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Show THE CITIZEN '4 the fight and crippling the imperialistic plans of Japan in Manchuria and Siberia. In this fashion the chief issue of our day developed and a Republican congress at Washington met it in such a way as to protect pur country from plunging blindly into an abyss. The most fortunate feature of the congressional struggle was the delay. By delaying we came to see our real plight. On the eve of the conventions we can felicitate ourselves that we have not committed ourselves to anv0 form of internationalism. True, the question is still before us and we must decide, but when we do decide, it will be in the light of full information. Many Americans will feel a gratifying sense of security in the fact that we have not joined the league of nations and that we have taken our soldiers out of Russia and Siberia. We have but a handful of soldiers, comparatively speaking, in Europe and the few thousands who were proceeding to Silesia to perform police duty during the plebiscite have been stopped at the Rhine by tbe revolution in Germany. We have still unlimited opportunity to make a fatal mistep, but we are warned. Prudence will dictate the utmost circumspection. The Republican party has divided on the question, but neither faction has declared unreseverdly for internationalism. Both factions, indeed, have demanded the strictest adherence to a nationalism which shall make impossible the schemes of those who would subordinate our government to the will of European imperialists. Both factions have insisted upon keeping Americas sovereignty intact and have repudiated the programme which would take our soldiers into all parts of the globe to support despotisms. m Vote It is morally certain, therefore, that the republican convention, will not yield either to Bolshevism on the one hand or imperialism ' on the other. But. what about the democratic convention? Never did tin; democrats approach a convention in such a state of uncertainty anu mental confusion. The party is split into many factions. At one extreme are those radicals who have preached the cause of Bolshevism and have secured high posts in the government, for adherents of Lenine and Trotzky. On the other are those who were,- and are, willing to accept a evoenant binding the United States to a military alliance with Great Britain which would make us guarantors of the British empire and apologists for such atrocities as the massacre of unarmed men, women and children at Amritzar in India. It is impossible to see what forces will control at the democratic convention. It is impossible not to see that there will be an almost unparalleled conflict of forces. There may be a fantastic compromise that will leave the party an utter wreck. There may be a combination of interests for the purpose of appealing to many classes of voters in the hope that the total of interests will produce a majority at the polls. Or it may be that a dominant faction will commit the party to an unmodified treaty and to all the policies of the present administration. - In any event the future holds for us, perhaps, the most thrilling campaign in American history thrilling not only because of the candidates and the policies, but because the welfare of the greatest and richest of peoples is at stake. Against $3,300,000 Bond Grab The Citizen believes that it has impressed upon the taxpayers the folly of voting the $3,300,000 in water bonds asked by the city commissioners. On the one hand, the proposition as outlined by the commissioners is inadequate to solve the water problem for Salt Lake City and it will be necessary to adopt a more comprehensive plan within a few years. On the other hand, it is not ever, satisfactory as a temporary solution. At the maximum of high prices the city will obtain little for its money. If the bonds are voted we shall witness the spectacle of $3,300,000 of our money being squandered to fill the pockets of municipal contractors and of the financial interests to whom they are indebted. The $3,300,000 proposition which is placed before the electors is precisely the same as the proposition which the special committee of engineers condemned except that it is divided into eleven sections. If you do not believe that the engineers committee condemned the proposition, instead of indorsing it as the commissioners claim, read the report. The commissioners and their henchmen are saying that the committee approved the entire plan except the acquisition of water rights in Little Cottonwood canyon. As a matter of fact, the committee condemned the building at this time of some of the principal reservoirs. The commissioners are silent on this point. They no longer dwell upon the report of the committee, for to call attention to it would show that the committee virtually condemned the whole scheme. m The city has enough water for a few years and we can get along without an additional supply until such time as genuine experts provide use with an adequate plan. We can ill afford to throw $3,300,000 away on a makeshift plan and then be called upon, in three or four years, to spend $8,000,000 or $10,000,000 additional. It is better to get along with what we have and wait for the drop in prices which is sure to come. In an era of lower prices we can take advantage of a real plan to settle the water supply problem permanently. If we vote for the $3,300,000 proposition our only satisfaction will be, should the bonds carry, that we have helped certain financial interests out of their difficulties. We will have turned the bulk of the money over to contractors and the interests and individuals who have loaned them money. There are many indications, moreover, that the $3,300,000 will be wholly inadequate to build the elaborate system of reservoirs planned by the city. If the reservoirs are constructed we shall be asked, in a few years, to complete them at an additional cost. And after they are completed probably we can use them for skating ponds or for perfectly good, dry playgrounds at certain seasons of the vear. The commissioners, as The Citizen has demonstrated by the figures and data of the U. S. Weather bureau, will not have the supply it boasts of in its estimates. The entire supply, as shown by the weather bureau data, which, for some mvsterious reason, the com- missioners and the city engineer failed to avail themselves of, will not be sufficient for more than 245,000 people and for far less than that number if the per capita use is increased by the establishment of large industries. 0 0 LEAGUE FAILS AGAIN Why is it that the league of nations, which is in existence. although the United States has not joined it, is not performing those functions for which it was founded? Peace exists between Germany and France and yet France suddenly invades German territory without attempting to arrive at a peaceful solution. There is a provision in the covenant which requires the league to ask a nation to accept the arbitrament of the league in case of a dispute which threatens war. No attempt was made by the league to settle the controversy according to the terms of the covenant. Instead, France conducted direct negotiations with the German government, issued a warning and finally sent its troops into the Ruhr region. It may be that France could not afford to await the long delay incident to league investigation and adjustment. It may be that Germany was again getting into a position to attack France and that France, being denied American support, was constrained to defend itself by prompt military measures. At all events, the league, in a crisis which it was designed to meet, fails to work. non-memb- er |