The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-01-28
THAT ALLEGED CONSPIRACY.


and the national party was inadver-
tently exposed by Judge C. w. Ben
nett, when jubilating with his party |
over the results of the last election !
He declared publicly that Utah Repub- |
licans had redeemed their pledges and |
looked for the other parties to perform |
their part.
The beginning Of the alleged Demo- |
cratic Conspiracy" has been repeatedly |
stated in cur Republican contemporary
to have been the veto by Governor
West of the bill to restore the control
of elections to the county courts. That
bill was formulated for nothing else but
campaign thunder 1t was the tinniest
kind Of stuff to make rumble with
1t has been ratified and shaken with
vigor to no purpose but make din.
StiIl the stage thunder is kept up and
Governor West is indirectly Indicated
as one of the ''conspirators' because
he did not sign the thing, which was
never expected or designed to become
a law.
1t was loosely framed with the osten-
sible purpose Of doing away with the
ninth section Of the Edmunds law
There is q special provision of the
Edmund. Tt cktr act lfch requires
any bill framed by the Utah leglsia-'
ture in reference to the Utah Commits
sion, to receive the direct sanction of
Congress before it becomes a law. As
the House Of Representatives had
passed the Enabling Act, which would,
by bestowing statehood, sweep away
all the congressional laws specially
framed for this territory, it would have
been the height of folly to throw
block in the way of statehood by the
passage of a Utah bill, which would
have rendered necessary such amend
ments to the Enabling Act as might
have findered its passage altogether
at that session of Congress.
Governor West set the matter clearly
before the legislature in his veto mes
sage, which we nere reproduce:
To the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives
Sir-I herewith return without APP
prevail the bill for an act to restore the
control of elections to the respective
county courts of Utah-(H. B. No. 81, by
Mr.. notwithstanding it an iIl-advised
attempt to revise and after congress
sional legislation. By the Edmunds
Act Congress disqualified a certain
class Of persons from voting. These
disqualifications can only be removed
by Congress, and this act can not take
effect unless approved by Congress.
In the Enabling Act for the admission
OF Utah, which has already passed the
House Of Representatives and is now
pending in the Senate with promise
Of early consideration, Congress recog-
nizes the changed conditions existing
in the territory and, in effect, removes
the disQualifications imposed by the
Edmunds Act. | do not think it wise,
after favorable action by one branch
of Congress upon this important sub
jeot, to submit the present bill and
thus afford an opportunity, if not an
invitation, for the reconsideration of
what has already been done toward
restoring the franchise to persons now
disqualified, besides causing delay and
perhaps imperl the Enabling Act 1t
could not hasten the desired consum-
| nation, and might retard statehood.
While it is desirable to place the con-
troll of elections in the hands of the
people, it is certainly more desirable
to remove from a large class of our
citizens the disqualifications that are
| now not only unnecessary but unjust
and we can not afford to jeopardize
our chances of getting the greater
boon in the hope Of obtaining the
| lesser, which will swiftly follow the
| Enabling Act. Besides, we are assured
! that the present system will be adj
minfstered during its future brief ex-
! istence by bona ffde citizens of our ter
| ritory. am, sir, very respectfully,
CALEB W. WEST, Governor,
Executive Office
Salt Lake City, March s, 1894.
So much for that part Of the ''con-
spiracy." Now for another: The same
authority(D which makes Governor
West a ''conspirator'' declares that the
! Enabling Act in providing for a double
| election in November, was another
stage in the conspiracy, and was
framed with that desfg by some Dem
ocrats in this territory who are I'M
named.
The truth is, that when the Enabling
Act was framed it was designed to
have a special election for delegates to
the convention to take place soon af-
ter the passage Of the bill, and secure
the admission Of the new state and the
seating Of its Senators and Representa-
tiYes at the second session Of the
Present Congress. The changes in the
times Of election, the holding of the
convention and the ratification of the
Constitution were made in the United
States Senate, and the party here and
the trainers Of the original bill had no.
thing to do with that.
The silence of Republican directors
TO statehood having been secured, it
was considered dangerous to the bill to
break it by Offering any further
amendments. The double election al
the same time with the double regis
tration ana double baHoting was rem
dered necessary by the Senate's action
on the bill and thus the second point
in the alleged conspiracy" peters out
into thin but very foul air.
The next charge is that the registra-
ton was planned as a constituent part
iof the conspiracy" But everybody
has to admit now that it is was con
lducted with the utmost fairness
Every accusation of the Republicans
HEADED by the libellous Tribune, has
fallen TO the ground fiat and limp and
lifeless. Even the attempt of that ut.
terly shameless sheet to smirch the
Supreme Court for expounding the
plain provisions Of law on the matter
was abortive.
Lastly, the majority of the Utat