The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-10

Al
The disposition to suspect others OF
crime, on tl1e slightest provoca5io11 and
in the absence Of any direct evidence,
Iis pretty good indication Of a ten1en-
ey to crpoRedness on tine part Of the
over suspicious person. Sometimes
charges OF wrong-doing are made, in
directly IL not directly. without that
suspicion on the part OF the aecuser.
for the purpose Of creating suspicion
in the minds of others, and often to
|Dlacken The character Of innocent indi-
viduais.
These remarks are suggesteds by the
endeavors that have been made for
some time. by a local Republican sheet,
to damage the reputation of certain
public officers, simply because they are
Democrats. 1t began with he attack up
lon the Registrar of Salt Lake county,
which was totally without reason. 1t
was followed by libeslons accusations
II against the Utah Commission and the
Chief Justice. Then came irsinuafions
against the Judges of election, and the
Iprediction that. the election of Novem-
Der, 1894. would be stolen by the Demo-
Gratis.
There was not any foundation for
these assaults. There was not any Tea-
son to believe that fraud was actual
or intended. 1t was not shown. in all
the shameful abuse heaped upon those
public officers, that they had performed
lone Illegal act or that any voter had
| been deprived of a legal right. 1t was
defan1a ton of character, and that en-
tirely because the persons assailed were
Democrats.
The election, after all, was decided In
favor of the Republican party. If there
Had been any plot to steal it, nothing
of the kind was disclosed by a solitary
scrap of evidence. Bur doubts arose as
to the correctness of the count in sew
eral places where the returns showed
very close vote as to the respective
candidates In consequence of this
there was a demand for a full investi-
cation which could not be made with
out a recount. There was no opposi-
ton to this except from Republicans
SO far as the inquiry has pro seedei, the
errors discovered favor some Democrat
lie candidates. Mistakes were made
which affected both parties, favorably
and unfavorably, but the net results
will probably give a few Democrats the
victory. Fraud has not been shown
or alleged by parties to the investiga-
ton.
But now cMnes the same creator of
suspicion and yillifier of good men, with
the accusation that there has been not
only an attempt to steal enough dele
gates to give the Democrats control of
the constitutional convention but that
there has been actual theft" Who
did the stealing? Was IT the judges of
election who erroneeusly counted too
many votes for the Republican candi-
dates and not enough for the Demo-
Gratis? So it would appear from the
Daily Defamer. But by its own adn1is-
sion, two out of every three of Chose
Judges are Democrats. How does that
compare with its theory? Not at all,
and it seems to be in a sort of guam
Diary over the palpable contradiction of
its own dirty allegations.
If the result, SO far, had been an in
crease of Republican votes in the re-
count, it would have been all right, no
doubt. But while that increase has
been shown in a few instances, the gen
eral result, as we have said, is the 9th
er way. Hence the suspicious, followed
I'D by direct accusations of theft, con-
spiracy and other crime, to substanti-
ate which nothing is offered but the
natural effusions of a corrupt and crab
bed mind.
The result does not appear likely to
give the control of the convention to
the Democrats; it simply changes some
what the relative numbers of the party
delegates. If it was possible in the re-
count to steal three Democratic seats
out of seven, why not the whole San
pete delegation, and thus accomplish
the alleged purpose? What evidence is
there of anything being done in the re-
count except to rectify errors? Moth
ing has yet been offered in that direc-
ton and there is not solitary shred
of proof adduced to support or excuse
this new attack on public officers who
are simply performing an important
duty with evident desire to do justice
to all the candidates.
It is time that such vile and ground
less charges We're siienced. The ten
dency TO suspect where no cause exists,
and the eagerness to charge fraud
where no evidence is shown, stamp the
character of the author of such SIAN
ders and exhibit a nature that no one
will envy, but which every just and fair
mind will despise.