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Show A Tale of Two Cities. Of San Francisco and tho recent convictions there the Argonaut says: "To have broken the power of Reuf and to have brought him into tho shadow of San Quentin, to have convicted Eugene Schmitz of his crimes and destroyed his authority these, indeed, are achievements of tremendous magnitude. By these acts San Francisco declares to the world that her civil character, externally besmirched as it is, is nevertheless sound and vital at Its core." That is true; it has always been true of San Franolsco. Her trouble for tho past four years jH has boon of tho same nature as that which caused ' the upheaval and violence there In 185G. The il good people neglected their duties; they would ll not even attond primaries and conventions and M see that their vote was1 brought out on election il day, until the city was finally turned ovor to tho IB tender mercies of grand larceny thieves and toughs, until the tragedy of the killing of Jamos 'jl IClng of William was needed to arouse the people and cause them to know that the purity of their 'H city had to be defended aggressively, and then they asserted themselves. Of late years they have given up the care of their city to grafters grafters of both petty and jH grand larceny instincts; but while knowing this, they havo depended upon the newspapers to 9 bring them deliverance, while some of the news-papers news-papers were afraid to strike lest they might of-fend of-fend wealthy patrons. Tho time came at length when their duty could" no longer bo put off; the law was vigorous-ly vigorous-ly appealed to and- the chief malefactors have been pinioned. It is good that tho city has been at loast partially redeemed; it would have been better had the exertion been sooner made and H the th'.ovos had never been given power. Eb In Salt Lake we have another form of evil to flfl fight. The effort here on the one hand is to keep the rule of the city in the hands of a merciless church, hence the effort has been not to get ca- 11 pable men to handle the affairs of tho city, but to get men who would be obedient to church counsel. And so long as such -officers were prop- orly obedient It has not much mattered what they H did the rule has been to sustain them. . H On the other hand, of late there has been a H struggle to Americanize the city; to give the n dominant church and all the people a square deal, II and that is the irrepressible conflict that is on H now and has been most of the time for forty years H past. And this church here is more vindictive H and more jealous of its power than any other H political organization that ever existed. H But in one way the work in San FranciBco and ' H in Salt Lake Is the Fimft. What is needed is to arouse the honest American sentiment and bring H out Its full force. There is enough in both cities H i II to control. This is a year whon tho best possible work should be done, and if it is, the resuks will !. be everything that can ba dosirod by mon who want tho best ever for all tho people. In San Francisco combines and thieves will have to bo fought; in Salt Lake the fight will bo upon a superstition that jwiralyzes tho patriotism and sense of duty of honest men. |