| Show OFFENSIVE PAKTISAXSHIP I The list of committees to draft the various parts of the Constitution of the State of Utah will be found In this issue of The Herald We Invlta special attention to their composition It Tvill be found that with a single exception they are all formed on a strictly and extreme partisan basis Not one Democrat has received the chairmanship of any committee With the sole exception noted the Republicans Republi-cans on every committee are named first with the Democrats tacked on at the last Tile purpose of that is to prevent any Democrat from standing at the head of committee under any contingency that might arise I The exception is the Committee on Apportionment Ap-portionment and Boundaries and that Is so because of an adopted resolution Introduced by the Democrats before the committees were formed that it should be composed of one delegate front each county Even in the makeup make-up of that committee the partisan purpose pur-pose is sq glaring that it cannot escape notice The President of the Convention John Henry Smith is responsible for these appointments with these marked discriminations It is true that having been pushed Into this position by partisan measures and caucus determination deter-mination overriding all precedent and rules governing legislative bodies he has had to listen to the caucus In the formation of the committees But he is the appointing power and the striking partisanship displayed In the grouping of those committees reflects upon him and he cannot shift it upon the Republican caucus Let it be remembered that In addition addi-tion to the dally prayers to the Throne of Grace that there may be no partisanship par-tisanship in the doings of the convention conven-tion the President who made these partisan appointments uttered the following fol-lowing sentiments on assuming the presidential chair I trust in our deliberations there shall not exhibit itself that spirit of partisanship that would lead in any degree to Improper action or to any strong feeling I believe it is the sacred sa-cred duty of every man sent here to say today that so far as possible we shall work in unison for the accomplishment accom-plishment of one great purpose That purpose is to present to our constituents constitu-ents a Constitution that shall receive their approval and show that the men that made it were worthy men men of honor men who love their country and love their State who appreciate the blessings of liberty and who propose pro-pose so far as in their power lies to exhibit their fairness and justice in their conduct Jn the performance of their sacred labors How much these good words correspond cor-respond With the first of the speakers official deeds the public will be able to judge If his partisan pledges did not permit him to give one solitary chairmanship to a Democrat he could at least have placed some of his political poli-tical opponents second In place out of regard for common decency But they are all placed at the rear and the extreme ex-treme partisanship exhibited from the start has been closely followed and kept up until now The Democratic minority have made no protest They expected that some courtesy would be shown them in the selection of the committees on which they desired their leading men should serve But they have been utterly ignored in a convention which ought to be entirely free from partisan bias being different In Its nature and purpose pur-pose from an ordinary legislative as sembly We consider the Democrats have acted wisely by their nonresistance nonresist-ance and that it will do them no harm with a fairminded and considerate public We wish to make no invidious comparisons com-parisons between the mediocrity of the choice on one side and the talent and brains on the other but merely ask II our readers to make the comparisons themselves We must confess to surprise sur-prise if not disappointment that this I gross partisanship should be displayed in a quarter from which we had anticipated an-ticipated some consistency with public declarations However it will still further exhibit Republicanism in Its real light before the gaze of the public |
