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Show I THE CITIZEN 4 the be intelligently comprehended through a field glass from the rear end of a Pullman car. His inference and observations seemed fantastic purity" drives? There is a flock of irresponsible bookmakers" on the streets sep- at the time and little attention was accorded to his views. In fact arating the suckers" from their money. They will give you any odds Jones was not regarded seriously and fuel companies had about as much confidence in tips on geology as they had in visions of theology. you wish, because once they get your money you may never see them After a few years the accuracy of the deductions of Jones was demoL again. Then, if it is a necessary evil" is it not better to confine it unstrated by other men, and today some thirty mines having millions der proper police supervision and the protection of the public? of dollars invested attest his unerring reasoning. Of the ten to twenty But they tell us that the police can stamp out the evil. They cannot I If there was no racing in the United States, still there would be thousands inhabitants of eastern Utah eligible to obtain one hundred and sixty acres of coal land about one person of each four thousand thousands of people bet on races run in Europe. The purity" drive in Ogden against the bootleggers has resulted, actually believed in geological inference as a safe guide and exercised the coal right then accorded to each citizen under the law. according to reports, to a large increase in booze peddlers. The poThe restrospective view reveals the fact that with Nature's open lice made it pretty hot for those who tried to dispense the liquor in places of business. Now they have the street walker" who carries a book before us we were too stupid to observe, and intelligent consideration of perfectly obvious facts would have made hundreds of resihalf pint or a pint on his hip and a small glass in his pocket. The bootlegger works up his trade on the street, gets a list of customers. It dents of Utah fat with wealth. The fat has chiefly passed into the cents repacious maws of eastern corporations whose stockholders enjoy tb1"-- , takes but a second to "dish" out a drink and collect twenty-fiv- e for the poison. These street walkers" make ten to twenty dollars per dividends while we, with the obdurate eyes were permitted to witness' day and are living a life of ease, no hard work and no worry, and it great opportunities vanish. Now, another page in the book of nature has been turned and is next to impossible for the police to detect them. The enactment of our law is much similar to that of making a again geologists declare that southeastern Utah will develop into one padlock. The saying is that every lock made can be picked" by an of the greatest oil fields in the whole world. Billions of dollars will be taken from this field, in the inference of these men are correct. Thouexpert and locks are no bar to thieves. But while we are paying all our attention to these inoffensive" sands of locations have been made under the benigh act of Congress, crimes, business houses are being robbed, people held up on the known as the Leasing Act, and the first oil symptoms discovered at streets, and few of the robbers caught. The reason is that nearly the Moab has made scores of the believers of geologists comfortably entire attention of our police is directed away from real crime. It ap- wealthy. It is remarkable that the great majority of people take no pears that there is more honor attached to catch some one taking a interest in such matters until the boat of opportunity hoists its plank drink than there is to catching a holdup ; it is also much safer, because and leaves them. The misgivings of the populace is only to be acthe holdup may shoot to kill, while the man caught drinking would counted for upon the theory that the geologist is a fake profit and the knowledge that prophets in general are after the profit. Benighted, not harm a flea. We believe that strict regulation brings. the best results. indeed, is the individual who confuses science with superstition and We also believe that the degraded stool pigeon" has been permits this golden opportunity to pass his pessimistic door. the real cause for undermining the police departments of the entire POLITICAL OWNERSHIP country. 'What is happening in this city right now as a result of OPPORTUNITIES . An editorial in an eastern Utah paper calls attention to the dubious attitude displayed by Utahns who are daily passing up golden opportunities of getting in on the ground floor of the oil business which now promises to be one of the great wealth making industries of the state. However, the history of this state is a constantly recurring pathetic story of the stupidity of our own citizenry who failed to grasp the significance of great industries in their infancy. It applies to almost all our industries and the state is poor, taxes high, and many other afflictions beset us simply because our own people never had the foresight to invest in their own state and allowed eastern capital to do the developing while our people do the work, and the profits fill the maws of great eastern corporations owned by eastern people. It was true of our coal, our hydrocarbons, our coppers and an endless number of other industries. Surely, None are so blind, as those who will not see. M ... When Colonel Wall attempted to open the low grade porphyry copper mine at Bingham, he called a meeting of the business men of Salt Lake City, told them about Utah Copper and envisioned the future, offering stock to all at a very modest figure. But few indulged and many left the meeting tapping their foreheads to indicate their belief that the Colonel was crazy. Yes, he was crazy like a fox, and history has repeated the story that none are so blind, as those who will not see." As stated in that same editorial, Marcus E. Jones, a reputable and observing geologist, some thirty years ago made a study of the earth structure through eastern Utah for the purpose of informing the Denver and Rio Grande with reference to the extent of coal deposits adjacent to the line of that railroad. He did not have to see opened seams of coal in order to satisfy his mind as to whether these passed through mountains. He identified geologic periods and soon learned to speak the language of the rocks. Once in giving testimony upon the subject he declared that the coal geology of eastern Utah could Combating what he terms an attempt to force the State of New York into state ownership and operation of water pawer," Dr. James K. Finch, Professor of Civil Engineering at Columbia University, predicts great injury to the public and no benefit if the plan should be carried out. In the New York Times of March 10, he says in part: All we have to do is to step across the border into Canada, to find a fully developed 'political ownership of water power in full swing, a complete monoply, absolutely beyond the control of the people or the state, operated as a purely political enterprise above the law in fact superlaw unto itself. Apparently, its strength as a political machine has been so well developed and organized, that the famed Canadian hydro will never be brought under public control by anything short of a revolution." Discussing possibilities of proposed plan for New York state, Dr. Finch said: Whatever the advantage of federal, state or municipal ownership may be, it is certain that a lower cost of service than is. possible under private ownership is not one of them. The evidence which can be secured from actual cases of federal, state or municipal activities in the operation of public utilities, not only in America but all over the world, is absolutely overwhelming on this point. The reason for it is very clear and obvious. Have politicians ever been able to conduct a business more efficiently than men who have been trained to this career? Mismanagement and graft, inefficience due to lack of all incentive for careful effort and a full days work, have invariably resulted in increased costs, which, in turn, are covered up by crooked accounting, or total lack of accounting, but always come out of the pocket of the taxpayer in the well-organiz- ed end." The supervision of the waterworks department costs the taxpayers a tremendous sum of money every year. Then if we added t lie tax that could be derived from such an investment, we would have another substantial sum. It would be interesting to know at what cost a private corporation could conduct this business for. It is safe to say that under private ownership the cost would be reduced at least |