The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-09
DEMOCRATS AND THEIR DUTY.

: DEMOCRATS AND THEIR DUTY.
!. A great deal of noise has been made
. in Ogden over the position taken by
5 the delegates from Weber county who
have stood by their pledges to the PEG
, pie instead of being swerved by fac
, ton And the echoes of the tumul
. have reached this city, to be made
much more of than they are entitled t.
as evidences of the sentiments of oul
: neighbors in the north.
IN referring to this, The Herald does
not intend to take up the suffrage dis
pute on its merits, but simply to pu
this matter of the obligations of Dem
ocratic delegates in its fair and proper
light. We have been looking over the
question of the pledges of the party or
this question. We have republisheo
the suffrage plank in the platform OF
the party, adopted at the territorial
convention on the 18th of last Septem-
Der.
Now let it be understood that in rati-
flying that platform, in the various
county conventions not a single objec-
ton was heard to the equal suffrage
plank, but that, on the contrary, in
many places ii was enthusiastically en-
dorsed and repeated in the county plat
forms. Among the latter was the plat
form adopted at the Weber county
Democratic convention October 3, 1894
in which occurred the following:
1.-THE Democrats of Weber County,
in convention assembled, express
their unqualified approval of the plat
form adopted by the territorial Demo-
cratic convention at Salt Lake City.
September 15, 1894"
|, I'VE commend in a special manner
1.-THE territorial Democratic platform
! for its bold and outspoken declaration
in favor of woman suffrage. We call
especial attention TO that portion of
said platform declaring woman's ELI
gibility to office"
Singular to say some of the men
who have gone off on a tangent and
helped to get up the small tempest.
which has been made so much of,
against the delegates for doing their
duty to their constituents, were mem-
bers of that county convention and
/ supported the county platform which
| has so much praise for the plank IN
the territorial platform which they
are now opposing. What sort of con-
sistency is there in that?
Now who. if any of the Democratic
! delegates from Weber county deserve
censure? The gentlemen who have
acted on the platform of their party,
territorial and local? Or those who
have joined a faction in hostility to
the pledged word of their party on
this question?
We do not wish ITO take any man
to task for acting on his sincere con-
victions. We would not If we could,
put a muzZle on free speech. We
would not condemn any man for vot-
ing according Ito his own honest opin-
ion of what is right. That is not
what we intend. We are defending
the men who, in the constitutional
convention, stood by the platform on
which they were elected and who for
that very act of honor have been as
sailed by some of their constituents,
the latter being among the enthusiast
tic endorsers of the same party
pledges. We forbear giving names
but could furnish them if necessary.
Now as to the obligation contained
in the Democratic platform. Was 1t
not that such guarantees should be
placed in the constitution of the state
as would secure to the women of Utah
equal political rights and privileges
with men? Never mind, just now, the
right or wrong of woman suffrage. Let
US keep to this issue.
A contemporary that is always
ridiculous when it undertakes to reason
on any question, attempts to make it
appear that the language 'guara ntees
to be provided in the constitution"
does not mean a provision in the con-
stitution, but is clearly to be inter-
preted as meaning subject to the vote
of the people and that vote can only
be given fairly with separate submis-
sion"
That is to say, a guaranty to secure
certain 'inestimable rights" to be pro-
vided in the constitution, means SUBJ
mission of a question, separate and
apart and outside of the constitution
to a popular vote, If that is not a
complete contradiction, then there is
no meaning to the term. But it is
Tribune logic through and through.
If every guaranty provided in the
constitution means separate submits
sion, what sort of a constitution would
we have left? 1t is evident to every
fair mind, no matter how the theory
of woman suffrage may strike ii, that
the only way a guaranty can be pro-
vided in the constitution is to put it
there as part of the constitution. Any
thing less would be an avoidance of
the pledge to secure it.
Whatever others may do, 1t be-
comes the duty of the Democrats Of
the convention to endeavor to provide
IN the constitution the guarantees de-
manded by their platform. If they go
back on the pledges made as to put
ting this provision in the constitution,
they might as well go back on the en-
tire promise to the people, and on the
whole suffrage plank on which they
went before the people and were cleo
ted to the position of the peoples
delegates.
THE INCOME TAX DECISION.
The report of the decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States in
reference to the income tax is a little