The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-11-14
HOW IT WAS DONE:

HOW II WAS DUNE.
1.-THE gentiles elected two of twelve Nom
bers OF the council and six of twenty-fou
members of the house. AT this election thu
gentiles again carried Ogden and also car
ried Salt Lake city by forty one majority
These notable victories awakened the wild
est enthusiasm, and were hailed with de
light by the people of the country, ant
many expressed the opinion that the Nor
mon power was at an end in Utah.
Il regret to say they were in error"
The above is reprinted from Governor
THOMAS annual report to the secretary o.
the interior
THE HERALD is not given to taking de
light in the discontinue Of officials, but OF
this occasion it confesses to a sense o.
pleasure over the disappointment of hi:
excellency We are heartily glad that The
governor has found something to regret
and we hope that he will ever be compelled
to lament the satisfaction of his eXpecta
tons when he seeks more than wa:
achieved at the late elections. The cause
for our pleasure over Governor THOMAS
regret is found in the circumstance that
we appreciate the latter's good intention
and equally laudable desire to take from
the people-one of whom he is not which
every political right they are in posses
sion Of.
The governor is disingenuous if not
cunning He may prefer the former term
hence we employ it. He seeks the abso
Lutte overthrow of the People, as political
power, and doesn't much care how this is
brought about, provided he is not made te
suggest and officially advocate certain out
rageous methods, and provided also that
the governor shall be made to gain through
the loss suffered by the community. II
would bring no advantage to his eXcellency
were the twin OF the Idaho test oath imposed
upon Utah, and we are going to give the
governor credit for not asking Congress tt
infiict US with that infamy. In doing this
We will be permitted TO remark that the
accordance of this credit is largely inf1u
enced by the belief that THOMAS under.
stands human nature as illustrated in Con
gressmen so well that he knows it would
be vain to ask the awful imposition at the
hands of the national legislature.
But the governo: would attain the same
end, so far as the people are concerned, in
another way, and one which would make
him, rather than his party, the dictator
and tyrant. He is too loyal to the Liberal
organization to confess the truth-that is
to say, that he fears the Peoples vote,
and while cunningly making it APP
pear that the gentiles are in a
fair way to gain the mastery
through the agency of the ballot box, he
at the same time harps on the Mormon
power'' which he knows is myth IN the
offensive sense in which he portrays it, and
and would make that mythical power
which his imagination has created the
basis for asking that ''some federal agency''
be given the right to appoint all county
officers. AS matter of course, the
agency is to be the executive OF the
territory. Governor WEST was no more
greedy than Governor THOMAS, though he
was more courageous and less cunning.
The former bluntly asked for just what he
wanted, and he wanted just what Thomas
is striving for by chicanery and political
cunning.
But let US see how it was achieved-that
great victory by which the Liberals
secured eight seats in the next legislature
which awakened the widest enthusiasm, !"
and which is referred to in the governors
report with such apparent pleasure 1t
occurs to US that in the methods employed
for bringing about that questionable
triumph, there was nothing in which
fair and righteous official could tind
occasion for priding himself or his
party. The Liberal organization-act-
ing through federal Agency
most outrageously gerrymandered the
territory in the matter of legislative
districts, and made it absolutely necessary
that the party should elect certain mem
bers of the legislature, unless the voters
religiously refrained from going to the polls
It has always been understood that the
present governor was the author of the
manifestly unfair districting and appor-
tionment scheme, and he has never denied
that he designed the plan. We submit
that it Is not manly, to say the least, to
claim credit for victory over an opponent
who has been first tied hand and foot, and
placed in position where he cannot even
defend himself, much less make an ag-
gressive fight. Courageous men do not
plume themselves on victories gained under
such circumstances, and we cannot see
that there is any difference in the matter
of credit in such cases between an individ-
ual and a political party. That which
would be esteemed and designated as mean
and cowardly in one, would not be praise
worthy and brave in the other.
If appointments were fair and regis
trations and elections were honestly and
lawfully conducted, the governor would
have constant occasion to ''regret to say
they were in error'' who gave themselves
ND to "wildest enthusiasm" over notable
victories" for there would be no such vic
tories. Only by unfair and crooked meth
eds do THOMAS and his Liberal pals ever
hope for tr.umphs, hence the pleading of
the governor for the power to appoint all
the county officers without the formality
Of an election.