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Show OFFICIAL EXTORTION. In Ihis ilay of itivcti-ation and exposure ex-posure of otlici.i! corruption, a:d of reckoning the swindliiiga atul .stealings .steal-ings in high places, the ferrets can consistently turn their c-yea in the direction of Utali. This fishing for corruption ought not to be conducted on the same piinciple that we seine for tho finny tribe; the moihea of the net should be c'.oso enough to hold the fry as well as the big fish. It is right to catch Belknap, also to take in the postmaster ot No town, whose salary amounts to $10 a month, but who succeeds in drawing $50 from the position. It is proper to find out who havo sold post traderhips, as it is to discover dealers in West Point culuiships. It is just to the country to suppress and punish official wrongdoing wrong-doing in Washington, and none the less so to suppress it in Alaska and Utah. A federal official in thU territory has for years carried" on a practice which makes him a fit subject for official investigation. We refer to Mr. Secretary Black. A couple of years ago tho IIekald took occasion to several times call attention to the fact that he was extorting from the people unjust and illegal fees for official offi-cial work. A little breeze was Etirred which soon blew ilelf to sleep, and the matter haa since rested, while in-eead in-eead of ceasing the practice, Air. Black Ms continued to go on in his illegal course until his extortion has become unbearable and loud complaints com-plaints arc uttered by the people. A3 we understand the law the secretary ia not entitled to fees for any official work, and we are not clear that he isn't forbidden to accept them. The government pays him a salary for performing tho duties of territorial terri-torial secretary, yet for many Of those duties he extorts additional and unreasonable pay from private individuals. If the governor appoints a notary, Mr. Black taxes the appointee ap-pointee $-5 for a commission. If an attorney desires a copy of soma law which unfortunately can be obtained nowhere else, he must first give the secretary $5 or more. Probate judges and justices of the peace are all "bled" .$0 each for commissions. commis-sions. And so with any individual who hab business with tho secretary. He mut pay tribute to the official Krced. Mr. Black understand j aa well as any other person that he baa no riyht to take these fees; yet ho persists in doing it, and gives people who are obliged to go to him for tho official seal, to understand that it is r.cct r-ary to ti:t comply with the trrm-? uf hU private fee bill. At the 5C5-'on 0 the legislature previous to the last, he had presented and endeavored to have passed a bill for an act allowing bim to tax the community, as ho has done; but the legislators being aware that the laws of congress strictly forbade the secretary secre-tary to take fees, refused to enact the bill, 'lhia d:d not have the fleet to check him in his illegal course, which he haa continued to pursue to the present time. A couple of years ao Utah was cur'jl with a governor of the same stripe of our present and then sec re- tarv. Wc refer to George L. Woods, of sleeping car notoriety. People, then ih now, understood that to facilitate, facil-itate, business in tho secretary's office their applications niU3t be accompanied accom-panied with money. It nut un frequently fre-quently occurre! that tho fees were eucli'.-xd in IiU-ts to Mr. Woods, and it was all-gi.d that ho invariably in-variably p-jcki'.ccl them, directing tho -fccrctary to Umo the commi-sion or other document required. This o:cA-,it.:i:-d hard fit lings between bis i xriiiMicy ai.d Mr. Black who u.-:.-.l ty do cc-niidcrablo8CcrPl.iri.il e, '.waring at t'n'; executive behind h:s la"k. We happen to ho in pos-H'. pos-H'. -ion of a Ii it t written by Governor WuL.'U, when in ollice, to a probate jule who had applied lor hid dm m':--,...ii. Ho say-,: I). .In !;, Yj .-!' ..-1! y-., lin 1 ''. r t i-!,T, 1 ... ''e.c .M-'.Tet'try'd rule '.- r V "'wr!" '"Yiut'hV It n'-,y .(Vl. H ..' I .A i;, ,.. to n,, a.,y. ' y i-j.-i 1 , . u .. .. ,,-1 J', io mo lo." .v iV. M7. U ullrt.. Vo..r f,i.:!l, o.v .. , L. V.'o-.i The prwbate j'-S- received his j coimni-iaiun oi)J m! It ' hardly prrtbablo, however, that Mr. Clark ever haw tlio currency, i This tiling has gone far enough, and we in the name of the people 1 who are the unwilling victims to the official robbery, demand that it be stepped. Mr. Black came to Utah, if nut a pauper, certainly not lar removed re-moved from that state. Now ho is understood to be in very easy circum-itances. circum-itances. He ii loaning money in the community, and bis style of liring ia not that of a poor man. We suggest to the people to refuse lo contribute t any more to his extortion. Decline j to pay tho (eca luked, and if be fails to idiiio your commissions a way i will be opened to compel him to do tho work for which government gov-ernment handsomely salaries him. We call upon Governor Emery, whose duty it ia aa chief executive of tho territory, to see that tho laws are properly pro-perly executed, to protect tho community com-munity from a continuance of this official swindling; and we direct the attention of the district attorney and of these citizens who may hereafter b.; called to investigate such matters, as grand jurors, to tho fact that this illegal extortion by Secretary Black haa been and is dnily being perpetrated. |