7 !
I " TKLXJXH
HHf . n . . . .. ' ' I
I XELXJTH
1 ' Issued Weekly by
Truth Publishing Company,
32 Eagle Block,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
H! John W. Hughes, Editor and Mangr.
Hi Entered June 19, 1903, at Salt Lake
I City, Utah, as second-class matter,
HJi ( nder Act of Congress of Mar. 3, 1879
Hk, Terms of Subscription:
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HJ , to TRUTH may retain 25 per cent of
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HJi j tion should be notified by letter two
HJ' I weeks or more before term expires.
I Discontinuances.
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I wishes his paper stopped; all arrears
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HJ Address all communications to
TRUTH PUBLISHING COMPANY
H Salt Lake City, Utah.
H SOME CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS
HJ The "Nazarcne," nineteen hundred
HJ years ago laid down and the inspired
HJ writer recorded in line of human
HJ life and by his example and teachings
HJ led the few in the true ways thereof,
HJ giving up his own life that theirs
HJ might be saved and going hence to
HJ his Father's house, therein which
HJ arc many mansions, to prepare a
HJ' place for them and r. II who clioic by
HJ their own free will to accept without
HJ money and without price 'he fre
HJ gift of cntcrnal life. As the season
HJ approaches commemorating his mem-
HJ ory ard occurring most fitly at tl'.e
HJ closing period of the year it may be
HJ timely to point a thought with a view
HB to its helpfulness to our fellow pil-
HH grims. While all arc expected to be
HI joyful at this time and greet each
HI other most kindly, to the writer,
HH this time of rejoicing always appeal-
HB cd as one for sohrr 'nought, intii-
H reflection and much sadness that the
Hi great sacrifice had to be made by
Hj the Father and the Son, that his
HJ children nil might be finally brought
HJ' home again to ever after live in per-
M feet peace and delectation with no
Hf racial distinctions, no covctousness,
T5 no heart burnings, no rivalries, no
Hi, enmities, no ambitions other than to
HJ breathe the atmosohcrc wanned by
HJ t his smile, radiating and permeating
HJ through and being its every atom.
HJ The poets in the bible all tell us oi
HJ the beauty of his countcnr.ncc and
HB the suffering therein depicted caused
HJ, by his complete understanding of Uk
Hfi weakness of humanity and their ir-
Hj T responsibility for their own coming
Kl j into this world and yet the respond
V 'I bility that fell to H:cm naturally for
fli if each other after they once wore her-:.
H j While created in his image we of-
H ton, must needs, ask ourselves hov
H' 1 can our creator recognize us when
HJ we give thought to our real selves
I and our treatment of our neighbor'
who has like desires, like tastes
for the satisfaction of which he
, may be less capable than our-
hT ltM
selves either inherently or on ac
count of his environment and op
portunity and1 on whom falls a heav
ier burden than he can do more than
stagger under and to whom often-
times simply a kind word is a feast
and treasured above any token that
can be offered him.
That we are living too fast must
come home to all at times and yet
the fever of attainment consuming
as it does our vitalities spurs us to
increase the pace and in .so doing
overlook the many 'rival, or seeming
ly trivial, things that really are the
pearls without .price that enrich the
giver as much as him on whom they
arc bestowed.
None of God's creatures arc so
lowly, however abandoned, they may
appear but thn thc:c is some good
some "where in them and simply be
cause they live, if for no other rea
son, they have sonic rights that arc
entitled to regard whether they
know them or not, if vc know them
is it not incumbent on us to see that
they arc secured to them and not
tiken advantage of in their ignorance
or incompetency, but rather render
unto Caesar what is Caesar's never
offering to others what we would not
take ourselves and leflcct on the idea
as to whether the individual with
superior talent in any line is or should
reserve to himself because he can, the
benefits of that talent in excess of his
natural and rcnsombli- requirements
or whether he has not been so spe:
ially endowed that his less fortunate
brother should have no lack.
Docs it not occur to us that the
time will come when we must answer
"What of your brother" and what
can be our justification for our ne
glect of him? A life should be of
more value than all else and yet are
we not sacrificing life daily in the
acquirement ofothcr things that wt
do not need and cannot use except
we give them away? No loss can
come of kind acts rnd no watchman
is necessary to guard nor laws to
protect them. They enrich the one
who performs them as well as he in
whose behalf they arc performed and
costing nothing but the time, their
value is greater than precious stones.
We have naught but the past and the
Immediate present. Ilowjevcr well
we may design our plans their ac
complishment is in the hands of An
other and we know not the day nor
the hour when we shall be called and
as we come wc must go out of the
world with nothing but our record.
However well wc may have deceived
ourselves and our neighbor. The Om
nipotent knows it all and will pass
the judgment that is of more value
and import to us than all that is left
behind.
While the temporal pleasures of
the season arc somewhat marred by
the untoward happenings in our fin
ancial affairs the past few months
there occasion was brought about by
a famine in right thought, right life
and just dealing on the part of a few
rather than in brcadstuffs or any ot
the necessities to our physical well
being and we can hope that much
good will result eventually in the re
adjustment that takes place and are
reassured by every evidence that wc
can truly be thankful for the manifold
blessings of bounteous plenty and
the most excellent condition ,of our
government over whose affairs He
who rules over all has watched and
accord to hiin our. homage for thus
calling us to an accounting with our
selves as to our treatment and con
sideration for the weaker, less for
tunate and less competent and less
blessed and may our future show
our recognition of and our benefit
from the lesson. While wc have not
the exact writing at hand the sense
is ever with us, "As you did it unto
the least of these so ye did it unto
me."
TRIBUNE'S WATER -WORKS
SCHEME.
Just what kind of a scheme regard
ing the Salt Lake City water-works
and the revenues derived therefrom,
the Tribune is paving the way for, has
not yet appeared, but that -there is
a scheme which it is necessary to
break gently to the public and edu
cate the people up to, there is no rea
sonable doubt. Coyotte Scfrit has
been occupied on the job for several
weeks and for some days the Tribune
has published the stuff. The first ar
ticle told how valuable the city water
worgs are. The Tribune practically
said it had a buyer for them up its
sleeve, who would gladly pay $6,000,
000 for the system. Then the writer
went on to show that the income from
so valuable a water system should be
at least $300,000 per annum, whereas
the present gross revenue was only
$139,000, and when, working expenses
were paid, extensions and improve
ments paid the net gain from the op
eration of the system was only $5000
a year.
Succeeding articles displayed most
prominently in the paper were devot
ed to showing the very small amount
paid by large water users for the
water consumed by them for manu
facturing and other purposes, the
trend of the articles being that those
people should be made to pay much
larger sums than they now do and
that the citizens generally were get
ting their water supply much too
cheaply.
Just what all this portends has not
yet appeared, but it doubtless will in
due course. Can it be that Messrs.
Keith & Kea'rns want to acquirs own
ership of the city's water-works? Such
has been suggested. If they did the
citizens .would have to pay very
sweetly for their water. Some ten
years or so ago private individuals
made a very determined effort to. ac
quire the ownership of the water
works, but public indignation at the
time against it was so pronounced
that the city council was deterred
from making the deal.
Wc don't think that Mie Tribune's
present scheme is so sweeping as to
rob the city of its most valuable pos-
session, not that the Tribune woufd
be at all averse to doing so, but the
thing would be a lit.le too raw to per-
init of its being carried through. That
conjecture as to what the Tribune's f
scheme is may be lrom present ap. 4i I
pearanccs dismissed. But there i j
another and ' more plausible one
Owing to extravagance, waste ami i
grafting by the city administration I
and the Tribune gang for the past i
two years the city is bankrupt for 8
ready cash. The taxes due and pay- n
able last month have all been used to N
pay overdrafts and indebtednesses in
various forms and there is still a de- i
ficit without any chance for any con- 1
siderablc revenue for nearly a year, B
or until annual taxes arc paid again ' I
next November. In the meantime 1
how is the city to be run? How are
the necessary current expenses to be
paid and how are the grafting office
holders and the grafting Tribune to
continue their grafting operations?
There is no way unless funds can he
provided.
Wc strongly suspect that the Trib
une is paving the way for the adop
tion of a scheme whereby the reven
ues from the water-works may be in
creased and turned into the general
fund so that the grafters may con
tinue to graft and the reckless ex
penditure of money may continue. If
legally or otherwise, say $300,000 can
be . exacted from water users next
year and placed in th general fund, !t
would very considerably relieve tin
city administration from its present
and prospective financial embarrass
ments and would provide for the j
Tribune and the other grafters for a I
while. Something on that line is
without doubt the Tribune's scheme.
It couldn't, of course, be carried
out legally, buf that doesn't seem to
matter much if it can only be done.
It should, however, always be
borne in mind that the city owns the
water-works; that the law provides
that the revenues from water shall
be devoted exclusively to paying off
water bonds, and to defraying the
cost of maintaining and extending
the system.
And what is there wrong about the
citiens getting cheap water? The
city owns the water-works, and whv
shouldn't the citizens have water at
cost? What reason is there to ex
act from the citizens for the water
sums which would' leave a profit or
a surplus over and above cost? No
legitimate reason that anybody ever
heard of or can advance. ,
There is, however, sure as fate, a
nigger in the wood pile, so far as th"
Tribune's attitude goes. Their dis
like of Superintendent of Water
works Ilincs, "American" party man
though he be, docs not account for
the Tribune's position about the wai- ,
er-works. "
.Newspaper editor.-, who have been
kicking about the price of white pap
er must have shuttered when they
received ihe President's message with
its five pages