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Show AN APPEAL FOR LAW AND ORDER ' Patriotism is not in every case a frothy pretense on the pait of the individual in-dividual professing it. Sometimes it Is the real thing and never is it more genuine than when it Inculcates lofty f ideals relating to the science of gov-eminent, gov-eminent, which is sometimes accomplished accom-plished hy means of frowning down in the sternest manner all efforts of anybody, any-body, anywhere, at any time, to do anything subversive of law and order, to discourage, as it were, that apparently appar-ently Inherent streak of natural cuss-edness cuss-edness in the individual which impels him to cease looking upon vice as a monster of mdoous mien, next to pity, , then to embrace it. We have in our midst a gentleman whoso description lines him up exactly with the foregoing fore-going suggestions, excepting, of course, the first sentence. His name is C. Mostyn Owen, and In tho attaln- 41 ment of previously unattainable ends he Is somewhat reminiscent of his once distinguished namesake whose front appellation was Robert Dale. Mr. Owen has been quite active In ferreting out the badness existent In this awful State and In taking tho necessary legal steps to have the authors au-thors of the badness brought to condign con-dign punishment. His latest effort (so far as reported, for ho may have tho tolls drawn about others who don't know it yet, your true sleuth being be-ing close-mouthed) and one of the most sensational In the category, out-lustres, out-lustres, if possible, tho one just lire-ceding lire-ceding it in which a well-known citizen citi-zen of Utah named Joseph P. Smith w.is brought to time on tho charge of committing adultery with his wife, was tho apprehension of W. C. Parkinson, Park-inson, president of Hyrum Stake, and his counselor, A. M. Israelson. Those who know Mr. Owen nlso know that there is a great and all-Impelling mo-tlvo mo-tlvo behind such action or ho would not bo the motorman and conductor of tho vehicle of justice by which tho arrested men aro to bo carted to whore they will get theirs. It seems that just boloro tho late election tho two olllclals named obtained from the judge of election lor the precinct in which they live a ballot each, thebo being detached from the tab lor that purpose and numbered respectively 1 and 2. Tho use or uses to which the ballots were put would bo matters of tho purest surmise but for the fact now thoroughly demonstrated that tho church Is in politics and tho accused, ueing church dignitaries, necessarily wanted those ballots to help their organization or-ganization make the contest go tho way they wanted it to go. Tho fact ihat tho said otes were not cast by anybody, that they possessed no Intrinsic In-trinsic value to speak of, and that at the most they could have served no other purpose than that of familiarizing familiariz-ing some possibly unsophisticated voters with them and the method of using them which the law does not specially condemn becauso of Itself jmplojlng various menus to such ends would bo somewhat against the conclusion con-clusion previously reached in ordinary casej; but this is not an ordinary case. The men being high churchmen, tho presumption of lnivocenco of wrongful ntent is necessarily set aside; also the burden of proof is shifted and they must prove their innocence if they can. How else can they be i cached it all. Answer that, you carpers! In order that tho offense may bo propei ly sized up, it is necessary to :cnsldcr the res go: tic (law term, borrowed,) in all its phases. The first man who appeared to veto, In tho precinct pre-cinct referred to, found that his ballot bal-lot was numbered : instead of 1, and wanted to know where tho othei'3 had got off to. The presiding judge of course, an accessory must havo been !n a very obtuse frame of mind, be cause he answered for all tho world just like a man who was not conscious of having committed n tlagrant outrage out-rage upon tho sovereign and supremo rights of tho glorious American eagle; that Is, he answered tho question truthfully and without hesitation. Then did It appear all at onco where the voter of No. !5 was at; ho was outraged, Insulted, abused, his rights as an American citizen transgressed upon, because, forsooth, was not ills ballot I! instead of 1? Does not anybody any-body with common sense know that voting, a ballot with ! on it instead of 1 has a tendency to einasculato it and deprive It of the force and effect I which It would otherwise have? What 'right lias a church or any other man 1 to cause a citizen to vote coutrary to ! his wishes, more particularly when his 'wishes run to tho patriotic purpose 'of being No. 1 on tho ballot roll? And then see the effect on other voters! No. 11, for instance, 'jumps up against 111 Jin ominous if not :i dangerous combination of numerals; while 21 gets it In tho neck worse thnn that, having to go down to posterity with 23 hitched to his naino! Can such things be borne? Not while wo havo men' possessed of such self-sacrificing dovotlon to tho public business that they either havo none of their own cr overlook it altogether. Fiat lex! Also, sic semper tyrannis! S. A. KENNER. i i . |
