Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], August 20, 1904, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

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Vol. V. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, AUGUST 20, 1904. No. 15 'fi Wffl
C. C. GOODWIN. Editor.
J. T. GOODWIN, - - - - Manager.
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P. O. Boxes 10J4 and 4020. 'Phono 801.
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FOR THE STATE'S SAKE.
We have stated our preference for Governor
Wells rather than Mr. John Cutler for nominee
for Governor, because we have understood and
believe it to be true that Mr. Cutler never thought
" df beipg a candidate until he was named for the
' place by Apostle'Reed Smoot. We Jiave l)jjlcl
that Mr. Smoot has a right, in strong measure, to
be consulted afc to nominations by virtue q his
ofllce as one of Utah's United States Senators.
Admitting that he is entitled to all the authority
which that high ofllce carries, still any man of
Utah would be blind to for a moment imagine that
it is on his senatorial prestige and power that he
is dictating who shall, and who shall not, be can
didates. ' He was elected Senator, not because of
any striking qualifications which he possesses for
the place.
He is indebted solely to the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the honors that
wer thrust upon him; thousands of voters sup
ported the Legislative ticket which was pledged
to elect him, not because of his fitness for the
place, not for any reason except that he was an
Apostle, and they would have done the same had
he professed to be a Democratic, or Socialist, or
Prohibition candidate; it is the interest of that
same church which prompts him to name candi
dates and that ls a shameful perversion of free
institutions, a defiance of our form 1 f Government
and a covert but effeotive violation of that clause
df the Constitution of our country which forbids
any union of Church and State, to say nothing of
making the State, as Apostle Smoot intends, a
mere creature of a Church.
Necessarily, too, should Mr. Cutler be nomi
nated and elected, he would understand where his
first fealty would be supposed to be due and would
act accordingly. He would be vastly more the ser
vant of the Church than of the people; hence, as
between a candidate so involved and any capable
arid Independent man, we are for the other man.
Governor Wells has held his ofllce since the
admission of the State. In his public office" ho has
made no mistake that we can Tecall that has been
an injury to the State. In every emergency, in
the running down of robbers, and murderers, in
the raising of Utah's contingent for the Spanish
war; in the 'sustaining and vetoing of legislative
enactments he has done well. As" between him
and any man who will owe his nomination, if he
receives it, to the power behind Mr. Chi1" q
most certainly has our sympathy and $
idipjJDUafi vweare able to lend him. It is n& gj
sonal or in any ordinary sense a politico, yxfl
tion. The honor of the State and the a $
rights of the people are involved in the noi xt
tion. tggr
v
A PALPABLE FAKE.
Apostle Smoot, in Thursday's News, tells ln
public letter how good a man he is, how disinter
ested, how he hasaever used his apostolic influ--weltt'roy'i1!lown
any one or make one one
throwyjp. ttwas adroit in the ApostZo to wait
imgjrthe eyeor the primaries before he became
inmgnanXenough over the slanders hurled at him
""To b'ecofcieexcited and to rush into print. He de
clares that he is not a boss, that he has never
sought to dictate nominations.
He should put a muzzle on his friends. They
are proclaiming that he found and made Mr.
John Cutler a candidate for Governor; that he did
it, too, not as plain Reed Smoot on a rustie for his
friend, but as Apostle and Senator Smoot, to do
so both from God and through virtue of his exalted
office. When this is denied, and the question is
asked, "Who evar-thdught of John GuUartor the
Governorship until the Apostle found him?" the
defenders of the Apostle become dumb.
Go to, Mr. Smoot. You held the hope to Mr.
Canister's lips until you saw it was too much for
the people, then broke it to his heart and named
John Cutler. And not the least paltry of your acts
is the coming out on the evening of the primaries
in Mr. Cutler's interest and in a tone of simulated
sorrow explaining: "Thou can'st not say I did it."
THE VOTER'S DUTY.
Some most important offices are to be filled in
Utah in the coming election. A Governor, a Su
preme Judge, several District Judges all the ar
ray of State offices. This ought to make every
body, man or woman, a politician for the time
being. Still on every corner can be heard the ex
pression, "He's a Kearns' man," or "He's a Smoot
man," or "He is a church man." Are then the peo
ple all political orphans that they must have
guardians? The theory is that this is a govern
ment of and by and for the people. Is that state
ment a mere fiction in Utah? Have the political
herders been around and branded all the maver
icks? Must it either be for Kearns sake or
Smoot's sake, or Christ's sake that the people are
to vote? Can not Utah redeem itself this year
and demonstrate that its people think for them
selves? When the people assort themselves and
place men in ofllce they have a right to hold those
officers to a direct accountability for their acts,
but when those officers are the mere selection of
this or that boss what obligations are they under
to the people at large? When Mr. Kearns gives a
man a place as shift boss in the Silver 'King that
man never thinks of making any reports exoept
to the directors of the company. Indeed, if he
finds a spot that is not much mineralised, he
keeps very quiet about it to the outside world.
Suppose a Governor or Judge is selected in the
lame way, how much will he fori it his duty to
report and how much suppress r
1 ! ' H
But the mine is simply a matter of dollars s fH
and cents, while in politics such a selection of S9
State and county offlcors is a perversion of free j HH
institution, a slap in the face of the Government, ' flH
a direct debasement of the people. This every , 'fl
voter should realize and be on guard accordingly. J H
When our country's government becomes a j&H
Government of the" bosses, by the bosses and for ! Hb
he bosses, how much have we a right to boast 1 1 H
ver the despotisms of the old world? l fl
The way to fix the business is for every voter M
crowd the primaries and the conventions and j. M
insist that only such men as they select to 1 lk
serve them shall be given offices. One such an H
exhibition as that would be of infinite good to ', H
this state; it would give to it a reputation which PH
would be of worth to it for years to come, and lH
It would be years before the experiment would 1 H
again be tried to herd and brand the voters in l J H
any boss's corral. j H
But in this connection there is something else j j H
to guard against. j H
When man aspires to office it is a favorite ! k
practice for the friends of other men who are can- ! H
didates for. the same office to say: "Why he Is H
a Kearns man," or "He is a Smoot man," or "He ' M
is 1 church man," when there is no foundation for fl
the charge other than that ho has friends who are ! fl
likewise friends of the Senator's or who belong to j Hj
the church. This is a manifest injustice, because Ej
it places a man in a situation where he cannot j H
defend himself. I
. I?or Instance, Judge Zane and Mr. Straup J M
are on good terms with all classes of j J
people, but it would be a most cruel
thing to say that were either to be nominated I H
and elected any faction could influence any de- M
clsion of his either directly or unconsciously 1 p H
through any personal obligations that he might be ' . M
under to any friend, for the sense of the public '. ,
is that his oath of office and his sense of honor 1 M
as a man and a Judge would be all that could in- fl
fluence a decision of his. ' M
Or In the case of Governor Wells. He has M
friends in all ranks of life, but his record is that fl
where the interests of the State are at stake be M
has been governed by his sense of duty toward M
the state, and that no fealty or friendship has flfl
caused him to swerve from the straight line of pub- , ' M
He duty. His course In the Carbon county troubles JA
last winter was sharply oriticised by many of his I M
close friends, by many of the members of the la- M
bor unions, but he did not hesitate. I jfl
That he was right Is proved by the differences j M
between the conditions in Carbon county now and
those that prevail in three or four counties of Col- H
orado. WM
There is as muoh need of discrimination one B
way as the other. It is just as necessary to give jH
a man credit for what ho is as to avoid him when , H
for money or the promise of favors to be rendered lfl
him while posing as a free man at the same time M
wears the collar of a boss, or Is the slave of a H
superstitious fear. , H
And the voters should througn an there days ' fl
be qn. the alert to judge correctly for themselves j jf
who among the people, because of their abilities , M
and character, are best entitled to the people's jB
support. The final selections will be the supreme ! H
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