the Tribune in order to make tho church sue for peace and pledge, as i a reward for an armistice, Its good offices for the re-election" of Mr. Kearns to the Senate. There is a diversity of opinion as to what the real aim of the senior Senator is, but Republicans throughout the state are united in saying that the policy Is absolutely suicidal. Bolters meet with no sympathy In the Republican ranks, particularly par-ticularly when the leading recalcitrant is a man who attempted to stack the Republican cards in precisely the same way that Senator Smoot slacked them against the opponents of Mr. Cutler. The Tribune is in a sorry predicament. It has ventured too far in political retrogression to retreat It has ceased to be the Republican or- j gan. It "has ceased to be a potent influence among j jj the 'iriembers of 'ftie regular organization. It is H i now merely fti'e shattered pillar of what stood H merely for the selfish aggrandizement of a single H person and as a threat to the dominant church H in Utah In the last particular the paper is so- H nile, not because the activity of the church In pgli- K tics is not to be condemned, but for the reason H that no one will listen seriously to the protest of H a man against an organisation upon which he H fawned and from which lie received the highest H political favor within its province to give. Many Republicans claim that Kearns had no intention of making a burnt offering of his ambition am-bition to be re-elected Senator when ho withdrew with-drew the support of the Tribune from the state ticket. They claim that his state organization will remain intact, that his henchmen will work ostensibly on behalf of some other senatorial candidate in opposition to Mr. Sutherland, but that their support can be easily transferred to Mr. Kearns when the Senator sees fit to re-enter tne senatorial race If this policy Is followed, his supporters, sup-porters, it is believed, will be instructed to vacillate vacil-late between Governor "Wells and Willard Snyder, with tho understanding that Senator Kearns is the crowning issue when the critical moment arrives. ar-rives. i & jOt & All this skirmishing will be engaged in in order to partially cover up the fact that the real fight will be a clean cut battle between Senator Kearns and George Sutherland. The campaign has now progressed so far that It would appear impossible at this juncture for a third aspirant to make a formidable for-midable showing against the two leading candidates. candi-dates. It is generally conceded that 'the successor of T. Kearns in the Senate will be a Gentile, as the Mormons already have two representatives in the congressional body, and since W. S. "McCor-nick's "McCor-nick's definite declination to contest for the place, Mr. Sutherland is the only Gentile aspirant o? prominence for the senatorship, provided Senator Kearns has actually withdrawn from the struggle Much adverse comment has been heard of latd among leading Republicans over the fact that the Tribune fails to endorse but at the same time refrains re-frains frdm openly assaulting the Republican ticket. That organ would be much more popular with all classes if It would descenu irum the platform plat-form of neutrality and begin actually belligerent operations against the nominees of the party Up to date the paper has merely sulked over the state nominees and emptied its quiver against Senator Smoot This quasi opposition fails to excite admiration ad-miration Mr. Smoot just at present is not a candidate can-didate for a Republican office The question is whether it were best to defeat or elect Mr. Cutler and the other Republican nominees "What does the Tribune propose to do? Will it ( assist in the election of James H. Moyle or some other equally strenuous Democrat to the governorship. gover-norship. If that is the intention of the Kearns' malcontents, they should and will be overwhelm ingly routed. Even the Senator's olosest political friends are opposed to a prospective bolt, and if he intends to aotively fight the ticket, he will fight alone, to the wreckage of his own political standing and the nullification of the influence of his paper. W lev lav After all the experience the Tribune has had j with the Mormon Elders, it is a pity the organ could not give a better Imitation of an Elder's literary lit-erary performance than the alleged contribution which on the editorial page yesterday. tv tv v The church influence against which Thomas Kearns is shouting now seemed to affect him very differently about two years ago. I (, v v Apropos of Senator Kearns' objection to Mr. Cutler on the ground that he was nominated th'rough apostolic influence, will the senior Senator Sen-ator kindly answer the following question: What was the most flagrant example of ecclesiastical influence in-fluence in the history of Utah politics? W w v While there is more or lees of a vigorous contest con-test for nomination on the county ticket among the Democrats, contestants for state nominations are lamentably scarce. All of which indicates that the unterrified despair of carrying the state and will concentrate their energies in an effort to save Salt Lake county from an impending wreck. j tH When Mr. Kearns explains to President Roosevelt Roose-velt and the national committee why he refuses to endorse the Republican state ticket, he might entertain them by incidentally explaining how hf became a United States Senator. & & jx That telegram of Senator Kearns to the Republican Re-publican ratification meeting was a bright and scintillating literary jewel. It was a very forceful force-ful and eloquent endorsement of Roosevelt and Fairbanks, but its grammatical genuflections indicated in-dicated that he might profitably have consulted the village school toacher before sending the missive. |