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Show THE ARGUS. 2 XTbe Hrgus. Issued Weekly by THE AROUS PUBLISHING COnPANY. Entered at the Salt Lake City Postoffice as second-clas- s matter. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, APRIL 3 1897. ...... TERTIS OP SUBSCRIPTION. Any part of the United States, Canada or Mexico, one $1.50 year, postage paid England, Prance, Germany, and all countries embraced 2.00 in Uniyersal Postal Union, one year, postage paid 2.00 . Other Countries, one year, postage added . 2.00 By Carrier, or when not paid for in advance Postmasters sending subscriptions to The Argus may retain 25 per cent, of subscription price as commission. New Subscriptions may commence at any time during the year. Payment for The Argus, when sent by mail, should be made in a postoffice money order, bank draft, or an express money order. When neither of these can be procured, send the money in a registered letter. All postmasters are required to register letters whenever requested to do so. If the Paper is not desired beyond the date subscribed for the publishers should be notified by letter, two weeks or more before the term expires. Discontinuances Remember that the publishers must be notified by letter when a subscriber wishes bis paper stopped. All arrears must be paid. Requests of Subscribers to have their papers mailed to a new address, to secure attention, must mention former as well as present address. Address all communications to THE ARGUS PUBLISHING COT1PANY, Salt Lake City, Utah. NOBLE WARRUM, JR., - - - Editor. Many speculations are rife concerning the probable action of the Church authorities this Conference in relation to Moses Thatcher and the vacancies in the quorum. Since the absolute certainty of Statehood was secured it is a well known fact that no general Conference has been allowed to pass over without heaping some form of indignity upon the head of Mr. Thatcher. The sweetness of revenge against him is long drawn out and, while it has savored strongly of persecution, yet there are two objects to be attained by a continuance: The gratification of personal spite and the more complete subjugation of the people. But whether this Conference is made an congress or not, there are several of the brethren anxiously awaiting an apostolic appointment at the earliest convenience of the authorities. Elder B. H. Roberts is generally regarded as a foregone conclusion but his success will depend altogether upon whether or not his independence of thought and action has been comIf there is the slightest pletely suriendered. evidence of latent manhood in his make-uhe will be cast aside. Absolute surrender of will and action in temporal and political as well as in spiritual matters is required, and there are those, The Argus among them, who believe that Elder Roberts is possessed of considerable dormant courage and torpid independence. It is a much more difficult matter to pick the man for second place. In all probability it will be a Cannon or one of the Woodruff boys. There are reasons why a Cannon would be preferred and reasons why tLe place should be conceded to a Woodruff, all depending, to a certain extent, upon the next succession to the presidency of the Church. The claims of President Budge of Bear Lake are being urged for geographical reasons and Elder C. W. Penrose answers every objection raised against independent manhood and patriotism, qualities which he may truthfully plead are not even dormant in him. Elder J. Golden Kimball, of Cache Valley real estate fame, is another quasi candidate for the place and there are others. But if The Argus were asked to name the winners it would say B. II. Roberts and Hugh J. Cannon. anti-Thatch- p The policy shops are being closed. Reforms This action, however, is not due to And Reformers. any effort of the Municipal Reform League. What that organization might have done had it settled down to work is a spoiled er story. Whatever credit is due for waking up the police department is due the newspapers of the city those which have the courage of their convictions, which believe in the exposition of crime, the discussion of timely topics of local and vital interest, which are not afraid to call upon public officials to do their duty, or to inform the people when that duty is neglected to these belongs the credit of the reformation. The good work began Wednesday and will continue, we are assured, until every preparatory school of crime in the city is dismissed. It is bad enough to tolerate those resorts of older fools whose education in that line is complete, whose passion for gambling is an incurable disease, but experience has taught that certain evils, while not absolutely necessary, are at least irrepressible in a city the size of this. It is not possible to prevent gambling among gamblers any more than it is possible to prevent games among children. Cards may not be allowed in the parlor, but there is always an attic or a cellar or a in the neighborhood where the youngsters will congregate and have their fun. Permit the boys to enjoy themselves in plain view and little harm results. Drive them to hiding places for amusement and you lose control of them entirely. It has been well said that men are but children of a larger growth, an axiom which may be verified by the application of this rule. Undertake to suppress gambling altogether and men- will follow it in secret, police surveillance will be out of the question, robberies will become frequent, and a reign of terror is just as sure to follow as night follows day. well-establishe- hay-mo- d w - And so it will be with the demi-mondClose in Salt Lake City and you every den of e. ill-repu- te simply scatter the courtesans, contaminating every precinct, jeopardizing every neighborhood, hiding temptation in unexpected places, and accomplishing nothing in the way of actual reform. Even if all known women of that character were driven beyond the gates of the city there is still a question as to the benefits resulting. It might add to the curiosity of tourists and invest the city with something more of a freak reputation than it now has, but its moral advancement would be questionable. Men are men and women are women in Salt Lake City as in every other city of prominence. Their abuse of others may be prevented by law or force of themselves it is quite another matter. The banishment of the class of women referred to might reform some people, but it would endanger others ; it would certainly send the tempter in search of his prey, it would induce him to invade homes now sacred and lay traps for innocence he now respects ; it would whisper in the ear of many a Marguerite and dazzle the eyes of many a covetous wife or daughter of poverty ; it would improve the conduct of young men but little, if at all, and might encourage secret sins and vices for which unborn generations would have to suffer. There is, or ought to be, reason in all things and, while The Argus is heartily in favor of closing every resort that permits minors to indulge their precocious predilection to vice, it can see no lasting good to be derived from any radical course of action like the attempted abolition of evils which cannot be abolished in fact. These things should be considered as they are, not as reformers wish them, nor as they might be in an ideal city or a better world. The Argus views the matter from this standpoint and believes in the rational control of those evils which human experience from time immemorial has clearly demonstrated cannot be eradicated which cannot be suppressed in this day and age of the world any more than they could be in the days of Solomon. Elsewhere in this issue of The Argus appears the second of a series chiei And Mayor. Qf articles on the police question written by a gentleman whose knowledge of these matters ought to be, and in fact is, intimate and extensive. That there is something out of gear in our municipal machinery it is hardly worth while to dispute. It may not be the fault of the Chief, the Mayor, or City Council, nor altogether that of the Commission, but these are certainly more to blame than the patrolmen who depend for their bread and butter upon certain action or inaction, vigilance or indifference, whichever is required of them by those to whom they look for retention on the pay roll of the city. Chief Paul is a good man and an efficient officer whose courage, moral and physical, no one has cause to question, but there is not available in his department that veneration to which his great age and experience entitle him. Evils which existed when he entered upon the duties of his office still exist, and, in all probability will continue to exist in some form or other. Whether it is best to scatter the social evil to the four quarters of the city or to confine it to a certain part ; to refuse to tolerate something which cannot be entirely suppressed or to recognize and regulate it as a necessary evil ; to drive the gamblers into dark places where innumerable crimes may be committed with impunity or to keep them under surveillance where baser crimes are impossible ; these are the serious problems which perplex the chief of this department. Nor are they as easy of solution as the average municipal reformer might imagine. The recent abuses, referred to by our contributor, have become flagrant since Chief Pauls accident has confined him at home. The opening of a gorgeous palace e of on Commercial street cannot be charged to him as he is neither the owner nor the agent of the owner of the building nor president of the board of trustees which controls and rents it. The presence of a large number of colored people in the city with their peculiar games and lotteries is something with which no former Chief has had to contend. These are matters which, to be just, should be considered in connection with Pauls regime. And on behalf of the Mayor it may be said that his connection with the matter is not personal . While morally responsible to some extent, for existing conditions, by reason of his office, he is not actually to blame, except for allowing himself to be crowded to the rear by an over officious appointee, who is industriously creating the impression that Glenden-ning- s administration rests upon his shoulders. Tll6 ill-fam- mere is a woeiul lack of harmony in the police department, nor is it a matter of wonderment since that source of all its inspiration, that fountain head of its authority, the Fire and Police Commission, does not possess to any marked extent that particular requisite of discipline and good government. Patrolmen are not to be censured if they fail to work in unison for the welfare of the city when members of the Commission are constantly quarreling and fighting, swearing at each other, at people who ask the enforcement of the law, at newspapers which expose crime, mixing personal and municipal affairs in open session, secret session and out of session, and otherwise placing themselves on exhibition; with such examples before him what should be expected of the ordinary policeman? It is not an easy matter to regulate a system the head of which is unwilling to admit the ailment or accept treatment. This lack of harmony from which springs indifference to the welfare of the people extends all along the line. It is more noticeable in the oper- - fi a q t( v b w tc n: hi w h w M , 4 sti |