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Show ! THE DENOUEMENT. ! . General Dement has succeeded in cre- i ating a genuine sensation in official and private circles by his report and interview i with Commissioner Sparks. He is no longer looked upon as the wise man of the East that he was after his speech on Jackson's Day. We think General Dement De-ment will find that if there were no party lines in Utah, there certainly' are party lashes. We cannot but confess that we enjoy the consternation that General Dement De-ment has spread all around. It cannot be said that on this dark and rainy morning morn-ing all is peace on earth and good-will towards man in the official camp of Utah. But the Federal officials who are surprised at General Dement's "report must remember that there are no party . lines in Utah, and that all who would wish to create party divisions here must be looked upon as not grasping the situation. situ-ation. These things must be borne in mind to understand this report. Now to the gist of that report. According Ac-cording to the telegrams which have been received here concerning General Dement's report, he makes some very sweeping and severe charges, charges that, if true, will bring most serious consequences con-sequences to various officials of Utah. General Dement makes these charges, and it must be presumed that he bases them upon evidence in his possession. The question is , whether the evidence evid-ence he possesses will sustain the charges he makes. We are free to confess that General Dement makes far more sweeping charges than we have ever thought could be made about the officials in Utah with any foundation, but as we have always been accused of not grasping the situation situ-ation in Utah, of course we are not prepared pre-pared to express an opinion on the charges which General Dement makes. And then again, the patriot powers that be in Utah have ever lauded the reports which the various officials have made to their immediate superiors in Washington, and so long have we listened to these laudations that we have learned to look upon all reports made by Federal officials as being the productions of statesmen. If a Commission or a Governor can make a report to the Department of the Interior Inte-rior which is all that a Jefferson, a Hamilton Ham-ilton or a Madison could make, why may not a Surveyor-General produce a similar document? The Republican Tribune of this city says that . there would be "nothing in it all if there was a cool-headed, cool-headed, practical man at the head of the Land Department in Washington. But according to all accounts the Commissioner Commis-sioner in Washington is a fanatically honest, hon-est, educated,impractical fool, and worked upon by an impractical egotist who is determined de-termined to make a sensation, no matter at what or whose expense." That is almost al-most as serious as any charge General Dement makes, but the General does ; not charge any Republican with being "fanatically honest." Perhaps he has no . evidence to that effect. Now why should not Commissioner Sparks put as ! much credence in the report of the Sur veyor-General as the Secretary of the Interior In-terior puts in the : reports which he receives re-ceives from different officials in Utah ? Wo believe there is .just as much foundation for any charge that General Gen-eral Dement makes as the charge that Governor Murray is reported to have ; make in regard to bodies of armed men ; coming into this city the Sunday night succeeding the Collin-McMurrin shoot-i shoot-i ing affair. In either case the foundation ! for the charge may have been a definite ' hope and a vague perhaps. I Whether there is something or nothing in the charges General Dement is reported re-ported to have made, he has succeeded ' in getting himself into hot water, and his report may bring about a Congres-j Congres-j sional investigation into Federal affairs in Utah. It is likely that the Repub-I Repub-I lican Federal officials against whom - these charges are brought will ask such ; an investigation. If they are guilty they J ' should be punished for their guilt, but if j they are innocent they are entitled to a j complete. and public investigation. The i Federal officials of Utah have not ' been the greatest and best men that j j could have been found, nor have they j ' been entitled to the adulation which i many have given them, but they have ! not been the worst men that could have been found. They have been an average lot, and their prominence before the nation has been owing to the condition . of affairs in Utah and not to their supe-! supe-! rior worth.-" |