The Republican journal., 1892-04-21
Salt Lake CITY.

IioHI, olIe PolllIcdI SITUATION is one OF alb
sorbing interest. We are making history
IN these years; and every man, woman
and child seems to be alive to this fact. 1t
is only two years since the city govern
ment passed from the hands of 1.-THE
Saints into those of "Gentiles'' and the
/ city has gained thereby increased popula-
ton, improved streets, long step for
ward in public school management and
added stimulus to the development of the
general resources of the Territory. 1t
seems, very naturally, all important in
the minds of Gentiles that the reins should
continue in their hands, and SO, doubtless.
it is; but alas for the complications that
arise. incredible though it may seem to
you, MI. Editor, it has been said that the
conduct of the liberal party has not been
! entirely above reproach, that its ways and
methods have not at all times been pure,
honest and upright keeping steadily in
view the highest good of the greatest
number and that, in joining hands with
it, one needs must touch some hands that
are not clean This gives the Saints an
advantage which they are not slow to use.
Except for the blot of polygamy, they are,
| as a people, above the average for straight
forward, reliable honesty and morality; and
yet we cannot help feeling that they must
not possess the city and the State, for the
great majority of them are narrow and
ignorant and trained like privates in an
army to act i'll unquestioning obedience to
the mandates of church officers. And so
it is that the conscientious and public
spirited citizen cannot feel unmixed Joy
in either ticket.-not altogether new
! elf Forum lta1I 'I111x
comes to politics, one needs to be great
deal wiser than the serpent before one can
be as harmless as the dove. And yet there
must be some higher and broader sense in
which the voice of the people is the voice
of God, for in spite OF murmurings and
rebellions and wanderings in the wilder
ness, we are bound for the land of Canaan;
the trend of the nation pathway is sure
ly onward and upward.
We are having an exceptional winter.
A friend said to me lately that she had
lived here six years, and every year had
been exceptional. The particular diosyn-
Grassy of this year is snow. Whereas | had
been promised that Indian summer should
continue till Christmas, snow began to fall
| the middle of December, and fresh sup
| plies coming down every few days kept
the hills and the broad valley all the time
clean and white and beautiful for ten
weeks. Indeed. one can hardly see why
| this succession of snow-storms should not
90 on indefinitely; for there is not motion
enough in the air to bring d cloud or to
carry one away. The windlessness of this
climate is Il constant delight. Possibly,
this, too, is one of the caprices of this
exceptional season; but during the four
months of my acquaintance the trees stand
i
painted against the sky. and the columns
of smoke 90 straight up into the air till
they topple to one side or the other by
their own weight. We have days of thaw;
but the nights are cold and 50 the snow
is preserved. The sleighing has been CON
tinuous for two months, and much enjoy
ed by the young people. say young peo-
| pie, not that 1 have closely observed the
occupants of the sleighs whose bells 90
| jingling up and down BRIGHAM street all
the evening and far into the night, but to
my mind the ability to enjoy sleighing by
moonlight is as reliable a test of youth as
| Dr. Holmes historic bun.
| The cause OF [ n:tarianism prospers and
moves forward; the interest in the Sunday
| services is steady and regular. the audi
ences varying little from week to week,
even during the season of stormy Sundays
and bad colds OF course, things are not
all rose-c olored. We have our difficulties
to surmount, our knotty problems to I'M
tangle, our anxious discussions of ways
and means.
Here as elsewhere it is a season of hard
times in the business world. and we could
| lind usCs for more money than we have ::
| but we are holding our own, and earning
our living, and feel that we have come to
stay. Our first annual report. published
/ III JANUARY. though we We're then not quite
a wear old, is one of which we do not feel
ashamed it shows d list of one hundred and
| eighty signatures to our constitution and
4 GOOD financial record Our Ladies' So
ciety. starting III September with thirteen
members, has now Il list of fifty. and has
Just voted itself into the National Ali
ance. 1t works tremendously and Jealous
ly and successfully and plays an import
ant part in the new organization. We have
reading classes on Monday and Wednes
day evenings. Browning and Emerson
classes. We call them. though the Emer-
son class proves to be OF a rowing DISPOSE
ton 1t makes excursions into SHAKESPEARE
dips into Faust" and shows a general
aversion to being fenced in. These read
ings, however, must not be classed as
chtuch work. They have each an attend
ance OF twenty to thirty members, among
whom we gladly welcome many not other
wise identified with us. They come with
a keen and genuine appetite, and the dis
cussions are free. social, and intelligent.
Such classes are novelty in this commu-
nifty, and evidently supply real want.
The recent discovery of natural gas in
the immediate neighborhood of Salt Lake
City is occasioning considerable excite
ment, and causing the faces of property
owners to beam with JOY. A few eve
nings ago we. in company with about a
thousand others, took half-hour trip
northward on the Union Pacific road to
witness the lighting of new well Two
brilliant pillars of fire were already burn
ing when we arrived: and presently the
gas of third we'll was set free, and shot
into the air with a roar which drowned
the voices of the multitude and every
other sound. 1t was then lighted by
means of Roman candles. and shout of
irrepressible excitement broke from the
crowd, as the tower of flame hundred
and twenty feet in height flashed sudden
ly into sight, lighting the landscape and
the upturned faces of the spectators. 1t
was sight to be remembered. If the sup
ply proves permanent, as there now seems
no reason to doubt. this gas will become a
very important factor in the development
of our natural sources of wealth. for the