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Show OGDEN REGISTRATION-AN ALLEGED TEST CASE. At Ogden, as everywhere else, the work of registration commenced on Monday morning, but was prosecuted with most unsatisfactory results. The Ogden Herald refers to the locality where the registration work is being done in this manner: "The registration began in this city this morning. At 9 o'clock and 20 minutes the office in the city hall was opened-or rather closed-for they have been registering with closed doors. No one was admitted inside except the registrar and his deputy. The north window of the room was thrown open and the hosts who were waiting to be sworn were admitted to the aperture one at a time, which made the business slow, tedious, and very inconvenient, as well as a loss to many who obtained leave of absence to register, but who had to wait the slow movements of the blockade. The office was opened at 9:20 a.m., closing at 11:45 a.m., reopened at 1:25 p.m. and again closed at 4:25. During this time only ninety-three persons were registered. Ogden City, unlike Salt Lake City, is even traced in one precinct, and therefore has but one registrar. There are in Ogden precinct some 1,400 persons entitled to be registered, and there is but one week in which to do the work. At the rate of ninety-three a day, therefore, how long would it take a person to register 1,400 persons? And how would he contrive to crowd that number of days into one week, with the Sunday omitted. As every person competent to do so is entitled to be registered, it is evident that some plan other than the one now in force, must be adopted. No person who is qualified, can be deprived of registration, and as the case is a serious one, the attention of the Commission has been directed to it. There is every reason, therefore, to suppose that it will be overcome at once. Quite a breeze was created on the sheet on Monday over the report that in Weber County the registration had declined to allow any women to register. An investigation revealed the fact that one woman only had been refused the privilege of registering, and that under circumstances which gave it the appearance of being a preconcerted affair. As near as can be ascertained, registration had dragged itself slowly along for a time with a crowd awaiting their turn, men and women being registered without testimony of their competency were reasonably established, until the appearance of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Littlefield. Mr. Littlefield, who is editor and proprietor of the Ogden Pilot, was registered without question; but when his wife applied, the registrar refused to put her name on the lists. Judge Emerson was applied to for a writ of mandamus to compel the registrar to put her name on the list. Some delay having been caused in the proceedings, and the matter getting noised about, Judge Williams, of Ogden, appeared in court, and when the matter came up stated that the question raised by the application of Mrs. Littlefield was one which interested many ladies, besides the one immediately concerned, and that, as the subject was of a general character, he would like to be heard on it, therefore, he asked that the argument be deferred for a time. To this proposition Judge Emerson acceded, and the case was continued until Wednesday. In the meantime the registrar proceeded with the work of registration, and put the names of ladies on under protest, there the matter rests. It happened that Judge Sutherland and Governor Murray was in Ogden at the time of this queer proceeding, and out of the whole affair the idea detailed below has commenced to prevail, and was a matter of common talk on Monday evening, though it is without any confirmed foundation. The ostensible object is to test the right of the registrar to refuse to place the name of a female citizen on the list, while it is charged that the real object is to strike off the names of all female voters, not only in Weber, but in all the other counties. The woman whose vote was refused is, in the Ogden Herald gets the right name, the wife of a pronounced and decided Gentile, and the alleged plan was to get a case hurriedly into court, to have the application for a mandamus weakly argued for and strongly argued against, and then to have the mandamus refused. On the strength of this refusal, which it was supposed would be secured, the registrar would feel justified in striking off from the lists the name of every female voter, and if any recourse could be had, it would be such as would involve the validity of the female suffrage act, and might drag along and keep the result of the election back for an indefinite period. Ostensibly it was a test case; but as a matter of fact the purpose seems to have been to secure a snap of unfair judgment, and the presence of the governor, and others, and their alleged indirect participation in the affair, would indicate that the tricky proceeding was receiving the executive countenance. The appearance, however, of Judge Williams in court, has partially changed the aspect of affairs. There is little, if any doubt that the People's party would be agreeable to test cases, if they could be made fair and so arranged as to squarely test the legality of the provisions in controversy, but such an attempt as was manifestly made in Ogden on Monday is of a character that can hardly reflect with a marked degree of credit or glory on any person concerned. The whole affair may have been perfectly legitimate and straightforward, but admitting that to be so, it reminds one forcibly of a remark the famous Prentiss once made about an opponent's face: "If that man isn't a rogue he ought to bring a libel suit against his face." |