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Show I THE COMING CITY ELECTION I There Is ono great objection to the proposition being considered that tho legislature change the times of municipal elections In cities of tho first and second class so that tho said municipal elections will occur at tho samo time as tho county, legislative and congressional elections, jus avoiding tho necessity of an elecun every year. Tho Idea in Itself is a good ono, becauso an election every two years is enough. With an election elec-tion every year tho public is In political po-litical turmoil all tho time. No sooner soon-er is a county, legislative and congressional con-gressional olection over than tho people peo-ple who llvo in tho cities begin to concern themselves about their municipal mu-nicipal elections and so It goes from year to" year, politics all the tlmo. Although Al-though this condition Is advantageous to newspapers it is not conducive to tho public weal, and under ordinary circumstances Truth would support the plan for bl-ennial elections. Tho objection to making tho change at this tlmo is that it would necessitate continuing con-tinuing In ofllco tho present administration adminis-tration of Salt Lako City for a year longer than tho term for which it was elected, making tho next municipal election como In November, 19 00, instead in-stead of in November of tho present year. Tho legislature cannot curtail the term for which officers are elected, elect-ed, but It could change tho times of tho olection as indicated and tho ef-I ef-I feet would bo that tho present city I officials would hold until their sue-I sue-I cessors aro elected and havo quail-1 quail-1 fled. m The objections to continuing tho present city government in ofllco any longer than absolutely necessary aro M threo fold. Tho first Is that It Is abso-W abso-W lutely Incompetent; second it Is cor-! cor-! rMP-; third It is grossly extravagant. I riio citizens, by a very narrow majorl- 11 nn'nrCently VOte(1 for an ,ssu0 of II 000,000 in bonds for tho purpose c ln-Jt ln-Jt creasing tho water supply of tho city. II Jt tho spending of this million dollars IE is done by tho administration with If wn,Icl1 Salt Lake City is now afflicted W it is a certainty that tho city will get I r,y "ttlo in return for Its million I "ollars, while It will bo a paradiso for ino rafters wno jn addition to the ratio flown they aro making from tho roguinr revenues will havo tho mil-H mil-H 'ion dollars to draw from. Thoy will probably get a good slice of It before I rV.8ular term expires at tho end or this year and if they havo an ad- i ditlonal year to pull from It but llttlo would bo loft. Owing to tho extravagant extrava-gant manner in which tho city government gov-ernment has been conducted for tho past year a big raise in tho next tax levy will bo absolutely unavoidable Tho expenses of every department havo been greatly Increased without any reason therefor and tho standard of efficiency has been lowered. Many of tho Incumbents of tho electlvo offices, of-fices, like Recorder Crltchlow, take no interest in tho city's business further than to draw their salaries. Their timo Is spent In business pursuits ana extra deputies aro employed at the city's expenses to do tho work tho officers wero elected to perform. Their positions aro purely sinecures. A fair sample of tho way things aro conducted generally Is seen In tho fact that tho city licenso collector Is financially Interested in tho gambling devices known as slot machines nnd whllo ho makes his rounds collecting licenses or fines from thoso who havo tho illegal machines In operation, ho rakes in his share of tho profit from tho said machines and is very diligent in his efforts to increase tho machines in operation. It Is a good paying business, busi-ness, too. Tho licenso collector Is getting rich, Investing In real estate and building houses. This and other things just as bad or worse aro going on without check or hlndranco. To contlnuo this administration in ofllco a year longer would bo a calamity. Thero aro several Influences at work for and against tho proposition, how-over. how-over. It Is argued by some that If a municipal olection is held this year It will be ono of tho bitterest fights of tho kind wo have had in Salt Lake for many years. Tho "American" party of courso will make It as far as it can a religious fight by arraying Gentile and Mormon against each oth-i er. As it appears tho caso of Senator Sena-tor Smoot will not bo settled at this term of Congress tho "American" party will still havo tho samo excuse for oxlstonco as it had last fall, but If tho election wont over for another year it is a moral cortainty that tho "American" party would bo dead by that tlmo and so removed as tho needless need-less disturbing element It Is. Tho Trlbuno crowd of course, wants tho olection hold this year, a fact which makes many peoplo favor postponement postpone-ment to next year. This argument Is combatted by others who suggest that tho "American" party might just as well bo mot squarely next autumn; that It can bo easily beaten by putting put-ting a citizens' ticket in tho field and dropping party lines for tho timo being. be-ing. It is argued that if a good, strong Gentile was named for mayor and a full ticket with a preponderance of Gentiles on it Irrespective of party lines, was put up it would remove nil excuso for tho oxlstonco of tho Kcarns-"AinorIcan" party. Another plan hns been suggested; that is to let tho city election take place in tho usunl courso next November No-vember and that tho legislature pro-vido pro-vido that thoso elected then shall hold ofllco for threo years and that after tho expiration of their terms tho city elections shall tako placo every two years, at tho samo timo as tho county coun-ty elections. Thnt scorns not a bad scheme. Tho abovo Is talk heard on tho streets and is given for what It is worth. |