The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-05-27

Enforcement OF the Laws,

Chinese transportation.
-
Enforcement OF the Laws.
Our contemporaries in surrounding re-
gions need not be concerned about the
stories told OF the reinforcement of
the laws of Congress in Utah, nor be led
to believe that the executive and judicial
officers appointed by the government for
this territory are either inefficient or I'M
willing as to the performance OF their
duties. The complaints of local paper to
this effect are purely the growlings of
disappointment, and the rest malicious
attempts to block the way to that politi-
cal freedom which beckons the people
here to full emancipation.
The only thing that is tangible which
the obstructionist organ can point to as
a thread on which to hang many col
umns OF insinuation and unjust denun
citation, is the change OF policy
pursued in regard to certain class of
prosecutions. A little explanation will
put that in right light and all that is
gathered around it and inferred from it
will show up as thin sophistry and de-
ceptive haze.
When the people here who were amen
able to the EDAIUND's law pursued their
course of resistance to its requirements,
and prosecutions were common, the
United States Marshal and his deputies
reaped rich harvest in fees. To keep
up the revenue that all hands might get
good share, it became necessary when
cases began to fall off in numbers to do
something lively to keep the pot boiling.
A deputy was detailed to swear out
complaints against reputed polygamists
about whom there was any breath of
suspicion, as having visited or been
seen in the society of an alleged
plural wife. in many instances the
charge was groundless. In most cases the
deputy, selected for his lack OF scruples
to do this work, knew nothing of the
parties against whom he swore out the
complaints. An intimation from some
persons with grudge against a neighbor
was sufficient as a pointer. They were
issued by wholesale. On the rules OF evil
dence that were in vogue then, a man ac-
cused of this offence was virtually re-
CURED to prove his innocence rather than
the prosecution to prove his guilt.
Whether he was convicted or not the re-
suit was fees to the marshal and his depu-
ties and that was the great desideratum
The man who swore to the complaints
was not introduced as witness. The
defendant was not confronted by his ac-
cuser. The complainant was not required
to prove anything or testify anything.
All he had to do was to attach his
name to the sworn complaint, get
his pay and let the case go. The rest was
done by other parties. The scheme was
exposed many times. Every decent per-
son admitted the wrong OF it, and it was
only justified on the ground that the con-
ditions required special efforts, and that
the real informers would not appear nor
make themselves known.
When change OF conditions came and
change of marshals, there was change
of policy. Most of the cases of this char
acter having been disposed of, arrests be-
came scarcer, and the officers, while ready
to serve any warrants placed in their
hands, did not resort to the practice we
have explained. That is the situation to-
day. 1t might be to the pecuniary inter-
est OF the Marshal for awhile to go into
the disreputable business we have de-
scribed. 1t would not add to his reputa-
ton nor reflect any real credit on his Of
flee. People now have to swear to their
own complaints. Who will say that is
not right?
In this is the grievance of the paper
that hates to see peace and amity in Utah,
that rakes over the embers of burnt out
passions, that tries to fan the shoulder
ing ashes OF past troubles into fierce
fame, that assails public officials who are
ready to perform their duty but not to
exceed it, and that is filed with impotent
rage because the Marshals Office is no
longer run at its dictation.
Two Republican Marshals have re-
trained from engaging a professional
complaint-swearer A Democrats about
to succeed to the office. This stirring up
of ghost that is laid is intended to scare
him, if possible, into course that his
immediate predecessors repudiated. We
shall see whether his Office is to be an
annex to the paper which has lost control
of Federal and territorial officers, and
whose lash has lost its terrors. We are
inclined to the belief that its efforts will
be in vain. It is too late in the day to
regain its vanished dictation.
| If there was anything in the charge