The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-02-08
STILL EvAD1NG THE ISSUE.


The Herald has given place to sew
eral communications on the position
taken by the religious ministers who
published some resolutions concerning
the election cases which are still wait
ing judicial action. Today we print
another letter from one of the signers
of the resolutions. We have denied no
one a hearing on this matter The sub
ject is open to debate. Why religious
ministers who take hand in political
affairs should be exempt from criticism
we are not able to see. If they are
made of superior stuff to common
mortals, nobody with whom we are
acquainted has yet demonstrated the
difference
Indeed. so far as their resolutions
and the defence made of them afford
the public an opportunity to judge,
they do not give evidence of being up
to the ordinary standard of accuracy
or sound judgment. They make the
broad accusation that there has been
a plan devised Ito count out, in four
or five counties, the delegates who
were elected to the constitutional con-
vention, as shown by the returns of the
various election precincts, and to count
in those who were not elected" That
is a very serious charge for nineteen
religious ministers to make.
A contemporary flies to the rescue
with the assertion that They did not
do it as ministers but as men" Of
course that is false because it is in a
Tribune editorial The ministers them
selves announce that the resolutions
were adopted by 'a meeting of minis
ters;" they sign them as ministers. !"
MIR. Clay defends them as ministers.
In his former communication and in
that published today he does so. 1t
was in their clerical capacity that
they met and formulated and signed
the resolutions, for in no other would
their Examinations have had any spec
ial significance or force.
Another falsehood in relation to this
matter is that The Herald has init
mated that "clergymen cannot in any
way take any interest in their coun-
try" The Herald does not entertain
any such nonsensicaI view, but if we
were to dig up some of our contem-
porary's former dissertations on that
subject, it would be seen that the Tri-
bune once proclaimed that very doc
trine, but applied in another direction.
Here is what The Herald did say:
If the ministers who undertook to
stir this political mess had confined
themselves to condemning the wrong
that was Dalpable, and had abstained
from the proofless assertion that a
plan had been concocted to steal four
or five counties, and from combining
in an evidently partisan way to cast
odium upon their political opponents,
the great body of citizens of all parties
would probably have Joined in their
effort.
And this brings us to the controversy
with Mr.. Clay. 1t will be observed that
with all his endeavors to dodge the
point of objection held UP by all who
have expressed their dissent, the ami
mus against the majority of the Utah
Commission, which is poorly con-
cealed under the gauzy plea that they
are not named, is conveyed in the chal-
Ienge to The Herald to prove they
are not guilty"
1t will not do for Mr.. Clay to insin-
uate that it is the defenders of the
Commission who have directed sus-
picion towards them. That is as dis
;-oa,,,o,,= &c 4Ioc ax-as,;o,, 1,-I,;ot, cbar
acterized his former letter, 1t is the
popular understanding that the min
isters meant the Commission, to which
The Herald gave voice and which was
expressed in the letters published in
this paper.
The invitation to appoint a body of
from three to twelve persons to re-
ceive proof that the Utah Commission
are mot guilty" with the guaranty
that on such proof the ministers who
signed the resolutions will exonerate
that body, is at once a piece of clerical
impertinence and a virtual repetition
of the accusation against them.
We will reverse the proposition. Let
the ministers who make the charge
that there has been a plan concocted
to count out delegates elected from
four or five counties and count in men
who were not elected, select as many
gentlemen as they please and give
them the proof that the Utah Commits
sion, or other persons. are guilty OF
the charge, and we will do our best
to aid in bringing the culprits to pun
sihment.
The accusers should furnish the
proof. To ask the defence to prove
the accused not guilty, and offer no evil
dence as to their guilt, is to trife with
the whole matter and to show that
the accusers have no case. 1t further
proves that the pulpiteers are incapa-
bic of comprehending the simplest rule
of political and legal polemies.
The evasion of the issue is what The
Herald has complained of in Mr.. Clay's
attack. Even now he plays the same
trick. He and his friends. he says,
know one member of the Commission
whom they hold UP as probably an
honest man and officer. and yet he