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Show TRUTHS. a-. " ' ; "A I"""''5 before the legislature for ! increasing the salaries of the mem- .. .' ! hers-of the Stat? Board of Equaliza- " w tion from $8orj a year to $1200 a year. I The increase is not unreasonable. l(ersons charged with the rcsponsi--,'" ' bility and who do the work of cqual- Ration for the purposes of taxatioin .,. . it tlicy are worth anything at all, arc ' yorth more than $800 a year. Rut 1' that was not the point we started out I to make. This bill passed Ihe lower house and the senate amended it by ') adding a proviso, the effect of which '' ' was that the increase in salary war. I conditional on the members of the 4i i board not accepting passes from any of the railroads. The pass habit is a ... 1 nuisance; or worse, an annoyance to tiic nulroads, who very often have , tt extend favors of that kind to get ' ' fair play, and a wrong on the public. k !r It is, however, a habit which prac tically all public Officials arc addicted to, and this includes members of th. legislature. Wc could name some i rjf the latter who arc pass fiends, not ; (Inly for themselves, but lor their immediate families, their cousins and 1 their aunts, whom they reckon up by 1 dozens. Why, then, in this insulting manner single out members of the board of equalization and make their remuneration contingent on their not accepting passes? Make it general aiiUit..wpulcLbc.a good thing, especially espec-ially for the railroads, who wc know are pestered to death by people who want something for nothing. Charles Botha, a murderer condemned con-demned and sentenced to life imprisonment, impris-onment, wants to be pardoned and his application for clemency has been under consideration by the board of pardons for a long time. Botha murdered, mur-dered, his wife. In using the word murdered, wc do so knowing exactly what it means. There was no justification justi-fication for the deed. The unwritten law was invoked as it has been in ' behalf' of other nuudcrcrs. If the -board of pardons could change Bo tha's sentence to one of death it J ' '' would be more proper than granting " ' .,,', him a pardon, and we don't believe 4w much in capital punishment either. & -' One of the strangest measures in the way of legislation we have seen ( is that introduced by representative- Davis called H. B. No. 156. It has reference to the State Bureau of Statistics, and is meant to amend ' the present law n that subject. Mr. Davis' bill apparently has for its object the .establishment of a State employment agency or something of that kind to be conducted by the State Statistician. 1 says among other things that the duties of the 'sis, ' Statistician shall be "to receive appli- ' cations of laborers for employment ' and to furnish information to said laborers" for employment and to furnish information to said labborers - , regarding employment." There is one state (Illinois) which has a law : " somewhat simular to the measure 1 I above noted, but for Utah or any other state it's about as crazy an idea as one ca'n we'.l imagine. If the bill did not'- carry the name of Mr. Davis, as itij father, we would say it was an emanation of the massive mas-sive brain of County Attorney Hanson Han-son or some other feliow who wants to be a republican and a labor party man at one and the same time so as to catch votes at election time from both. l'rior to the election which put the Keams party in con'rol of the city, Jim Donnelson was promised the position of chief elective, but Mayor Thompson, although usually very pliant in the 'hands of his friends wouldn't stand for Donnelson. However, How-ever, Jim was forgotten. When he could not get to be chief detective, he was made chief of the bunco steering department of the munici pality, an annex to the regular polic- department. The legislature should go slow in the matter of taking steps looking towards a constitutional amendment to raise the limit of State and State School taxation from eight mills to eleven mills. Most people think taxes arc high enough now. High taxation keeps capital out of the State and frightens settlers. There is no doubt the money derived from a higher tax levy conic", be spent perhaps per-haps advantageously. No matter how high the levy, it is a certainty the money would go one way or another, but with stiict economy the state could worry along for a while without increasing the burdens of the people. At present five of the eight mills arc for state put poses and three for the schools. If more than three mills arc needed for the schools, the several counties have it within their power to increase the revenue for that purpose. The legislature a was generally expected killed the bill for the creation cre-ation of a railroad commission. The majority against the measure was overwhelming. Having disposed of the railroad matter, the legislature is making a grand stand play by investigating the coal situation. The proceedings arc intended for the edification edi-fication of the public only. The legislature has no intention of doing anything in the way of legislation to improve conditions. The indications arc that the Tribune Trib-une and its gang will go over to the democracy and support the democratic demo-cratic presidential nominee next year. It is questionable whether the Tribune would be a desirable acquisition acqui-sition to the democracy. Wc extend sympathy to Postmaster Slove and family, of Provo, on the death of their little daughter, who fell a victim of spinal meningitis after only a day or two's illncst Scth Taft, .1 mcmbci of 'he lowciBJ house of the legislature, and UiiitouM B. Leigh, a newspaper man, accident M ally met death, while riding on an J ore car of the Boston Consolidated j Mine at Bingham a few days ago 3 Mr. Taft represented Wayne Count 'j in the House, and was a man of more 5 than ordinary ability and common m -ense and was noted for his integrity 'e aild fearlessness. Tlu- other victim, , Clint Leigh, was a genuine man. He had culture and refinement and a m large quantity of the milk of human i kindness in his breast, affable and gentle. The occurrence was most deplorable. The families of the dead have the full sympathy of the public because they arc they who feel andLj will continue to feel the the sadness.! the aching void when it has failed! from the minds and lives of otlicrs.1 Aber so vicr leben. In the midst ofB life wo are in death. I H The annual I'rcss Club banquet which was set of Saturday evening,! February 23rd, was postponed on ac-B count of the untimely death of Clin- B ton Leigh, one of the members of the J club. It has since been arranged !j , that the banquet will occur on Sat-M unlay evening. March i)th. Lc roijflj est inort, vine lc roi. 9 lal ,T)ie charge preferred by State II Senator Benner X. Smith, against fj Harry S. Anderson, of the state lnd board, was a surprise. A committee I of the legislature has been appointed' i to investigate and wc think the result! J will be the complete vindication otn Mr. Anderson. There is nothing of-i a criminal nature in the accusation.!. Even if sustained it would be nol-jj more than a breach of faith, but wcijj cannot believe that Mr. Anderson has ' been guilty of that. For a dozen years'' he has been in the stale land office and proved himself a most efficient and faitful officer. He has taken an active part in public affairs and stood high in the estimation of everybody and deservedly so'. His character hitherto has been unblemished and pepplc generally feel assured that he, will emerge without a stain from the cloud which has been thrown over him. Mr. Smith, who fathcrcJ the accusation, ac-cusation, is or was the attorney for the man who thinks he has a grievance griev-ance and for that reason should not have been appointed as a member of the legislative committee charged with making the investigation. The Deserct News charges two pgden papers with flagrant and persistent per-sistent plagiarism, but does not name the papers. Why not name them? From a superficial observation, the plan's drawn up by Councilman Martin, for, burying the wires which disfigure Main Street seem to be alright. |