Show p A SILLY guestion QUESTION 41 J A QUESTION of considerable interests inter inte esUs being forced upon the attention of the uth utah Commis commission mond moro its character will be understood by the following from tle tie th e st lake ia ike runo 7 rune oi yesterday y it will be remembered that at the july election of school trustees in the ath ward school district inthis in this city the non ddn mormon voter voters rallied and 1 G to represent present ie them on the board of trustees aid aia AI though the non are arc a majority of the legal voters in the district at a meeting called abrl sept sepp lith last to tote vote upon the question of levyna tax a large num number er of jit yit participated 0 outnumbered 1 the e legal dattels voters carried matters their own way and levied a tax upon the property of the dist district elet at at this ejection 4 votes vota ivere were cast tn a favor tavor of a tax and 68 pt dosed posed thereto an apparent majority of 68 Iii in fayo fayer r ftfe of the tax but on comparing tte the names jaames of the voting in favor of a tax with the registration lists it Is found that only oni 21 45 of them are legal voters while a ail ali I 1 of odthe I 1 the 68 voting against the tax are duly regist registered ered tred it follows that there wasa majority of 23 legal 11 voters a against ainest levying a tax ghe ahe the matter was braught to the atten t i tion of the utah commissioners and on yesterday mor morning mornin nin by their invitation at M 31 ni appeared be boi 4 1 fore them and made an argument ra reviewing i the territorial school laws and the effect upon them of the edmunds bill which prevents any poleg amista from voting 9 an any election in ohp territory A As the matter hinges upon the ques f tion of whether or not voting for ar 6 against the levying of a tax for school i purposes is or is not an election th the tri fri Tribu luneta buneta nein its usual absurd as w well weli 11 aa bitterly itterly partisan method says I 1 int at this thi elec election til tim the attempt to cons construe t rug I 1 the deciding of whether money shall shail ot ort shall not be raised to be dx expended for any kny purpose whatever into an election is sd sol manifestly preposterous as to make it grote grotesquely ue ly ridiculous bul Bilt this is not t time the su b been brought to the attention lon ion of the commission as will ivill be seen bf b the following which aich appears in the tribune of this I 1 see in this mornin mornings s issue of your aper paper that the question can ests ts vote at school meetings was wag wa brought to the attention of the utah commission yesterday c esterday before tho the seyen seventh tir school district meeting vas was called for september Sep temyer temper lath last I 1 en ent 1 deavo red as one of the trustees of the seventh school district to ascertain who were entitled to vote at said meeting and address edthe following letter to the A honorable nono mono rabie rable commission SEPTEMBER 1884 1881 the honorable the utah salt lake city utah dear sirs the che act entitled an act for tibe establishment and support 7 of district schools and for other purposes 11 approved february ana andas anaas as amended march 1884 provides section four 1 whenever it shall be necessary to raise f funds ands to purchase build repair or furnish f school houses ho or for other othen school purposes an estimate of the ap proximate roxi mate cost thereof shall be made maae ey by the trustees and the rate per centa cen per annum as shall be decided decide d by bya h majority vote of the property ai i ers resident in the district present at a meeting called for that purpose to be assessed and collected as a special specia tax upon all the taxable pro property porty in the district strict df etc As there is considerable doubt inthe in the minds of many of the residents of the seve seventh nth school district as to who are entitled to vote under the provi provisions siong of the edmunds ands law in connection with the above qualification of property erty taxpayers tax payers I 1 shall esteem it a favor avor if you will druleon rule ruie on the following question the school act was passed as amended bythe by the legislature ot of utah terri tory after aften th the edmunds eEdmunds bill became lawI law a polygamist property taxpayer whether male or female resident nyer uyer ent iu in the district entitled to vote at a meeting in thel district called for the purpose of levying a tax on the pro of the district to purchase berty bert ug ulla repair or f furnish schoolhouses school houses 0 or for sor other purposes your you r early reply will greatly oblige yours respectfully BE BENJ beni ni G 1 one of the trustees of the seventh seven th school district I 1 could not obtain a ruling on the question and up to this date have not received one I 1 was informed thatis was the opinion of the commission that polygamists were not entitled to vote at such meetings but that no ruling had been made in regard to it my associate trustees are members oj of the mormon church and were of the opinion that poleg amista were werd entitled to vote at said meeting but at the tha same time expressed their willingness willin nest to abide by the decision ot of the esom corm mission it we could obtain it i t respectfully BENJ bent G I 1 Salt Lake city oct 2 29 1884 we ve presume that the reason why the commission made no response to the request of mr ray Eay bould was because they considered the subject did not come under their purview their bustness business being confined by the edmunds law to election matters exclusively the p r is so 60 plain that we do a moment entertain the idea that thai tha any intelligent person believes that voting upon the question of tax or no tax f or school or any other purposes Is in the nature in the remotest sense of an election it Is simply and solely a in regard to the raising and expenditure of lunds bunds ft otherwise wise who is elected by such subh a process mr states that on this I 1 question jils his fellow trustees were willing to abide by the decision of the commission we we know that matter patter beyond his of it if their position is correctly defined by him himie we have haive only to state that it is a one to say thie i least and we have no idea thata that a similar attitude aou would id be taken b by those whose nights rights would be invin invaded d by a dedret larfa in favor savor or of a meeting convened to decide for or against levying a abax tax bein being an election in u are r e taints the contrary for in that event such ruell a ruling would be to limit of the legal legai resource but of no grousd ground for pre sumin for a moment that the utah ComOs commission ston slon would step out of their sphere to such an extent as to td commit so glaring an absurdity as to decide that a matter matten that has no relation to an election is an elect election lom loe every lawyer know known that the edmunds edmund law has no application whatever to the question of deciding upon the levying of bf a tax to raise f funds for local school purposes ancl anci and wien he endeavors to show tl that thap bat lat it has lias he simply resorts to pettifogging that Is disreputable to fo his profession prof brof f tes fes sion slon the movement on this question is but one Among the multitude of evidences of feverish anxiety on the part of catl antl a cormons to anticipate the congressional special le legislation they so much desire the they y would could deprive the objects of their antipathy of the commonest rights of humanity among them the privilege of ap appropriating G tiri t 1 n g 0 of f their av oafa 4 money anar and J its expenditure p e n d 1 t ure are for the education of the children of the territory to which the lib liberals brals sely sill their loud professions in favor of progress which are all buncombe to me the contrary notwithstanding are decidedly opposed those whose voice in IA this important matter the they 1 desire to see silenced are almost without exception in favor of f funds being raised for educational purposes when they are needed while the anti uon mob Mon are faund nearly invariably alyas as recently illustrated voting for no tax asking the commission to decide whether or net an action for foe or against a special tax for school purposes is an aln election is a childishly weak interrogation any schoolboy under twelve years ought to be able to reach a clear conclusion for upon uton so plain a matter the party of progress are evidently presuming a great deal dea 1 too much on the supposed antl anti lormon thormon A I 1 bias of the commission while they have exhibited a deal of anti 11 mormon leaning we are not disposed to believe that they are willing to render themselves supremely ridiculous by making a ruling that would be opposed ito to common sense and so readily susceptible of bein beins overturned |