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Show THE SHAME OF THE STATE AS f SEEN BY DISTINGUISHED EDITOR Judge C. C. Goodwin Points Out the Big Mistake Made by the Fusionists in Attempting to Get Control of the Legislature Legis-lature Calls the Organization a Mob and Denounces the Leaders. To show the public how unfair th" Democrats, Progressives and Socialists Social-ists were, in trying to steal th Ipri -lative organization on January 11, wp. reproduce the following from Goodwins Good-wins Weekly Judge Goodwin re views the whole situation so fairly that the same is given In full: "The honor and dignity of a so-ereign so-ereign state has been assailed. Utah in soiled robes stands disgraced In the sisterhood of states, and strange ns it may seem, those responsible for the outrage, gloat over the situation) "Perhaps, in the far distance future, a kind fate will blot from the annals the stain of last Monday's proceedings proceed-ings jn the house chamber. But so long as the memory of what transpired trans-pired on that day prevails, men and women who love their fair state and hold dearly to their hearts all of her time-honored customs and tradi tions. will blush at thought of the shame. And just as they will never Toreet the outraee. so will thev never forgive those responsible for the deed. Already a wave of righteous Indignation Indigna-tion has swept from one boundary of the state to the other, and in the eyes of all sober-minded citizens who place the welfare of the great commonwealth com-monwealth before the whim of a few individuals, twenty-three elected legislators legis-lators stand in contempt before a people who had honored them, and whom they had sworn to serve. "Twenty-one men and two women, all members-elect of the house of representatives, rep-resentatives, ignored all the established estab-lished rules of order and procedure of that dignified body, openly insulted without cause the representatives of the two great co ordinate departments of the state government, repudiated the constitutional rights of an equal number of their fellow members, and undertook to usurp the organization of the house by the exercise of mob rule pure and simple. And thereby, these twenty -one men and two women cheapened themselves for all time to come by deliberately abusing the decorum of the illustrious chamber, and striking vitally at all of its fine old traditions "The question transcends all political poli-tical issues; it involves the dignity of a great government and the defense of its principles and practices. The fact that those who committed this crime against the state belong to the fusion party is of little consequence, save to show what might come to pass were these disciples of disorder in absolute control of all three departments de-partments of the state government. But we are concerned only with the facts "At the appointed hour last Monday the venerable justice of the supreme court and the assistant secretary of state quietly entered the chamber ot representatives. Pursuant to time-honored time-honored custom and the traditions of the house, they had come prepared to accredit the right of the members-elect members-elect to sit in the body, to administer and record the constitutional oath of office, and to perform such other sen-ice sen-ice as might be required by the assembly. as-sembly. There was no desire on the part of these two officials to assume authority or dispute the sovereignty of the house, or to trespass upon the vested premises of that distinguished body. But they were treated as tres passers, their mission was ignored, and they were given to understand by word and deed that their presence-was presence-was not desired In fact, that it was extremely distasteful, which strongly i reflected upon the intelligence of the rioters. " nd so. while the rump assembly of twenty-one men and two women w re In the process of railroading through the house of bogus organization, organiza-tion, the justice and the assistant secretary sec-retary quietly withdrew The manner ot their departure seemed to say: 'ladies and gentlemen, we came in gooth faith and in keeping with the lav and accepted custom, to assist you and sanction your preliminary acts. You have Ignored our presence and heaped gross indignities upon the great departments of government which we have the honor to represent. When we next appear before you it will be upon invitation, and with the assurance that we will be accorded the deference which the dignity of our respective departments deserve." "Later on in the day. upon invitation invita-tion cf the twenty-three accredited members of the house who had not . j participated in the disgraceful pro ceedings at the noon hour, the secretary secre-tary of state tnd the same justice appeared In the chamber, accompanied accompa-nied by the attorney general and other high statp officials. Upon the assurance that they would b received in a respectful manner, they had come to present credentials to the members elect, to administer the oath of office to those who desired to take it. and to preside over the house until that body should elect a presiding presid-ing officer of its own. But while these officials were performing their duties as requested, bedlam broke loose The rump organization recused re-cused to take the oath in the presence pres-ence of the house, and raised a dis-j graceful uproar which prevailed even' during the time when the venerable Justice was administering the oath to those who took it Moreoer, certain cer-tain of the mugwumps threatened to resort to physical violence to eject the state officials from the chamber, and the presence of Republican members mem-bers who had qualified on the floor of the house was completely ignored. The mob In possession of the floor finally succeeded In howling the He-publicans He-publicans from their scats, and these members gracefully withdrew from the chamber. "But that was not all. The twenty one men and two women before adjourning ad-journing their session, took physical possession of the rooms and delegated I pprgcants-at-arnis to guard it during the night. This action was evidently taken on the presumption that the state officials who were charged bylaw by-law with the custody of the rooms w ould act as small as they had acted, j and deny them further admission to the room It is the concensus of opin ion that the mugwumps deserved to be kicked out and kept out. and that it was well within the power of thp state officials to do this. However, the possession of the room was not disputed, although the state officials thought It necessary to keep a guard on watch of the state's property during dur-ing the night. "In this and other respects, everlasting ever-lasting credit is due the Republican state officials and the Republican representatives rep-resentatives for the dignified manner in which they have met the acute situation The wise counsel of cool heads has prevailed at all times, and these men have steered clear of drastic dras-tic action and have been content to stand stoutly upon their constitutional rights, and in defense of the honor and dignity of their high offices, ' In relating these proceedings, too much credit cannot be given to Messrs V. R. Wallace and Wesley K. Walton the distinguished Democratic and Progressive leaders They were on hand throughout the stormy session, ses-sion, sometimes on the rostrum and sometimes on the floor, whispering1 here and gesticulating there and at all times directing the show with a master mas-ter hand. They showed tremendous speed for the first time out, for at no time in the history of the state have any other political bosses dared on the floor of the house to assume to themselves the privileges and powers pow-ers exercised by those distinguished gentlemen that day Every time they cracked the whip somebody jumped through the hoop. "Then too, the Honorable Mr. Chris-tensen Chris-tensen of Salt Lake deserves special mention for his efforts. Whether on the floor or In the chair, he succeeded nicely in keeping himself prominently prominent-ly before the house. And when he arose 'to remark,' which was about twice every time the clock ticked, he performed a miracle an exhibition of creating a whirlwind of words in a vacuum of ideas. "It is to be deeply regretted that our old friend 'Dave' Morris from Dixie paraded in the role of bell sheep. Just how he came to be enticed en-ticed into making an a6s of himself is beyond the comprehension of his friends who have known him for the sterling qualities he possesses. Prior to his fall from grace, the veteran legislator iroui iue souwi nas ueeu so clean, so capable, and so honorable honor-able throughout his long years of service in the house that he claimed the good will and confidence of all men, regardless of political affiliations. affilia-tions. He has been a strong partisan, of course but never before has he been known to stoop to the use of j dishonorable tactics to gam a political poli-tical end. On the other hand, he has always been a stout defender of the ! traditions of the honorable body of ! which he has so long been a highly j esteemed member. And because of this his acts were as inexcusable as they were Inexplicable, for of all men present that day he should have I known better. "Seriously spealdng. and to conclude, con-clude, we quite agree with the prayer uttered the other day by a member of the rump house: 'Lord, make I something of us if you can;' for it I seems that onlv divine intervention lean save them from themselves" |