Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-04-23
ABOLITION OF a0RaOs -
MORALITY.

ONE OF the leading local questions
Of the hour is, shall the Sabbath be
practically abolished and vice and
immortality be let. loose in Salt
Lake City? 49,
The chiefs OF the s.Liberal, party
and the Gentle City Council
have answered this interrogation in
the affirmative. Social pollutions
and irreligious doings have lately
been winkei at, now they are being
openly permitted by action of the
Council. We predicted in the first
place that such would be a result OF
the victory of the Liberals" by
processes OF fraud at the recent cleo
ton. We might venture to prog.
nOsticate in the same direction
without fear or danger of being mis-.
taken, that the present leanings to
immortality are but symptoms Of a
fostering disease which will yet
break out in putrid sores.
The final result viii be that the
corruptors win be execrated in
course of time. Comparisons Of the
past and the near future will be
made, and from a moral standpoint
they will be immeasurably favorable
TO the former regime which was
characterized by commemorate con-
servation for the moral health Of the
community. The Gentle, or anti
"Mormon'' administration bids fair
to become "a monster of such hide
Gus mein," that the good among
men familiar with the past history
Of Salt Lake will execrate it.
As was predicted in these columns,
the fight made by the resident
clergy Of the sectarian churches, in
favor Of the preservation Of the
Christian Sabbath, eliminated last
night In their defeat. This was
naturally TO be expected for two
leading reasons. The first was the
disposition Of the Council rs body.
The second, the puny character of
the representative OF the ministers
R g. McNieee.- In his speech
before the Council last night the lat
ter was made the butt for irony.
1t was bad taste and worse judg-
ment to select as a delegate on an
important subject one who was lately
sued for having exhumed-un-
known to her husband-the body OF
a deceased lady from its grave in
Mount Olivet cemetery, because the
widower had failed to pay a three-dol-
lar water tax on the burial lot. The
scatbing rebuke pronounced upon
Mr.. McNiece and his associates in
that transaction by Mr.. Varian and
Judge Powers is sta fresh in the
public mind, and seeing that it was
generally If not universally con-
coded to be richly deserved, the in
fiuence Of the second gentleman
named could not well be great on
any subject. No man to whom the re-
mark Of the Great Teacher-''strain
at a gnat aud swallow a camel,,-
properly applies, has much weight
with his fellows on any subject in
volving a high moral or religious
principle. II was almost pardon
able, although not by any means
courteous, under the scircum-
stances, for inuendoes to be thrown
out by those present ut last nights
session about taking up "oollec-
tons" il looks as If some Of them
had been reading the lecture d-liv--
cred by the Rev. Mr.. Foster on
care all clergymen frauds?" His
conclusion was an affirmative one.
on the ground 'that they do not
believe their own teachings" This
was too sweeping, but there is more
Of something else than there is Of
poetry IN his assertion so far as re-
lates to a great many Of the class on
which lac treated
Anyway, If the Rev. McNiece
had not appeared upon the scene
at all, it is likely that the victory Of
the advocates of the practical aboIi-
ton Of the Christian Sabbath would
not have been 50 pronounced as it
was. -r 81
One thing was evident last night.
as clearly as the position taken on
the movement that the clergy are |
held, in prominent ''Liberal, quar-
tens, in no small degree of con-
tempt. ta.L tr-
Hereafter Sunday band concerts, |
with a charge for admission, will be |
common, the application of the
''Liberal'' hand having been
granted. We believe that the action
1f the Council is in violation Of the
Territorial statute quoted in these
eolamns a short time since in treat
ing sn the subject now considered.
It is questionable, however, after
the treatment accorded Mr.. McNiece
last night, whether the Ministers
Association win have sufficient |
backbone and consistency to take
steps to test the matter in the
courts. EA
THEY WANT A STREET RAIL