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Show THE UTAH OF CIVICS. Tho political situation in Utah has changed for tho better during the 3'oar that has just passod. The splendid triumph of the American party iii tho municipal election hero has giv-on giv-on now force nnd vigor to enterprise and investments, to building and realty deals, and to everything that is con. nccted with the growl h and advance inont of the coinmnuit3'. Unuuestion-ably. Unuuestion-ably. American supremacy is -what has brought about tho splondid advance in Salt Lake City. Up to the fall of 1905 When tho American party won its first triumnh. tho cilv was dead absolutely retrograding. With that splendid triumph tri-umph the city took on the vitality and euerg3- of growth that has continued with accelerated strength ever since. As Tho Tribnno has frequently explained, ex-plained, there is no such thing in Utah as politics in tho general j-onse. There was, it is true, prior to Statehood, an apparent division on party linos: but it was soon found thai, there was no actual division. Tho church maintained coutrol enough of both parlies, .Republican .Repub-lican nnd Democratic, so callod, to be able to sway (ho elections in its own interests. It sent Brigham Roberts, a pol3garaisi, to tho lower house of Con-gross Con-gross to vindicate revelation and "thrust polygamy down tho throats of the American people." That failed. Thou it olecled Heed Smoot lo tho Senate, Sen-ate, it being openh' confessed lo (he jury bo fore which his caso was contested, con-tested, that he had to obtain permission permis-sion from (ho high church officials to become a candidate; and after haviug gained that privilege, of course Jio was the onl.y candidate. To havo opposed him when ho had obtained the endorsement endorse-ment of the church would havo been an approach to apostas3 And no one announced his candidacy against Smoot, cither Democratic or Republican. It would have been a useless effort lo do so. After a long hearing the real case against Smoot was obscured. Fictitious Ficti-tious issues were injected into tho hearing, hear-ing, in his interest, such as that Smoot was a pohgamist, which had not boon charged in the complaint against him, and which formed no part of the record; rec-ord; and .yet he was given an advantage l3' tho very fact that he himself had dragged potygnmy into the hearing and look the benefits of acquittal of potyg-amist potyg-amist relations which had not been charged. And fiuallj' the caso was decided, de-cided, not in tho least on its merits, but on partisan lines. The vole divided di-vided almost squarely on tho count as between Democrats and Republicans, the Democrats opposing him and the Republicans approving him becauso he' posed as a Republican and voted with the Republican Senators. "When in tho spring of 1901 President Joseph V. Smith revealed on the witness wit-ness stand that Smoot wa's in tho Senate Sen-ate simph 1)3 his permission, and when Smith disclosed his own shocking pol.vg-anious pol.vg-anious relations in defiance of law and scorn of the law both of God and of man, a bod.y of patriotic Americans mei in mass mooting and Tcsolvcd to form a new party to combat tho evil conditions, condi-tions, civil and political, (hat were shown to exist. That part3' was organized or-ganized in the September following, and at tho ensuing November election cast a vote of close upon seven thousand. It casl in this city- alone at tho November Novem-ber election of this year a total of III,-773, III,-773, upwards of a thousand majority over both Democratic and Republican tickets combined, on the vote for Mn.y-or. Mn.y-or. It won the election of J 907 by a vote almost as. great as tho combined ote of both parties. The gain in the American vote was of the new voters who had- come into tho ci (y. Upon arriving ar-riving here these now voters at once find that the political conditions disconnect dis-connect them from the parties they formerly for-merly acted with, so far as local politics poli-tics arc concerned. They iind that resistance re-sistance to the political and temporal dominion of tho priesthood is the vital issue in Utah, and naturally as American Ameri-can citizons they align themselves against the church temporal power. Besides the continued hold of the American party upon flio support and confidence of the people of Salt Lake, American influences are nioro and more prevalent throughout the State. More and more do the people criticise the lawlessness, the greed and tho usurpations usur-pations of (ho church leaders in politics. More and more do they condemu the gathering of (wo million dollars in tithes cvoiy year and tho refusal to make an3f account ig of tho money. -More and more do they resent the intrusion in-trusion of the priesthood into politics and its attempt to control tho people in (heir civic affairs. Tho election at Provo during the past year on tho question ques-tion of a- depot site, showed that Americanism Amer-icanism is .triumphant even in that church-controlled city when a real is-suo is-suo vital to the people is concerned, and the.y feel themselves free to vote their own convictions as the3 would not have dared to do prior to the organization of Hie American party here. If is a tribute to the triumph of the American party that tho existence of that part.y hero gives tho. people throughout the State an opportunit3' to assort themselves as tncy havo never dared lo do before. If the election at Provo had occurred with no American party in Salt Luke, tho wishes of the church leaders, stated in an open card over their own signatures, would undoubtedly have prevailed without with-out any particular opposition. As it was, that usurpation was repudiated, and the peoplo carried their point against the iutrusion of priestcraft. We score that as distinctly an American vic-tor3 vic-tor3 And since the American influence is so prevalent throughout the State, since it is loosing tho bauds .which hayo bound (ho people to a tyrannous oe-elesiastieiam, oe-elesiastieiam, wc count tho American work as a vital relief to tho people even where American candidates are not elected lo office, and where even there is no American party organization Tho American influence in leavening tho people's mind and acts throughout the State; and when that loosoning has been coniplotcd, when tho pooplo aro cnlireb' free to voto and to act in temporal tem-poral and civil matters without; the dominating dictation of tho priesthood, thou Americanism will havo dono its perfect work. |
