Show 1 I THE MAYOR AND TEE COUNCIL l Assuming that Mayor Clark will present pre-sent to the council tonight important appointments including that of chief of police the record of todays local political po-litical history will indicate whether or not the mayor desires behind him the cordial support of the whole people In discussing the respective powers and duties of the council and mayor in view of the composite results of the last election The Herald yesterday observed ob-served that the mayor should not send to the council for confirmation the j name of any one who is for any reason I rea-son repugnant to the majority of the council If the mayor sends in a name I which he knows In advance will not only arouse the active opposition of apolitically a-politically hostile council but will be I distasteful to a large body of our citizens citi-zens as well upon him will be the responsibility re-sponsibility for whatever of discord and evil shall ensue These remarks are especially applicable appli-cable to the case of Mr Pratt This gentleman has been the stormcenter of personal and political strife for an indefinitely long time in the past He has succeeded in arraying against himself him-self epmities powerful enough to involve in-volve in turmoil suspicion litigation and needless expense the whole administration admin-istration of our police department to which our people look for peace and protection rather than strife In addition ad-dition to this in the minds of a great many citizens he is the object of those prejudices which always follow a man in a community wherein he has been an officeseeker of many years standing I stand-ing The Herald does not consider it necessary to inquire into the various causes of this condition of affairs In fact it assumes a stand as a friend of the people in demanding that the whole pestiferous question shall be laid aside with the old administration and the old year that such causes revolving around the personality of a man shall not be again dragged into the arena for two more years of conflict to the detriment of public welfare Mr Pratts friends may urge that he is the innocent victim of persecution But when did it become the business of I government to provide public offices asa as-a means of vindication What guarantee 1 guaran-tee have the people that the beneficiaries beneficia-ries of such vindications will not logically I log-ically construe their positions as also furnishing the means of punishing their I enemies Within the scope of the I I mayors vision does no man appear j who will enter upon the duties of chief j I j of police free from previous entanglement I entangle-ment Is there no man in this community II com-munity who will be able to give this city a good police service with his j I I energies solely directed to the future i and not weakened by the past The j I I I Herald has faith to believe that the I mayor in his wisdom has already recognized I re-cognized the absurdity of beginning anew a-new reform administration under any voluntarily adverse conditions inherited from previous administrations If our confidence shall prove misplaced the council will still have its duty to perform per-form and in our opinion will prove to have acted the part of the mayors friend if it shall refuse to allow the city government to be so handicapped But in that case the council may I have another phase of the situation toI I consider The Herald believes that a large majority of the immediate supporters sup-porters of Mr Clark and the promoters pro-moters of his election do not hold the views of this community upon the vital subject of national financial reform re-form Mr Pratf besides being a skill fulypolitician and possibly endowed with the political generalship that elsewhere I else-where produces the political boss is a sympathizer with that view of McKinley Mc-Kinley bimetallism which was overwhelmingly over-whelmingly defeated in this state and I city This is the only honorable inference infer-ence that can be made as to Mr Pratts position from his application to the president for the appointment of United States marshal of Utah The Herald wants to know whether it is a duty incumbent upon the council or upon Democrats generally to assist in the building up in this city of any personal per-sonal or political clique or coterie of men acting as a political machine for future political use against the adherents ad-herents of the Chicago platform The next national combat will be a fight to the political death and no stone will be left unturned by unscrupulous politicians poli-ticians backed by millions of corrupting corrupt-ing wealth to secure the vote of Utah for the gold standard Not only this but the next United States senator from this state may have the casting vote in financial legislation The Herald I Her-ald maintained throughout the municipal I muni-cipal campaign that back of the cry of nonpartisanship lurked secret dangers to the silver cause In this state And all silver men whether Democrats or former Republicans should weigh well the possible consequences conse-quences of acts involving measures or men that may be reasonably suspected to contain future political harm to their cause |