Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-06-30
TYRANNY.
An Ogden Paper Pleading for il 10
be Established.

by EeduihS lhe OSlen papers !
learn that there exists in that town
a widespread fear that the carnival
viii advertise the rapacity OF
{ certain classes Of her denizens
more effectively than it will
her attractions 10 investors.
There began 10 be apparent, for ex-
simple, a move among the BARRIERS
looking to an advance in the price Of
their services, during carnivalweek.
The disastrous effects which would
follow the contamination Of such Z
conspiracy were easy 10 forecast.
Imagine 4 bloated millionaire from
an eastern city, who has come 20
Ogden on n cheap excursion ticket,
seating himself in a BARRIERS chair
under the expectation Of paying
fifteen cents FOR n shave; then i'm
agine the consequences when the
tOnsorialist gently breaks to him the
news that the price Of Z shave ia
Ogden Is twenty cents.
Instantly there will fade from the
milliUnaire's mind ali plans and
scheme Tor reslscitating Ogien's
guiescent iron works. No packing
house, with stock yard attachment,
in such 4 place As Ogden, Tor him.
What capitalist can afford to invest
his wealth in a city wheEe BARRIERS
charge twenty cents for Shave?
Evidently the prominent real
estate men" OF Ogien have rsa-
soned thus, and I'VE sought TO
preserve the repIi = OF the town
FOR cheap Shaves by afSelling to the
city council. We arr, hli6eratcIy
Informed that n c1muil.-,-.- %. that
law-makiug body tJ5'S in hand the
matter Of holding down the bar
bers' prices; and that committecarc
credited with surcess in securing
the assurance that timber would he
cut from the faces Of visitors 10 the
carnival at unbalanced prices.
In this connection an Ogden
paper urges that the city council
take measures TO prevent eStOrtion
''in the prices Of anything" II
says:
The police officers should be given
strict orders to arrest any person
caught charging any more than she
regular price for anything offered for
sale on the streets or IN any OF the
stores.n
This is not said jocularly. 1t i n
grave editorial utterance, and the
paper putting 1t forth claims TO be
JefTersOnian in politics, and 10 hold
that popular form Of government
Is preferable TO an autOcTacy. Il pre-
tends 10 believe that there are still
yestiges Of constitutional limitations
remaining in America which local
legislative bodies ought to observe.
Yet it urges that the Ogden city
council shall fix the maximum
prices at which food and merchan-
disc shall be sold, lodgings furnished,
and personal service rendered in
that city! The police are 10 be re-
quired 10 learn the Irregular price,
Of everything "Oiiered for sale on
the streets or in any Of the stores, -
and 70 arrest every person detected
ia bulling the market on any article
whatsoever. Can absurdily farther
60? Yes. Shocking rs the above
proposition is TO every sense Of law.
justice. or the physically possible. its
absurdity remains TO he canned by
the same writer who reasons:
The city grants all store keepers
and vendors Of every description
license. and for that reason there can
be no doubt Of the right Of the Coun-
Gil TO regulate and control. in A reason
able manner, all classes OF business
for which licenses are required
Because a city council grants a
license 10 a restaurant keeper. it may
prescribe the prices on his menu.
The circumstance that n municiuIl
government permits, for a small cash
consideration, the proprietor Of n
livery, feed and sale stable 10 DO
business, it may specify the price
for an hours Use Of a horse and
buggy, for n feed Of oats and hay.
and even name the figure at which
a horse shall be sold,
The doctrine that all just powers
OF government are derived from the
consent Of the governed. has been
replaced in the columns Of this Ogden
paper with the proposition that "all
powers OF government are based on
n license granted by the city.''
The attention Of the selectmen
Of Weber County. whose duty Il
Is to look after the INDECENT and in
sane, is respectfully directed 10 the
editorial stool Of the Jefersoniau
lately established in
Ogden. IL its occupant shall tie adj
judged harmless, and possessed Of
intelligence to pick oakum.
or follow some like employment, ar
might perhaps lie made
for him 10 earn his food in that way.
TO spare tine public the burden Of
his support. Careful inquiry, how
ever, may devel0pe the fact that his
proper sphere il some sequestered
ASYLUM for incurable imbeciies.
But all forms Of levity aside, the
fact that 4 newspaper in Ogden, for
the purpose of furthering the in
terests in which TIE carnival was
aivocates the exercise
by the city government Of such nn-
exampied tyranny rs would be the
by it Of the prices Of
labor, services and commodities, in
iicates an extraordinary condition
Of public sentiment, b the extent
that such expressions meet with no
on the part Of the
people.
Very Respectfully
CONSrITUTIONALrsr