Show ONE MORE STRAW THE decision of the supreme court of the territory in the auditor and treasurer cases which was rendered on saturday will be found in this issue of the DESERET NEWS we do not think anybody will be disappointed at the result it was a foregone conclusion when there are two legal e al sides to a question and one gives color to the side in inimical in ical to the I 1 mormon I 1 people there is no doubt nowadays as to which the courts will take A recent decision of an idaho court bearing on a similar question is quoted by the court in these cases and it Is argued that if the legislature by a two thirds vote over the governors veto can change the mode of appointing an ot officer ricer the executive way may thus be deprived of all the appointing powers vested in him by congress but the cases are not parallel the law making the offices of auditor and treasurer elective by the people was a unanimous act of the legislature approved and signed by the exec executive ftp ive and the officers made defendants in the cases were duty elected under that law and commissioned by the same governor who afterwards denied their title to office and sought to fill their places by appointment there is a side to this question which would support the inherent rights of the community to the selection in their own way of officers to act purely in their local interest but it is not to be expected that where the rights privileges and immunities of citizens who are mormons cormons Mor mons are involved anything will be done clone by the courts as again desire of the ithe opposing element when the law can be so construed as to give any show of support to the minority in these cases an officer appointed without the consent of the people concerned by authority in which that people eo p ae have no interest or control harings ain gs a suit in the name of the people when that suit is contrary to their wish wish and is detrimental to their welfare the act under which the proceedings were instituted evidently contemplates an action in behalf of the people instigated by the people and forthe for ane benefit of the people not to further the schemes of hunters or the ambition of the executive in these case the people were really made the defendants for the nominal defendants were then their auditor and treasurer elected elecie d by them to transact their business and whom they wished to con tigue in office because they had bad been faithful in the dis discharge C barge of their duties the prosecuting attorney represented knotner power falsely acting in the name of the people he was really representing the governor who had bad been deposed for improper exercise of authority and the individuals who were scrambling for the official shoes of the peoples officers the true purpose and intent of the law were thus diverted and the people were opposed instead of represented T gaeir a air wi wishes were set aside in ane is SU suo and it is counted as a victory against them while all the time it has bus been nominally conducted in their name and on their behalf this illustrates the spirit of the whole business in a pretended free government where afie will of the governed e is supposed to hold sway in the government absolutism direct tyranny and a reversal of the principles of popular rule and common consistency prevail and an organized community are denied a voice in tile the selection of men to transact business that concerns no one else but that political body the supreme court of the united states in the snow and engelbrecht gelbrecht Eu cases argued that the laws are to be construed in a manner to give the largest possible liberty to the citizens compatible with the authority of the gen eral government but this decision is inthe in the interest of centralization and autocracy as against the liberties of the people the peoples side of the question has been many times discussed in these columns and has been ably presented belore the courts there is no need to reproduce it on this oc occasion cason but it is claimed by the organ of the defunct official who commenced the assault upon tile the peoples rights that this decision I 1 perfectly vindicates I 1 his action it does no such thing it does not even constitute the faintest kind of apology for it the only point it sustains is the appointment of the auditor and Treasure raf rafter ter the adjournment of the legislature which he tried to bulldoze he vetoed important bills passed by both houses on the bare round ground that the council would not confirm the appointment p of his perso personal nal f friends whom the people concerned did not want ud nd would not vote for under any circumstances he tried to play the supreme boss and failed he exalted himself in his arrogance above all r rightful authority and aud popular ru rule leand and was tumbled down tp to the dust Heo he posed sedas as an autocrat and was pitched down to his proper level if his apologists had any sense they would let him alone with his boon companions and not try to lift him up by the seat of his pantaloons to exhibit his folly and draw attention to the solitary point on which the court essays to turn the governors right to appoint the auditor and treasurer in case of a vacancy is the last section of the very act which makes tile the offices elective the vacancies contemplated tem plated therein are in offices that the peoples representatives were to fill by election no other is referred to it if the governor has the right to appoint under the organic act as ruled by the court then the provisions of the organic act must be followed in reference to vacancies it if the court stick so tenaciously to the organic act in one point why not in another that act under the courts ruling kulim 1 I provides that the offices are ty to be tilled by the governor and the council of the legislative assembly neither can act without the other except in two contingencies namely death and resignation if an fleer appointed by the governor and council dies ies or resigns when the legislature is not in session the governor mey appoint d during the interim otherwise n not ot in these cases there was neither death nor resignation yet the governor made the appointment after the legislature adjourned and if it should be ba granted that he could insist upon the letter of the organic act in tile the first place and when that did didiot not suit him jump jinn to the act of the legislature slature which he ignored in a the second place whence did dia he derive the judicial authority to declare a vacancy iu in offices which he had officially admitted tm the incumbents held heldie de facto has an executive tile the ri right tit to act as a court and declare certain offices vacant and then proceed to fill them with his friends and that too when the organic act under which he professes to hold the appointing power does not give him the right alone to appoint except in case of death or resignation will any apologist for the deposed official pretend that he held judicial authority as well as tile the one man power which he assumed in legislative affairs if not the less they have to say about his vindication the better it is a similar vindication to that concerning his transactions while marshal of kentucky the reports of which were sj si damaging that they were smothered out of sight and the covering up and hiding process was called by the same avo apologist loist a complete vindication that is a singular name for plain evidence of palpable wrongdoing As the situation now stands the individuals divi duals whom the people do not want at any price to conduct t their local financial finane ial business are declared the rightful incumbents in a suit professedly fes sedly conducted in the name of the people and it is understood that an appeal to the supreme court of the united states will be if possible prevented what then just wait with patience and see injustice and oppression are becoming so common that the people are getting used to them the last straw is not yet laid on and there is some thins thier stronger than any camels back to support their cause we can wait and watch but we must also work when and how we can lawfully peaceably but with persistent determination to contend for our rights to the last legal extremity |