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Show I &he 'Prew on the, JVe&v M&Vement. H KEARNS' SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. H Tha Salt Lake Tribune has formally bolted the H Republican party and become ths organ of the H anti-Mormon party, led in that state by Senator H Kearns, (Rep.), a candidate for re-election, aid in H Idaho by Senator Dubois, (Dem.), a candidate for H re-election. And thereby hangs a tale. H When Tom Kearns purchased the Tribune from H Pat Lannon and discharged the veteran Mormon- H oating Judge Goodwint placing the editorial man- Hj agomont in charge of Perry Heath, of postal H frauds notoriety, he had but shortly before been H elected to the United States Senate by a strongly H Mormon Legislature. If "Church influence" was K used in bringing obout this result it did not appe r H at that time to evoke any righteous indignation K on the part of the ambitious owner of the Silver Hj King. Perhaps this was because the influence of H "revelation was exerted in a direction that com- Hj -fortefl with the aspirations of the erudite gentle- H man whooe fame since enteering the upper house j of Congress rests firmly upon the one speech in IH which he imparted the marvelous . information H that Alaska Is an island a bit of geographical Hi knowledge that focused the eyes of the world B upon the Utah statesman. The Tribune, under H the management of Mr. Heath and proprietorship H of Senator Kearns, became a rabid defender of H Mormonism and a staunch advocate of the elec- iH tlon of Apostle Smoot to the Senate, a condition H that prevailed until after the election of members M of the Legislature pledged to Mr. Smoot's candl- H dacy. Then a change appeared to come over the H ..Spirit of Senator Tom's dreams, which was at H once reflected in the editorial policy of his paper H in' fact both seemed in the throes of an anti-Mor- IH mon nightmare and the real cause of their malady H has never been clearly explained. It is hinted H that Kearns had hoped that he might at the last H moment prevail on Mr. Smoot to retire from the H race and consent to the election of his protege, H Heath, to the Senate, a consummation that even H the retiring disposition of Mr. Smoot would not H brook. Another explanation is that Senator Kearns, H going on the theory that the Mormon church was HI .a political organization, sought to form an al'i- H ance with the leaders which would make his state H machine supreme, only to be Informed that he H had reckoned from a false promise, and that he H must paddle his own canoe. Then at the late State H Republican convention Senator Kearns sought to H nominate a certain candidate for Governor and H was defeated, whereupon his already over-taxed H political conscience could stand the strain no lon- H ger, and the ever-obedient Tribune raised the cry H of "Church Influence," although all three of the H candidates were members of the Mormon church. H This is in brief a record of the Tribune's ca- H reer since coming under Kearns' control, and just H how much principle is involved in its new political H attitude our readers are left free to calculate fcr H themselves. Boise News, September 9, 1904. |