The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-02-24
THE LATE ELECTION.
The Growls of the Disgruntled
Organ.
The Protest of the Outgoing
Council Induced by the
Commissions Bungling.
Some Facts for Everybody.

i Considerable has been said Of lat,
by our, downtown contemp 7rary
concer ing the outgoing city offieial:
and several logy attempts to hear
ridicu'e upon them have bean made
because, upon their retirement, they
cav fit TO enter protest against the
Irregularities attending the recent
municipal election. 1t would bs
tunreaSorabla to expect justice from
he IrlttGne-a,i such comm 5dities
as justice and honor were cast into
its waste basket when IFS first ed
Itnr was composing his salutatory-
but perhaps il would be gratifying to
come To learn il there are facts suffi
Gent t. Justify the retiring mem bars
Ia entering the protest they did and
de- iring is made matter of record.
That the motive OF the gentlemen
| whose terms of Office had expirei
was simply to hold over and prevent
the mem bers-elect from taking their
seats las the Tribune grossly irti-
matss) lie too utterly absurd to be
considered seriously. Let Us ST g if
we can discover the real drift of
their Intentions. They claimed
that Irregularities had been perre :
trated by the Utah mmissioners
and the officers acting under their
direction. Can this assertion be
subatantiated? 1t is understood that
the COmmissioners..derive their au>
thOrity to control elections
- municipal elections included
= under section nine of
the Edmunds Law, and that section
ex pressly states that the Commits
sioners shall exercise their authority
and perform their duties under the
existing laws Of the United States
and of Utah Territory. Acting under
and by virtue of this provision, the
Com missioners adopted an order
June 18th, 1888, which was spec &c
ally designed to be guide il con-
due ing all municipal election in tn,
Territory. This order, after pros
viding for the appointment of judges
of election, etc, further declares
that the presiding judge Of each
municipal election shall procure
from the office of the clerk of the
county court, at the expense Of the
city, certified copy of the
last preceding regis tration list,
etc., and on the day designated
by the city charter, he shall proceed
to erase therefrOm the names of
all persons who have died or re-
moved from the precinct, or VINO
are disqualified, etc. Now, In view
of the TACT that few if any of the
charters of cities in the Territory
provide any such date as the one
alluded 10, for the obvious reason
thst the general registration law was
adopted after the majority of city
charters were conferred, 1T is fair to
presume that the Commissioners
would have said, if they had been
better informed, "on the day desig-
mated by the city ordinance, which
was passed in pursuance of
the general registration and
election act of the Cow
ernor and Legislative Assembly
OF theaTerritory In 1878" Upon this
assumption, in the case of Salt Lake
City, the date, as prescribed By city
ordinance, for the work of correct
ing registry lists so be com menced,
is the fourth Monday ia De :e mber,
preceding any municipal election,
and it was at this date that the
Registration officer appointed by
the Utah Commissioners should
have p oceeded to erase from the |
list the names Of all persons who
had died, removed, ETC., as pro-
vided in the order cited above. But |
did tue registration officer do this? |
No, he was not appointed till three
weeks after the fourth Mon
day in December; and it was
not until near the end of January
that he opened his Office to permit
In the event that 1t
was designed to conform to existing
laws, then here was plainly an ir-
Afterwards, however.
q week was allowed for the parpose
Of registering, changing and correct
ing, and 1T was considered that this
In a measure atoned for the former
neglect. Again, after the election,
certain candidates received csrtifi il
Gates from Secretary Thomas an
nouncing that they had been ell cted |
to q certain Office and and circular |
was enclosed giving alleged instruc-
tons "a to how to proceed to qualify. !
If these instructions had been |
obeyed it is difficult TO imagine a
more chaotic condition Of goveIn>
ment than would have existed here;
but fortunately the Officers elect took
the prseaution to make inquiries.
and tben better judgment al or &c
I'll relied them TO refrain frcm fall
ing into q maze of entsuglements,
which, if pc: sisted in, would have
them into aSpir-
ng candidates for the luna.
lie ASYLUM. Armed with the
3scretsry's certificate az priBlG
racie evidence of their election,
he Mayor and the City Council
nen.elect presented themselves at
he CITY Hall on TGesday evening
sss and asked 20 be sworn in. The
certificates were accepted ss suf-
icient authority and OF course the
,sth was administered. But if it /: