The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-01-25
Republican Senatorial Caucus to
Consider the Matter.
TWO VIEWS OF THE CASE.
One That the Act viii Pass This Ses-
sion of Congress.
The Other That 1t VIII Go Over Owing
TO Lack of Time to Consider the
Subject in the Upper House
of Congress.

III Utah who IS familiar with the subject
knows, has been the stumbling block to
Utah's admission as state. But for the
pig Medicines of Senator Platt, of Con-
necticut, the chairman of the Senate Ter
ritories Committee, bill admitting Utah
as state might have passed the Senate
last year. Within the past ten days Mr.
Platt has given his friends in the Senate
to understand that he has finally seen the
error of his ways, and that he would no
longer endeavor to thwart the will of the
majority by opposing Utah's claims. AT
the caucus this afternoon Mr.. PlatJ was
run squarely to cover and had to show his
hand, and when ne did so he proved to be
Just as unrelenting in his opposition to
the territory as at any time in the past.
To Senators Dubois and Carey is prac-
tically due all the credit for the good
work. For weeks past they have urged
their associates in the Senate to grant
Utah S claim of statehood, and today they
reached the reward of their labors. 1t is
they who We're chiefly instrumental in
having the caucus called to consider the
territories question, and it was undoubt-
edly the deep feeling manifested by them
that induced so many of their conferees to
attend.
Senator Sherman tells me it was the
largest Republican caucus he has ever
known. Nearly every senator in the city
was in attendance and Notwithstanding
the early hour at which they went into
session, 1890 o'clock, there was at no
time less than quorum present The
fact that the caucus lasted nearly four
hours is the best indication of the interest
which those present felt on the subject
under discussion.
A number of speeches were made.
Those who bore she principal part in the
discussion were Senators Carey of Wyom-
ing and Dubois of Idaho, Plat of Con-
necticut, Hoar of Massachusetts,, Chand-
Ter OF New Hampshire, Henderson of
Nebraska and Frye of Maine. 1t was an
interesting caucus as one may imagine in
which such bright, clever men as Chand-
Ter, Frye, Henderson, Carey and Dubois
participated.
Senators Dubois and Carey opened the
ball with short but rafting speeches in
favor OF admitting all the territories.
These gentlemen have so repeatedly
argued the cause of the territories that it
is unnecessary to give their remarks in
detail. They both diIated on the inius-
tice of Withholding admission and ex-
planned at some length how much of
handicap territarial form of govern
ment is to the people who live under it.
They both spoke with particular refer
ence to Utah, and Mr.. Dubois especially
grew eloquent in discoursing on her
boundless resources and the intelligence
and number OF her inhabitants. He ex-
planned what all of mis- auditors knew,
that he had for years lived in territory,
and that he naturally had an honest SYM
pathy with any people who are similarly
situated.
When he and Mr.. Carey had finished,
Mr.. Platt of Connecticut SHE'D his castor
into the ring and attempted to break the
force of their argument by insisting that
the time had not yet arrived when any of
the territories should be admitted as a
state. He then made the usual stock ar
gument which he has repeatedly delivered
in the past against the admission, and
showed by his remarks, and also by
his utterances regarding Utah, that per-
sonal dislike and morbid fear of the
people of the Territory was at the bottom
of his objection.
Senator Platt's position on this subject
ought not to be misunderstood. He is a
shrewd politician in all that the term i'm
plies and ne has faculty of carrying
water on both shoulders. as the phrase
goes, that reaches the highest order of
perfection. When Utah is admitted as a
state, as she will be shortly, Mr.. Platt
will try to make IL appear that he was al
ways friendly to the proposition, and that
he himself would have contributed his
share to bring about admission at the
next session.
Don't you believe it. My word for it
he would have done nothing of the kind.
If he could have his way, he would keep
the people of Utah under a territorial
form of government for the next ten
years, and then he would only grant
them the favor when he felt that in COM
mon decency their claim could no longer
be ignored. He did everything he could
at today's caucus to neutralize the effect
produced upon his associates by the argu-
ments CT Dubois and Carey.
In this respect he was ably seconded by
the prince of political Pecksniffs, George
Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts,, the cham
pion in the last Congress of the infamous
force bill. For once, however, the two
New Englanders found themselves in
hopeless majority and after they had had
their say Messrs. Chandler, Frye and
Mauderson, who are three of the oratori-
cal giants of the Senate, took hand in
the discussion and urged admission so
logically and so eloquently that between
them they made such an impression upon
their fellow Senators as to make the re-
suit no longer in doubt.
Before the caucus adjourned it was
agreed that the bill admitting New Mex
leo which passed the House at the last
session and which is now one of the spec
ial orders on the Senate calender should
be amended so as to include Utah and
Oklahoma. The opposition to Arizona
was SO great that that territory will be
compelled to wait until the next Congress
before having her claims seriously con-
sidered. 1t was argued today that Ari-
iona has not a sufficient population to
Justify statehood and that sentiment
seemed to be the prevailing one.
There was no question, however, ex-
cept on the part OF Senators Hoar and