| Show UTAH ELECTIONS AND POWER ann telegraph this thia morning brou brought word that the senate on Wednesday agreed to an amendment to the sundry civil elvil appropriations bill introduced trod by mr hoar hear author authorizing zing the governor of utah to appoint officers to oil fill vacancies in the territory caused by failures to elect successors to the present incumbents this was wab amended on motion of mr bown B own to limit the tenure of office of the appointees to eight months the bill will have to go back to the house where the amendment Is quite likely to be concurred in but may possibly be changed or rejected this is all ail in accordance with the scheme concocted with the object of taking the offices now in the gift of the people of utah out of their hande hands and placing them in the power of a very small email minority well known to be enemies of the great majority the toe election as well as al registration reg offices having been vacated by the edmunds law la lawand wand and no appointments having been made mada by the commissioners sio ners the regular august election for county and territorial urial officers i caimol cannot be held if tb at pr artion tion of the I 1 jaw law relating to election offices Is valid and even if it is invalid if no J judges of election have been appointed anted and no mec Cec ejection tion notices have geen been given according to law the august election cannot be legally held it is assumed by the promoters of the scheme that the election failing a number of vacancies will occur and lothe if the power to fill these can be obtained for the governor vernor bome some of them at least will fall to their lot but let ua us examine this assumption does it follow that the august election failing the offices which should be io 10 filled at that electon election become vacant we think not arid and we havo have conversed with no lawser lawyer whose opinion would be counted as of value who decides differently diu din brently erent ly the lre pro rire tire sent incumbents of the offices in question have been elected not only for tor certain terms which expire on the first monday in auguar Augua tout nut but also until their successors are elected and qualified gual guat nned sned fled 1 it would seem to ua us that little if any argument Is necessary to show that in the event of a failure to elect a successor to any of these of offices flees or of the failure of an elected successor to qualify y according to law the old incumbent would hold over this provision being plainly implied in the terms defining the tenure of the office the bonds of these officials would clearly continue in force also being given with that contingent understanding the bond covers the term of the office for whatever time the officer was elected the bond is a guaranty it lasts while the term continues and the term in each of the cam cases under consideration extends until a successor is elected and qualified the failure of theL the August election occurring through no neglect or mal of the officers holding over there is nothing in the way to their lawful continuance in the positions they occupy and the attempt to place these positions in the gift of the governor is simply a part of the plot which h finds ads feeble expression in the ed edmunds law that enactment did not meet the end designed it only provided for a adall part of what wm wag expected and that was eo to far short of the full fall scheme that it disgusted Us its promoters if anything worse woree than the people against whom it was designed but this movement in the senate gives them new cause for encouragement although the power of appointment provided in the bill is but hut a little brief authority wo we are of the opinion that the cc eight months tenure as reported in the dispatch is a mistake of the telegrapher an appointment for eight months would expire on the ath of may 1883 there is no election provided for at that time tim e the probability ip Is that the intended tenure of the appointment ia Is for three months as that would fill up the interim from the august election till the nove november aber election of this year it Is possible that the figure 3 has been mistaken for 8 on the ath day of november an election should take place in this territory for a delegate to congress it la Is quite likely that the intention is to provided for supposed vacancies which however as wo have shown will not cot necessarily exist from the ath of august till me the ath of november thus giving time for the com coca to roach reach utah and make their appointments of registration and election officers and so combine the election for territorial and county officers with that for Delegate to Con congress grew grem the question may arhe arise la Is there any provision in the law for to the registration of persons whose names do not now appear on the lists yet who may lawfully claim the right to be registered wo we think there la Is in the first place the old lists hits remain and the voters registered therein are registered voters within the meaning odthe of the law re is no such thing as re under the sta st aute lute the name once cace there abides unless stricken from the list for cause judicially established but it may be changed to sn other precinct the annual revision of the registration list being prevented by the provisions of the ed munds mun dalaw law and tho the time having passed when it should take place places whai what can be done previous to the november election to mako make the list complete mai section 5 of the registration r law answers the question t on any voter whose name is not on the list can appear before the tho proper om during the week commencing on the second monday in september ot the present year and on taking the prescribed oath obtain registration if the commissioners come here as announced by the of august they can appoint the registration off omm meers officers in ample time to attend to this business and so the lists can bo be made complete and ready for the election laNove in november niber As there is not the slightest necessity for any arrangement whatever to provide for offices in this territory that should be filled by election this month particularly for the short interval between the august and november elections how can the attempt to confer such largo large appointive poin tive powers upon one person be viewed in the light of reason and it is not an arbitrary an arbitrary and dang daug dangerous drous irous establishment of the one man powel powei the tho nashville american treating of another subject t mado made use uee of these remarks which apply pertinently to the question now considered there la Is danger in the one man power whether it is found in vanderbilt and gould in arthur in the tho speaker of the senate or the supposed contempt of law in the person of the speaker ot the house rouse cheth er in one section more than another mother or in any form of monopoly mon poly whether in gold to the exclusion of silver whether in national banks in a grinding taxation in that power that promotes the far reaching troubles of tho the unfair employment of government civil servants in any one of all these those evils the sin of consolidation is conspicuous and seemingly nn bold it is certain that the exercise of auch suph large and irresponsible authority is a gross violation of the principles on which this republic ia Is founded and of 0 the genius of its constitution here hero is an organized commonwealth with all the machinery of local government not an unformed or inchoate community the people have acquired vest ed rights of seil sell government aa as sacred as the right of property which they have exercised for fon many years under their organic act they have a right to elect their own local officer and now without any necessity whatever a arising r le I 1 n ifor for mat mai ing appointments t through h r agh any ch channel annei annel one man is to be endowed with tho the right to fili fill those offices at ut pleasure the individual thus to be to endowed is not an officer of tho the peo flebut is himself appointed without any huy consultation of their wishes by authority which they have no voice in establishing if this is not rank despotism from beginning to endi ends end where will you find it on tha fageot the earth there has boen been a great deal 0 of talk about the one mail man power in mormonism yet I 1 there is no such thing in jn the sense I 1 declared by its and now the very people people who pretended to be opposed to I 1 one man power are supporting it and hav have a worked hard to obtain it Is one of the inconsistencies which they exhibit EO to numerously but it will not last long enough to please them thera neither will they reap as many advantages from it as they have anticipated if the law be framed to the effect named in the dispatches it will give but short opportunities port unities for misrule and then should the laws of congress and the territory be observed and enforced according to their letter and spirit the popular ruie rule will be establish reestablish re ed edana and the temporary clone one man 1 power become defunct it to hoped when the bill containing the antl auti american provision comes cornea up agan in the home house for review of the senate amendments the non necessity of the establishment of such arbitrary and dangerous authority will bo be made plain and the shameful gul ful and needless addition will be stricken out the lawless and highhanded high handed course ot of the governor in the matter ot of the Delegat delegated gla bla certificate was well understood der stood in the house of representatives ta and th tha the 3 rebukes he received from prominent members of that body for his assumption and disregard of hig hia official oath were more stinging and sweeping than anything administered by the people whom he insulted and defrauded it would be a mark of weakness and folly to placa place in the hands of the bame same individual whom many members of that body BO so strongly de bounced noun ced power which no one man raan ought to wield be he lver ever so just and congress Con greba gresa bas baa done some queer things during the masion now drawing to a close and it if bla bis ilis hia amendment m ent ont becomes law it will be one of the queerest we are of the lor for however that ignorance of the exigencies igen cles cies of the case is the cause of the proposition to which the senate has assented more than a determination to throw down and stamp upon the rights of the people of utah the lawmakers law jaw makers know litte of the tho facts and requirements of the case the wirework era do understand der det stand but wilfully i present preE ent and take advantage of the ign orenco of the powers i that be the more the mormon problem problem lem iem is handled the more it is demonstrated remonstrated that only onis by doing extreme violence to we toe fundamental principles of government govern mont mant can the solution of that guestion question cn be attempted by notional authority |
