The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-12-04

appealed cases that have come before
him, not only sustained the city orOii-
! nances, but also shown . disposition to
aid IN their proper enforcement
In connection with the late decisions
IN the District Court in favor OF the cor
poration's right TO regulate its internal
police affairs and provide laws for the
suppression OF vice, wouldn't it be about
the right thing 10 do for the municipal
authorities 10 make an effort 10 vigor-
ously enforce the ordinances against
gambling, prostitution, Sunday liquor
selling, etc? We mean by this, 4 vigor-
Gus enforcement OF the laws, with
view to the suppression OF the vices, or
their confinement TO the narrOwest pos
sible limits under the strictest cover,
rather than in harmony with the idea
that the ordinances were intended as
money making institutions for the cor
Peration- II cannot be successfully de
MED that the manner in which these
/ ordinances have been applied has given
foccasion for the scandalous suggestion
that the chief aim OF the corporation
was 10 make money, the suppression of
the crimes being a secondary cOnsidera-
ton. The regularity with which the
prostitutes have been periodically
called upon TO appear in the
Police Court and pay fines into
the city treasury has al the
appearance OF licensing the business.
This ugly view OF the matter i further
encouraged by the circumstance that
when one house" Is arrested all are
similarly notified TO consider themselves
under arrest. II is hardly suppOsable
that the police find all the women of the
town guilty on the same day, and that
they are not guilty again until the next
quarter day. The same may be said
with reference to the gamblers and their
profession; the business is carried on
every day in the week, and while the
gambler is at the City Hall paying his
fine gaming IS going on as usual at his
rooms. Gambling Is as much an offense
against morality between the stated
periods Of filming the gamblers as at
those times. That there is Sunday
liquor selling needs no assertion
by Us; proof of the fact car be seen any
Sunday by simply standing on the
street and noticing the weaving" ways
OF the saloon frequenters. If a man is
fined for selling whisky on Sunday, and
the following Sunday sells again he is
just as guilty as on the first occasion, /
and should be punished for the second |
offense even more severely than for the /
first.
We realize the Encouragement I
through the opposition Of the District /
Courts encountered by the municipal /
authorities in the enforcement of these
ordinances. but We also realize that the /
course pursued by the city has not /
been such as to command the full re-
spect Of those who think the laws were
made TO punish evii-deers and check (
eYil-doing, rather than as means for in
creasing the revenue of the
corporation. THE HERALD has al
ways held that Salt Lake City cannot
afford to traffic in crime, nor can it
afford to put itself in the attitude of
seemingly licensing, through a system
of periodical filming, any of the practices
against which it proclaiRns and legis-
lates. 1t is not expected that prostitu-
ton, gambling or selling liquor on Sun
day can be suppressed; but it is believed
that all these offenses may be forced
into greater privacy and that this can be
done by arresting and fning or other
wise Furnishing, not every three months
or every six months, but every day if
proof of guilt can be so often obtained.
The District Court seems to be in har-
mony with the city in the matter of en-
forcing the ordinances, and now let the
city, by its earnest vigorous action, lift
itself from the scandal of profting
through its own ordinances for the
Of crime.