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Show H STRAIGHT TALK H ' On Tuesday evening the editor of the Deseret H News, with due regard for his orders, waxed fnc- B etious in an article headed "The Passing of Chief B Grant" the burden of the tiling being: "Why was B Chief Grant deposed?" Chief Grant was removed B because the people spoke twice. Once two years H ago when he would have been removed at the H time the new commissioners took their offices H had it not been for the fact that Slippery Dick 1 double-crossed, and the second time at the elec- H tion last fall when a large majority of Salt Lake H citizens made an emphatic protest against his H continuation in office, the rotten police depart- H ment being the main issue of the campaign. It H was Mayor Ferry's solemn duty to remove him H and he has done so even if he was a little slow in H acting. H "Why was Chief Grant Deposed?" It would be H a privilege to have time and space to chronicle B even a few of the many reasons for the ousting B of this man, and a great part, of the organization M ' he was responsible for. Why, even at the time M of the investigation of the chief and the police M department, the best his friends could do for him M was to say that he was incompetent in the posi- M tion. During his incumbency, the city has been M infested with more criminals, petty and big, than M have ever found Salt Lake a haven; there has H been more evil and more crime than ever before, M and more con men of a stamp nationally famous B for their big jobs, more thieves, riggers, holdups, H prostitutes, maquereaux and those of their par- m asitical following than were ever allowed to re- H main in this community. Some were driven away H and others were allowed to stay and operate sur- H reptitiously, for a rare .discrimination has been H shown in eliminating some and allowing others H to remain. The same discrimination was shown H regarding those who sold liquor, some being H forced to adhere strictly to the letter of the law, H while others were allowed to t.ell liquor until their H places closed in the morning while policemen H complacently looked on. H We can understand the grief of the News in H the passing of Chief Grant. It was the editor-in- H chief of the Deseret News, not the present one, H who with one or two others, received the rents H from the notorious Dunbar club month after B month, OhioC Grant and his satellites knowing all H the time what was transpiring at the club and H postponing the closing of it until this journal H made it so hot he had to. No wonder the hurt M still rankles in the highly moral organ up the HH street. We note in the article in the News, that he H enforced the law, that he waged a relentless war H on evil doers and that he had the courage to M make enemies and in doing so, won many new B friends. He certainly won a lot of friends who M are bemoaning the fact that he is out, but we M would hardly say they were from that part of H Salt Lake's citizenship which places a high value 1 on law and order. If there was abuse and villi-fication villi-fication of the gentleman while he was in office, in criticism of his official acts, he had ample ro-course ro-course at any timo he wanted to prove that the writers were not telling the truth. The Dunbar club was only one instance of a neglected duty. There were other festering sores In the commun- h: ity; low bagnios, gambling houses and resorts H where colored men and white women consorted, H not to mention the organized gangs of con men, H' dips and guns who made this city headquarters, H particularly during the heavy travel of the sum- H mer of 1915. H Former Chief of Police Grant was removed be- H cause he was not competent to hold a position as H chief of police in a city liko this and because H' from the very beginning of his regime, there H was a growing protest by law abiding citizens H against him and the greater part of his organiza- tion, the personnel of which varied between the comic and vicious. There is no occasion to discuss dis-cuss the gentleman or the methods of his administration admin-istration at length, and no further mention would have been made of it had the News not raised the issue. Personally this journal has nothing against the chief who has retired, but officially we fought him as every journal having the good of the community com-munity at heart should have done, and wo won the fight which wo began receiving some help at the finish from one or two others who aAvoko to the necessity of deposing the chief and reorganizing reorganiz-ing the entire department. In this regard, we note that both the mayor and the new chief are quoted as having stated there will be no sudden changes in the organization, and if this is true we suggest that they both change their minds for the good of the service and the city at once. There are incompetents in the service, there is alleged dishonesty in certain branches of it and the first duty of the new chief should be to fill the places of those who were inefficient or who might bring further disgrace to the force. Chief Grant was deposed because the people voted to remove him. They voted twice. It wasn't done the first time, so they made it certain the last. The usual greeting from Jakie Turner lately is: "Well, me and the mayor " Somebody was adding a criticism a day or two ago, to those so frequently directed at a very corpulent gentleman who was appointed to one of the chief positions in the police department undo' the Grant regime, and he was cautioned by a friend, in all charity, not to be so harsh, the friend saying: "What can you expect of a man who can pull his shirt off over his head without unloosening his collar button?" In other words, you can't put a five and a quarter hat on a man. Wo wish to commend Commissioner Karl Scheid on the stand he has taken since he went into office, a stand which augurs well for the best intereots of the city at the hands of this new commissioner. We do not approve of all his appointees, though the majority of them are excellent men, well qualified for tho positions for which they have been named. But in regard to Mr. Scheid's work, it gives us great pleasure to note that he is a man with a backbone, somewhat of a rarity -in city commissions these days. The appointment of C. W. Shores, as chief of police has the whole town guessing. There appears ap-pears to be no question about his ability as a peace officer, but the success of the new lineup in the police department will depend largely upon the policy to be pursued. The record of the last administration should serve as a warning to the new chief to make his work radically different and while it is to be regretted, in a way, that the mayor could not find somebody here whom he considered capable of handling the situation, we will patiently await results and hope for the best. If there is any question regarding the legality of the appointment, that is up to those whose duty it is to pass on such questions and there should be no procrastination on their part in deciding the matter without delay. If Chief Shores is the man his friends say he is, and does his duty along the lines so plainly manifest, we are for him strong. Such men as W. W. Armstrong and Ernest Bamberger have a fat chance for fair play on a board of regents in which the majority are dom-ianted dom-ianted by persons of the stripe of W. W. Riter, Waldemar Van Cott and Richard W. Young. |