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Show Judge Powers scarcely added to the dignity of I rl his campaign by the lathetic letter which ap- '11 peared yosberday morning In the positive organ ' M and the seml-organ of the bolting party. He men- , tlons a number of allegations which have been j I! made against him by his political antagonists, ,' jfl nine in number, and then denies them in toto, j H without a specific lobuttal of any one of the "H charges. The amusing part of it Is that he tries to j ' H shift the whole controversy on the shoulders of ' H Mr. Howell, his opponent for congress. Bosldps lH which, he denies a number of charges which have I , i 1 never been made, or which at least have never ikll yet appeared in the public prints. j 11H In response to Mr. Powers' frantic defense, a j H few facts should be noted. Ho ha3 stated during j !i!1H his campaign tour that unless ho were elected. i tH Utah would go back into territorial conditions. J ' lH He did state some month ago to a newspaper ' ! 'iH representative, when asked if he were going j wH to testify in the Smoot investigation, that the ' fjjH committee was thoioughly cognizant of his views, j 111 as he had for several months been in eommuni- nil cation with Mr. Taylor and Chairman Burrows. ifH That statement appeared In one of the dailies, I f H and if it were not true, why did Mr. Powers not j jiH deny It at that time instead of at this belated hour-? j ! 1H He takes exception to the statement that his , i "flH testimony before that same committee was a ill studied argument. The best argument regarding i IH that can bo found in a perusal of the testimony, , i H which certainly indicates that his evidence was H in the form of a carefully prepared document. ' j IH Mr- Powers does not approve of the statement ' ' H IH that he was in conference with the American iiH party leaders Yet such a conference did occur, ftS although before the time the party was publicly H organized, and it is only fair to state that the IJ IH judge did not view the formation of that society 1 IH with any great degree of alarm nor was his j I IH ' II r HBfflfil m Democratic thorax expanded In protest The ninth r ' charge to which the judges takes exception 1s H that he was in the deal whereby Frank J. Gannon H was directed by the National Democratic Commit H tee to join the American party movement, the H National Committee well knowing- that in that HI role Mr. Cannon could do the most valiant service HI for Democracy. All that need be said in that H connection is that if Mr. Powers was not in on H the deal, he is not In the confidence of the other H leader of the local unterrified -a hypothesis HI which does not appeal very strongly to the ordl- H nary mundane mind. H Altogether the document is a far weaker one H than was naturally looked for from such a source. H The effort to make Mr. Howell, his political com- H petitor for Congress, sponsor for the allegations, H was also something which did not add any great H - loftiness or dignity to the judge's fulminatlon. H While his mind was on the subject, Judge H Powers, disclaiming any alliance with Mr. Kearns H in the present American party embroilment, H might have profitably explained why in his testi H mony before the congressional committee, he IH made no reference to the "Church Influence" by H which Mr. Kearns was elected to the Senate. He H ' might also have interested and edified the gulli- H9 ble public by explaining why, if there is not a HI mutual understanding between himself and Mr. H Hiles, the American party nominee for Congress, Kj the mtter, but Mr. Powers studiously avoids any 1 reference to his colleague in interest, Mr. Kearns, 1 in his reference to the Church influence which H has been wielded in Utah politics. If this had HI I been done the judge's argument would have ap- H peared very much more strenuous to the casual Hfl observer. HS Surely there must be a political kinship be- HB tween Kearns and Messrs. Powers and Hiles. HH "When the learned Judge Hiles, in his speech at H Bingham, gave a comprehensive review of the Hi flagrant cases of church influence in politics, he HEf slipped at the same point Judge Powers did before B( I the Senate committee when ho arrives at the im- Bf f portant political stage in Utah affairs when Mr. B Kearns was elecbed to the Senate. Hiles reaches Hg ' 1000 in his historical researches and then deftly H skips four years, in order to avoid reference to BB the self-confessed "head of the American party,' H and launches a diatribe anent the influence used HEI in the late Republican convention. HH It is hard to believe that 'either Mr. Hiles or Bl Mr. Powers expect people to take them seriously Kfj in this matter. The circumstantial evidence Hr pointing to an alliance between them and Senator HB9 Kearns and Chairman Bamberger and National RX Committeeman Beery is altogether too strong to H ; be set aside by a series of specious generalisms HB such as appeared in Judge Powers heated effu- H9 |