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Show SWITCHING TO AMERICAN PARTY Councilmanic Contests Plight of Democrats An Ogden Graft Politico Personal The campaign He has already made Its appearance, ap-pearance, although tho campaign itself Is somo weeks ahead. The first Ho of the season is that former Senator Frank J. Cannon had deserted the American party and returned to the Mormon fold. This story has been assiduously circulated for two weeks, until some people were really misled into believing it. Senator Cannon attended a meeting of tlu. American party city committee held last week. Ho addressed an American party reception given to Mayor Bransford Thursday evening of this week. He Is as good and loyal and devoted a member cf tho American party as he ever was, and has no more Idea of abandoning his position on the issues is-sues in Utah than Joseph F. Smith has of becoming becom-ing a law-abiding American citizen. This story is on a par with that circulated a few weeks ago that Frank Knox, "Jack" Lynch, and other prominent Americans, had deserted the party. None of these stories are true; the Inter-Mormon Inter-Mormon Smootican dare not publish such rilmora, because an open publication would meet with Instant In-stant refutation; but tho contemptible, gumshoeing gumshoe-ing whisperers, with which this burg abounds, have been peddling them most industriously, untl. they have bunkoed somo ordinarily sensible' people peo-ple into believing them. Probably the warmest contest which tho American Am-erican city primaries will witness will be that over the councilmanic nominations in the First ward. A numbor of active American party men have determined de-termined that Councilman 0. J. Crabtreo shall not be renominated, and they will support Alden ID. Payne, who is In the field against him. The opposition oppo-sition to Mr. Crabtreo is probably more serious than that gentleman himself yet realizes. There Is also opposition to the ronominatlon of Councilman Thomas Hobdny. Mr. Crabtree, it is said, Is fostering and aiding this opposition to 1 his colleague, and is said to have had a hand in bringing Wright Pickering, his close friend, into the field against Mr. Hobday. Some time ago Messrs. Crabtree and Hobday wore working together to-gether diligently, but they seem to have parted company. & & t Two faces which have hitherto beon more or less familiar around Democratic conventions will be missing when the olans gather again. They are the faces of Judges H. P. Henderson and W H. Bramel. Both men have joined the American I party. Mr. Bramel was tho nominee of his party for City Attorney only two years ago. While he has O made no public announcement of his change of political affiliation, ho has ' lot, his friends know that he has joined the movement for the Americanization Amer-icanization of Utah. Judge Henderson declared himself in the school campaign last fall as an American party man hereafter. The Gentiles of any prominence who still remain re-main in the Democratic organization in Salt Lake can be counted on the fingers of two hands. It is to be doubted if even Samuel Newhouse, once the staur chest Democrat of them all, could be induced in-duced to avow his connection with tho moribund organization. Col. El A. Wall is openly out of it Ex-Senator J. L. Rawlins is maintaining a discreet silence. All that now romaln of the once proud Gentile contingent are Judge Orlando W. Powers, John Dorn and Frank B. Stephens. & & & It is this condition which makes ridiculous tho talk of nominating a Gentile like. John Dorn for mayor on tho Democratic ticket. The Democratic Demo-cratic city convention will contain a larger proportion pro-portion of Mormon delegates than oven the Republican Re-publican convention. They will bo there to nominate nomi-nate a Mormon, and, if they do not decide on fusion fu-sion outright with tho Republicans, and ex-Mayor 1 i Richard P. Morris doesn't die or go on a mission to the ungodly Lamanltes between now and convention con-vention time, he will be his party's nominee. Mr. Dorn doesn't want to be mayor, and, even if he did, he would stand no chance on the Democratic Dem-ocratic ticket. Councilman F. S. Fernstrom Is f authority for the statoment that the American party strengthened itsolf fully 1,000 votes by Its oleotion of John S. Bransford as mayor, and, if one-half of this statement Is true, the American ticket has a walkover. 4 Moreover the pitiable weakness of the Democracy Democ-racy was exposed Monday night when the city committee met to elect a chairman to succeed M. F. Cunningham, resigned. Not a single soul In -.Salt I?.ke capable of filling the office would aoaopt it, and finally on bended knee the committee commit-tee persuaded Mr. Cunningham to retain the office of-fice "temporarily." Suoh is the plight to which a once proud party has been reduced by politics of the Smoot variety. 1 & & j And yet funny things happen in Zlon. In 1903 so astute a Democrat as Judge W. H. King openly advised his party not to place a ticket In the field, because, he declared, the party stood no earthly chance to elect a single nominee. His atl.lce was disregarded, a ticket was nominated, and every man on it, aside from certain councllmanic nominees, nomi-nees, was elected. The "spirit of the Lord" do- scondod upon the party on election day In a manner to warm the cockles of Saintly hearts. It might happen again, though there is nothing to indicate it now. 5 The daily papers this week have exposed the fact that T. B. Evans of Ogden, a trusted of the State Industrial Sohool, Is selling supplies to that" institute in plain violation of a statute foibftft ding explicitly just such a practice. The State' Board of Examiners, of which Governor Cutler and Attorney General Breeden are the majority, have approved his bills and ordered them paid. If Governor Cutler had the slightest concep tlon of the proprieties of his position which he has not he would put a stop to this sort of petty grafting; if Breeden were qualified for the position posi-tion he holds which he is not or if he were able to interpret the simplest statute of the state intelligently intel-ligently which he is not ho would put a quietus on It. Governor Cutler, howovor, appointed a man indicted in-dicted for land frauds to represent Utah at the Public Lands Convention in Utah; he permlttod a person removed from the city council of Ogden for malfeasance in office to servo for months thereafter as a trustee of the state deaf and blind Institution. Nothing can bo oxpected of him, ana the only consolation the state has Is that IiIb term of offico will net last forever. I Once more the Inter-Mormon has lost a city editor. Lo Roy Bourne, the Incumbent, has re-signed, re-signed, and will take a position on the Dosorot News. This is the 'steenth time that this has happened, hap-pened, and the proprietors and high moguls of the sheet are becoming exceedingly sensitive on the subject. The annual election of officers of the American Ameri-can Club will take place next Tuesday ovening at 8 o'olook in the club rooms In the Atlas block. The mooting will probably bo well attended, and there may be spirited contests for some of the positions. |