Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-01-21
ONLY A FEW QUESTIONS.

The Tribune this morning tries to make
Governor Murray's action in accepting
$1,000 from the Legislature appear all
right. 1t says that $1,000 was not COM
pensation to the Governor If that is SO
why did the Tribune of yesterday justify
this appropriation in these terms:
1t is notorious that no man can support a
family here and entertain as a Governor
should and as Governor Murray has, on the
salary paid by the Government. We can be.
lieve that Mormon Legislature can see
this fact and in measure remedy it, as ii
ought to, without expecting that it will serve
as bribe.
Why was any reference whatever made
to the salary paid the Governor
by the Government? Why was the
defense of Governor Murray in
yesterdays Tribune made to turn on the
inadequacy of his..salary? No attempt
was made by the Tribune in its issue of
yesterday to defend the Governor
on the ground that the $1,000
was for the Expenses of the Guberna-
torial office" Well, why did it not say
so at first, and stick to it? A change of
defense always weakens the defense. If
to make such appropriations sis the gen.
eral practice elsewhere, why on earth
did Governor Murray consult with Sem
ator Edmunds 1--WE take it that the Trib-
une refers to Edmunds) as to whether it
would infringe upon the law of Congress
forbidding the Governors and Secre-
taries of the Territories to accent
additional compensation? If such is
the custom elsewhere, and usual
thing in Utah it is a very strange thing
that, 1.-THE best Governor Utah ever had,
should seek legal advice as to whether or
not bill that he had approved was legal
or not, especially when he had been
Governor in the Territory for four wears.
Perhaps it was the first time that the
Legislature had followed the "custom, of
giving the Governor $1,000 for Expenses
OF the Gubernatorial Office" 1t is rather
odd that man who had been Governor
OF Utah Territory for four years should
be compelled to seek legal advice as to
whether the customs" of the Territory
infringed upon a law of Congress.
-Four. years is long time in
which to ponder such a question.
We think it pertinent to ask who the
Governors messenger for 1SS4-5 was. If
there was no such messenger, what right
had Governor Murray to draw pay for
him from the Territory? If the $4,000
were for the expenses of the Executive
office for the years 1ss4-5. why is it that
the vouchers do not show what those ex-
penses were? Maybe these questions are
as irrelevant to the matter as the law We
quoted last night. Why is it that the
Governor did not receive the same amount
for the expenses of the Executive office !
for the years 1928? There was some |
irregularlty somewhere, and to whom |
should it be credited, the Legislature in
1882 or the Governor in 1884?
Just a few words more on this matter.
We think the salary paid the Governor is
inadequate and that it should be doubled. |
but this should be done by Congress and |
not by the Legislature. We think the
$4,000 appropriated by the Legislature of
1884 for the expenses of the Executive |
office, was appropriated in the hope and /
with the expectation that Governor Muir
ray would approve various bills, and that
the appropriation was made in the form |
it was that it might not attract attention
nor appear as a bribe. We think that /
for this reason the Governor felt some
what dubious as to drawing the money,
and thate account of this feeling he asked
Senator Edmunds his opinion on the
matter; and we think Governor Murray
had no business to accept the money
under any pretext; and that the opin-
ion OF Senator Edmunds in the
case don't help Governor Murray i'm
the least; and that when the
Governor took the money appropriated
by the Legislature he laid himself open
to just censure and criticism, and that
his action in this matter alone makes
him an unfit man to be Governor of Utah
Territory. Il
The charges which the Tribune makes
against the DEMOCRAT, when summed up,
amount TO charging it with being Demo-
cratic As TO the charges against the
editor of this paper they are the same
charges as those usually made by the Trib-
,tne when allits resources Of argument are
gone. How does the Tribune know that