Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-10


run ; carloads of line men and gangs of
laborers who never saw Salt Lake, were
piled with whiskey and registered.
Scores of the Peoples party voters were
struck off the lists in defiance of the
ruling of the Supreme Court of the
United States, and others of our voters
who lived here forty years, were chal.
lenced on the ground of non residence ::
others who were pas. 40, on the ground
of being under age. The registrars, four
of whom are candidates on the Liberal
ticket, ere declared to be supreme, and
we are told we have no redress. Inspec.
tor John Bonfield, of Chicago, came here
and exposed their frauds"
WHAT GOVERNOR THOMAS SAYS.
Governor Arthur L. Thomas, the most
nrominent leader of the Liberal party, a
resident of Utah for eleven years, and
probably the best posted man on Terrific.
rial politics, was interviewed as follows:
Governor, there are rumors that the
election tomorrow may precipitate riot
and that serious trouble will ensue.
What is your opinion ?"
81 am of the opinion that the election
will be peaceful one. Both parties are
working to this end"
"How will the result of the election
effect statehood2"
"The Gsntiles will probably carry the
city by 800 majority. This place is the
most important city in the Territory in
Mormon hands. This can have no imme-
diate effect on statehood. 1t will be
some time, probably years, before the
Gentiles will control the Territory, and
Utsh should not be admitted as State
until large majority of her people are in
sympathy with the Liberal party"
Continuing, the Governor said: ga
policeman is never seen two squares from
Main street; all this in city of $4,000
people. In a larger sense, the great
overshadowing question which dominates
in every election, municipal or general,
is the attitude of the majority of
the people toward the Government uu-
der which they live. The Gentiles de-
mand that when laws are passed they
should be obeyed, and that when courts
of last resort have decided laws to be
valid, there should no longer be contro-
versy respecting them. The law of 1862
making polygamy unlawful, was flag
rantly violated. The same law pro.
hibited any church corporation from
holding mere than $50, 600 worth OF prop
erty. This WAS defantly disregarded.
The Mormon church became mammoth
business concern in competition with lta
own people. At the time of the passage
of the Edmunds-Tucker act it owned the
Dsseret telegraph system of the Terri
tory, the majority of the stock in the
street railway and in the gas company
of Salt Lake; it also owned the Deseret
Evening Nea0S, the Salt Lake theater, the
Zion's operative Mercantile Institu-
ton Savings Bank, large blocks of stock
in the Deseret National and other banks
and large amount OF improved
and unimproved property. In ad-
dition to this John Taylor said in
1880 that the church owned $3.50. 900 of
the 81 100000 of capital stock of Zion's
Cooperative Mercantile Institution, be-
eides large herds of cattle and other
animals in different parts of the Terri
tory. 1t was this vast accumulation of
property, which was in violation of the
law, Which led to the act by Congress
escheating this surplus property for pub
lie schools. 1t is remarkable fact,
though, that no Gentle in Utah asked
fer the passage of the confscation act.
They deplored it, as they realized they
would be charged with trying to rob the
Mormons. The Zion's Cooperative Mer-
camille Institution, founded by the
church, is a greater menace to busi-
ness interests than any tlust which
exists in the East. The Edmunds
Tucker laws have been sullenly sub.
mitted to. The Gentiles believe that if
opportunity presented itself the old sys.
tenn, now partially repressed by the
Federal law, would be restored; that
many church doctrines and practices are
hostile and inimical to the Government,
and these being accepted and followed
by the people, necessarily places them in
hostile attitude to the Government.
Governor, have bean told by Nor
mons that Gentle SUCCESS means Nor.
mon spoliation.
"Such statement can only be made
for effect East. Il is fact that there is
not case on record in the courts of the
Territory where, so far as I know, q
Mormon has been despoiled of one dol
lar by Gentile."
THE GENTLE CHAIRMAN.
On the question of fraud G. w. Pow.
ers, chairman of the Liberal party, has
to say:
''It is the last resort of the defeated
party. The Liberals have kept strictly
within the law, and have run an honest
campaign, open and aboveboard. In
June, when the battle began, the Nor.
mons commenced colonizing the city and
continued the work until the close of
registration. They brought from Nor
montown 1880 men, mostly single,
whom they put to work upon sewers and
public canals. Thsas men are not enti.
tied to vote here. We traced them out
and followed them so closely that only
500 registered. Under our law it is the
duty of the registrars during the two
weeks preceding elections to hear objec-
tions to voters and strike those not
entitled to vote from the list.
We challenged these 500 colonizers.
and also those whom we had reason to
believe polygamists; no man was chal-
lenged without reasonable cause. Dur.
ing the registration John Bonfeld was
imported from Chicago, and brought
with him men whom We have shown to
be thieves, thugs, burglars, repeaters; !;
and the cry of fraud was raised,
Under the cover of this cry they
hoped to vote their repeaters and
work their film famers. The law
under which the registrars have
acted is Mormon law, adopted by
Legislature unanimously Mormon,
against the Gentiles' protest, and was
framed for the express purpose of pre-
venting Gentiles from obtaining footing
I.A