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Show A BAS THE RECALL. H THE great state of Washington M continues to give reasons against M the extension of the pains and H penalties of the recall. Seattle lives H under the domination of that beauti- H fill system, and people up there mark H with a white stone that day when some one does not start a petition to re- M call a mayor They elected ono man B and recalled him. Then they elected M another narrowly missing, by the H way, tho ro-election of tho very man M they had recalled. J And the success- M ful candidate in that special election H is now under fire. If half tho names M on the recall petitions against Mayor M Cotterlll are genuine, he must be the H worst man In tho Puget Sound coun- H try, instead of the very good citizen M his fellow townsmen had for twenty M years believed him to be. II I speak of these matters not be- jjfl cause there are some people here in H Utah who want tho whole of the H "Oregon Idea," Including the recall, H adopted here. H But how can a mayor do good work H when annoyed with tho recurrent in- H terruption? What chanco has he for deliberate decision in tho 'many ques- H tions that come before him when ho H knows that any evening, after an ar- H duous day devoted to the service of B tho people, he is like to meet the re- HI call on leaving his office? Any man 'H who can be elected mayor of a town H as big and as wide-awake as Seattle, H has to bo a pretty big man. He must H have a record for fitness. He must H bo an effective citizen. He must in H many ways be out of tho ordinary H SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSBlSSlS H for deeds done, for accomplishment. BBB He must have a standing with the H' business and social elements of his H community. If he lacked all or any BBB, one of these requirements, he BH wouldn't got up to the door of noml- BVs nation. Hl Having passed that door, having ro- Hfi ceived the approval of a majority of H his fellow townsmen, he must be ac- Bwfli cepted as a leading citizen, interested H as much as any one else in his city's m progress, her prosperity, and her good HB name. If he be conceded these, why HK not trust him to continue being do- B cent through the rather limited space BBS of time covered1 by his term? Why H assume that in an instant he has re- H versed his whole schemo of life? Why Hj believe him suddenly devoted to the r destruction of his city? BBS And there is another, and a bigger H question Involved. What sort of poo- Hj pie is it who ask for the recall? It Hji will not do to say that is none of Hj the business of the inquirer, for if H perfection is required in the mayor, H somothing approaching that condition H must in equity be required of his BBx1 challenger. No man who has in any H particular departed from the right has H any business demanding the recall of H the mayor. No man who has in the H' slightest violated one of the ordi- H naces of his city may with propriety Hi ask for the recall, the discrediting, BB the disgracing of the mayor. No one H' who has neglected compliance with K any oven the slightest of the w tenets of the Golden Rule should be Hl permitted to sign a petition romov- H ing from office. And no man who H has ip. word or deed done less than H the fullest of his duty toward his city, flf his neighbor, his commonwealth and H himself can with justice or right bo V! admittod to the sacred ranks of the H army of renovation. Hj And that recall petition not uup- Hl ported by violators of law will be a M ( vory brief one. There is just as much Bh obligation on the private citizen to do n all the duties pertaining to his sta- Ht tion as there is to require perfection B of the mayor. Tlio mayor is in the B E limelight. The citizen is an unob- BE served porson. But no mayor ever BB i "was recalled or ever will be for i violation or neglect of the law, but ibis unhorsing was achieved by men 1 who violated the law a thousand H I times, and wore glad of it. H What is true of a mayor in Seat- H tie, is true of every other officer H everywhere. It is a doctrine vicious H in principle, and harmful in practice. !It is a visionary nonsense devised for the entertainment of irresponsible irresponsi-ble people who don't care. It(ls the entering wedge for anarchy. And Utah doesn't want it. |