Show LIBERTY IN UTAH an anonymous anoy correspondent in a country town clips from the democratic organ in this city a paragraph printed just before the city election which contains a declaration to the effect that the voters of this state are free to vote for whom they may see fit and that no man has authority conferred upon him by god or given him aim of men to interfere with the freedom of the individual in the exercise of his political rights and forwards it to this office of course this was a fling at the mormon church authorities referring to the clipping the correspondent says this is the kind of talk to have yes indeed this is the kind of talk to have if it is desired to spread over the world the impression that utah is inhabited by serfs and ruled by half civilized chiefs who hold the masses in slavery if the object is to make the world believe that utah is a region whose denizens can neither read nor write and among whom patriotism is an unknown virtue that they have no conception of the meaning of liberty and that statehood was a stupendous blunder this is the kind of talk utah papers should indulge in it it to is desired persistently to insult the members of the dominant religious society of the state and if the purpose is to try to goad them or their leaders into some sort of retaliation toy by all means keep up this kind of talk keep on reminding the members of that society that they are now free that quite recently the shackles have been stricken from their limbs give them to understand that whereas they Y came boutah to utah as serfs and lived here early halt half a century as slaves some jody body by some means has successfully consummated some sort of a process of emancipation in their behalf so that now biow if they venture to go to the polls no blood hounds will follow them mid ad it they even vote as they please they need stand in no fear of the whipping post tor for it is a thing of the past for six long weary years ever since the voters of utah divided on na nasonal onal political lines the assertion haa W been incessantly reiterated that they are now free first some scribbler for a political organ makes it then some stump speaker whose mouth and brain are sadly out of pro fp as to alze repeats it then some outside sheet takes it up and so 0 o on ad nau geum this statement is usually accompanied by the further one bone that abe he leaders of the mormon people have given the latter bermis sion flott to vote the ticket of their choice why not further inform a wondering world that those magnanimous lead era have given their followers per to breathe eat and sleep the males among them to wear pants and the females feni ales to seek the bargain counter ter as early and as often as purse wily permit or inclination dictate the villainous slander implied in this rubbish ta all that saves it from beto aba imbecility i f W venerable pioneers whose faith lo 10 iwa wa that of the children of israel crowing the red sea whose patriotism is that of the martyrs nr tyro of ther aft devotion to is like that of tae butrim irim fathers whose courage Us like that itha t of the noble six huri hundred dred aft Sala Mava ava ye tay gray haired veterans A among the the mountains the soi BP arones i of a grand common and made knade it possible pos for pro fess ional politicians cans and other social pests and parasites to exist here what think ye when some scribbler publishes to the world the gratifying news that now quite recently ye are free and when that scribblers scribble rs twin brother with short scrubby hair and a low retreating forehead effects a thrilling escape from a beer saloon climbs a stump and be for an aggregation of his fellow water shunning loafers reiterates the asseveration that the mormons cormons now are free what emotions surge within you could you give adequate utterance to them hardly 0 the unspeakable satire of the situation scribblers Scribble rs with not an inspiration which they do not get from some political boss with not a scintilla of patriotism apart from party spoils with not an idea of public policy loftier than the scheme of a ward heeler with not a conception of human liberty that would do credit to a turk brazenly inform the mormon people that freedom now prevails in utah and exhort them to act upon it by voting for conspirators spira tors and spoils men stump speakers so craven in their cowardice that they dare not utter publicly a sentiment that has not first been passed upon by their steering committee and whose souls are he held id in such abject slavery to the party lash that rather than risk a blow from it they would stultify themselves in the grossest manner possible and throw personal honor to the winds such creatures have the impudence to stand before the sturdy mormon yoe manry and warn them to take no counsel in politics that does not emanate from self seeking aspirants who offer not the slightest guarantee of good faith in the advice they ive to voters before such creatures as these scrib alers and spotters spout ers existed in utah the mormon people had established liberty here and had taught mankind that the am american rican voter is as independent in his sphere as caesar was in his religiously they taught that independent and intelligent action in all the affairs of life in this world is a sine qua non of salvation in the next for the sake of liberty they endured more than death and they maintained it until conspiring politicians organized political machines that have seriously invaded it but as things greeven now they can call all mankind to witness that there is no restraint upon liberty in utah save the tyranny of the party boss and the certainty of the party lash to this last statement one exception must be made there are voters in utah some hundreds in number who are not free they are permitted to vote but if ff thel the allow it to be known how they vote a storm ensues and if they venture to advise others in public or in private how to vote the storm becomes a hurricane the injustice and absurdity of all this is vastly augmented when it is understood that of all the men in the state stat of any creed or calling these are the best qualified to counsel the people in matters that relate to their material welfare not by law it is true but scarcely less lesi effectively than by legislative enactment act ment the mouths of these men have been closed and their personal liberties have been curtailed in their associations and conversations with their fellow citizens so far has this condition gone that when one of them in approaching approach i the polls to cast hla his ballot a bystander by stander to see what ticket he voted the incident was seized by stump speakers and a partisan press and treated as if a crime had bad been committed and the venerable american citizen who cast the wt vote was censured as a criminal might be for years these men have borne this deprivation of their dearest rights as american citizens they have seen the politician accomplish his nefarious purposes they have seen the people robbed and oppressed they have seen imperilled imperil led the credit and fair fame of the commonwealth among whose founders they were numbered and tor for whose welfare they feel a solicitude more true deep and profound than their detractors are capable of conceiving ce and yet have remained silent out of deference to senseless and out prejudice they have foregone their privileges preferring any sacrifice rather than become a disturbing element in the meantime the state has been the loser immeasurably by their silence for their wisdom and counsel would have averted much of what the people are now suffering and must yet suffer the patriot in utah may well yearn for the day when truth justice and reason will be controlling elements in shaping public opinion and directing public affairs |