Show HO ELtCIlON rt ir r i 5 1 1 Yesterda3 was Election rav 1 ut there was no voting The e s xere candidates but noneminee rThls condition of things has been brought about through no fault of the people of Utah They have neglected nothing Congress passed a law taking it out of the hands of the people to conduct the elections and choose their officials in the usual way It provided fur a commission com-mission to perform the work that had heretofore been done by the chosen agents of those most interested in-terested First the Pitsident was dilatory and negligent in the appointment ap-pointment of the commission and afterwards the commissioners were dilatory while the time in which their first and chief duties were o be performed slipped bys Congress legislated blindly and the executive acted without understanding the situation The result was a prospective muddle fur the territory This being called to the attention of the i national lawmakers in the closing hours of the session another illcon sidered illadvised measure was adopted Its purpose was to get Utah out of a bad fix into which previous bad legislation and thoughtless action had placed u but instead it promises to complicate compli-cate matters and further mix them up The proper thing fcr Congress to have done when it learned the situation was to continue the existing exist-ing order until such time asthe commissioners could arrive and hold anelection regularly If the blame could attach to the people if they had failed to do their duty in < anyreSpectresulting in a failure to elect nobody could have found fault with the extraordinary course pursued pur-sued by Congress in its late legislation legis-lation for the territory but fair = minded people will say it iscruel to punish people for not doing what they are restrained an doing Jt is like binding ones legs and then whipping him because he doesnt run We cannot believe that Congress Con-gress understood the true situation for believe would be to hold those who voted for the appointing provision provi-sion heartless scoundrels and base wretches However nothing very disastrous is anticipated from the operation of the new order Some annoyance perhaps a little litigation will necessarily ne-cessarily follow an attempt to enforce en-force the act butat farthest a year will enii the outrageous businesp provided course there are no further fur-ther delays on the part of the commissioners com-missioners There is no occasion for alarm or excitement over the business While all the people are moretor less affected by it not aoany canbe much hurt |