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Show IT RAILS AT THE ORDINANCE. j The true feeling of tho Mormon writers towards the supervision of saloons, sa-loons, and their toleration for sixty years and more of the moat slack and reckless management of liquor houses, has been known from of old. Not loug ago The Tribune referred pointedly to the ordinances of this city governing saloons passed by a Mormon City Council Coun-cil and approved by the Mormon Mayor. That Mormon ordinance mado no requirement that saloons should bo closed on Sunday; it said nothing about Sunday, allowing "saloons to bo open on that day precisely the same as on other days; it allowed women to frequent, fre-quent, saloons, and minors to outer free-Iv free-Iv therein and stav as Ions', as Ihov pleased, provided such minors wore over fourteen years of age. Jt was natural, therefore, witli that idea, of the way that saloons should be regulatod, the church organ approving that sort of an ordinance, that there should be a wild roinonst rnncc by the church organ now against the saloon ordinance passed by the American party in the Council on last Monday night. Accordingly wo find in Tuesday evening's even-ing's Deseret News tho church organ a grumbling editorial in opposition toho ordinance. First, it claims that tho ordinance amounts to nothing. Then it objects to the raise of the -license fee from $1200 to $1500. It objects to the prohibition of music and freo lunches in the bar room, and points out that the saloon keepers ma' be able to violate this provision, and encourages encour-ages them lo do so. It objects to the prohibition of tho cutranco of women into saloons, and whines that the provision pro-vision "makes it unlawful for women to enter a saloon, even for tho purpose of rescuing a wayward son, or a husband, hus-band, from bad company. " Inasmuch as minors aro absolntelj' forbidden to enter saloons, the "wayward son" would have to be of age in order to come under the objection of the News to this part of the ordinance. But we do not imagine for ono moment, nor does the News, that the entrance of a woman into a saloon for tho purposo of rescuing a son or husband could possibly possi-bly bo construed as an unlawful act. Nor do wo beiicvo that the News has the least idea that its criticism on this point has one spark of honesty. So far from that being unlawful, every one would commend tho woman for such effort, and so far from her being prosecuted as a violator of the law, she would he encouraged by every one, and over- ono would wish her success in her commendable mission. Such criticism as that of this ordinance will strengthen tho public feeling in favor of it, and will condemn the critics as carping and dishonest whiucrs who object, not to the ordinance itself, but because tho American Amer-ican party may reap some credit beforo the public for enacting it. That is the only possible reason for any such criticism criti-cism as tho church orgau indulges in. If tho Legislature had passed a statute enacting the very things that this ordinance or-dinance ordains, the News would have gone wild with commendation of the same, and would have called upon tho whole people to stand up and admire the good work of tho Legislature in do-' ing this much for purit3' and for temperance. tem-perance. Continuing its whining objection, the News sneers at tho prohibition of drunkenness, nnd also at the long hours which saloons may be kept open. And 3'ct these hours aro an improvement, long as they arc, over the old proposition proposi-tion to fix no closing time at all. Pursuing Pur-suing this special point, the News continues: con-tinues: "Tho churches, to save souls, general- content themselves with a few hours of opon house ovcry week. Open saloons and closed churches is the rule; closed saloons and open churches, the exception." Wo do not know what connection the News means to suggest in this matter. Sureb' it. docs not mean lo sa3 that the ordinance, or any law, interferes with the keeping open of churches, or that there is an3- statute or ordinance forbidding the churches to keep open more than "a few hourB cvcr3' week." There is nothing in tho ordinance, or in any law, compelling closed churches, nor any public edict of an3' kind tfhich requires "open saloons sa-loons and closed churches." Tho News has evidentb got lost or stra3'cd on this matter in the intricacies of its own imbecilities. im-becilities. The "kernel in the nut" for tho News evident' is disclosed in this bitter bit-ter political reference in tho News's criticism of tho ordinance: The new ordinance Is n line with two hooks. One is for tho decent citizens; another for the suloon interests. By the regulation features, such as they are, it Is hoped to conciliate the part of tho community that boliovcn in closlnc tho a!oonn. By the same features It Is hoped to force tho saloon interests to vote for men favorable to them, in order to make It easy to evado the regulations. It Is n measure Intended to work both ways. That is, tho News is afraid that the American pnrt- will gain votes by the passage of this ordinance. It would havo been just as well for the cause of the News if it had not disclosed this distressful anxiety about votes. The animus of the criticism is thus fully disclosed, and the criticism itself feeblo and ridiculous as it is is made of absolutely- nn fonn hv ronsnn nP I tin fact that it is made through fear that the American part3' will gain prestige and votes through the passage of this ordinance, and that Iho church will lose somewhat of the political power which it has ho ruthless' exercised in the past, and which it is so fcvorislily determined de-termined to retain to the greatest, possible pos-sible extent. But the day of church rule is passing in Utah. The American causo is gaining tremendousb-. This gain is accounted for bj reason of the demonstrated incompctonco and in3in-cerit3' in3in-cerit3' of the church political leaders, tho immoral combinations that tho church is willing to mako in politics, as when it joined itself in tho last campaign cam-paign to the liquor interests here for tho purpose of defeating tho American party, nnd the obnoxious character of ecclcsinstical rule over a free people. The church gained a victory 13' so doing, do-ing, but, unlike the Pyrrhic victory of old, it would not take ono more such victory to lose; it has lost in gaining tho one. |