Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-05-06
sURVEYOR-GENERA DEMENT,.

v u
When man strikes another who is down,
il either indicates bad heart in the striker,
or seems at least n partial confession that
there is fear that the PROSTATE man may
suddenly regain his feet and become danger
Gus. We are reminded of this by the way
certain of our contemporaries treat General
Dement-T'ribune.
Exactly. But in view OF the manner
in which our Republican neighbor itself
treated Mr.. Dement, only short time
back, the foregoing remarks appear to us
to be funny, funny, very funny Let us
turn to the record and see il that justifies
from such n source any censure OF "cer-
tain contemporaries for their treat
ment Of Mr.. Dement,. During Mr..
Dement'S sojourn in Washington about
ninety days ago, and just after that gen
teman had relieved himself OF those
wonderful revelations about bribery in
the United States Senate and fraud Of
every description in most OF the depart
ments OF the Federal Government in
Utah, our Republican neighbor pitched
into the man in great shape, and among
other things said:
There have doubtless been some frauds in
land entries in Utah; there may have been
| bribery of Senators in Washington; but it
is clear case that Dement, has been making
sorry ass of himself, and his work only
excites contempt and derision here, as it
evidently will in Washington.
1nasmuch as Dement, has not yet been con-
| firmed, this outburst of his has look as
though he meant to "whoop up the boys" of
! the Senate and hasten his confirmation. AS
| it is the General will doubtless be called
he knows about the use of money in
that body to defeat legislation, and
unless he can make good his charges, his
confirmation will be liable to hang. 1t really
big man for Just Territory. II is shame
to contine such genius as his to n petty Ter
ritorial office. He ought to have a higher
field. Other men have disgraced Utah.
Other men have given the Territory hard
name, but it was reserved for this man to
kindle feeling of utter contempt for the
morals and methods of every one here. OF
course, when he talks about a general
honeycombing of fraud here, il is not worth
while to call him liar; but it is impossible
to resist the impression that he is n
sorry fool.
Four days after the publication OF the
article from which the above is extracted,
the same paper which then metaphori-
cally walloped Dement, all over the jour
nalistic sidewalk, and which now poses
as his champion sin the interest OF fair
play" indulged in the following editorial
remarks;
The newspaper boys are to have their say
Tomorrow in Washington, and the position
lns M Tor, IN mt IN, 10
enough to excite pity for that officer. We
do not propose to promise to give any opin-
ion on the subject of our new Surveyor-Gen-
eral which we can not reverse. if necessary,
in fifteen minutes. At this writing we in
cline to the belief that the General ought to
resign his Office and returning here, try to
get position as associate editor with
Hemenway on the Ogden Herald. There is
a sti liking similarity between his defense of
himself and the defense which Hemenway
interposed when charged. with libel. The
two productions show strikingly how some
! times great minds turn into the same
groove.
The following supplementary remarks
appeared in the next Issue OF the same
journal:
We are afraid that General Dement, will
have trouble in securing his confirmation.
Matters seems to be complicating about him
at the National Capital. We had an impress
sion at first that he had fallen into the
| hands of certain journalistic Bohemians and
| that they had determined to make n sensa-
tion. The name of u man like Curtis, of the
Inter- Ocean, stops all that. He is one of
the owners of the hter-Ocedn-a great, big
man intellectually: gentleman of National
reputation (he was secretary of the Spanish
American Commission) and holds his news
paper as medium through which only facts
can be presented. When such men as he
| and the gentlemen with whom he associates
| in Washington make n statement of fact, il
| is final. 1t leaves General Dement, in what
might he called the middle of terribly bad
fix.
In the face OF all these structures on the
conduct OF Mr.. Dement,, made at time
when he was no better able to defenc
himself from such attacks than he is to-
day, how does it look for our Republican
neighbor to assume to lecture, censure oi
otherwise call to account certain OF its
contemporaries for their treatment OF Mr..
Dement,? Ii the gentleman has ever yet
extricated himself from the middle of the
"terribly bad fix" in which his owr
words and actions plunged him, we have
yet to hear OF it; and until he does dc
that, our opinion of him will remain un
changed notwithstanding all the hops on
Republican neighbor can execute.