The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1895-02-21
CANNON'S REPLY.

we QlQ not publish Gn6 NEW OTK
Times now famous letter from Salt
Lake upon Hon. George Q. Cannon,
but confined our notice of it to few
comments upon some of its more sal
lent points, so there is no obligation
resting upon us to reproduce Mr.. Can
mons manly, clean and clear-cut re-
ply, which Wednesday mornings Salt
Lake papers contained. While it is
regretable circumstance, from the
standpoint OF, personal friendship for
him, that he passed oyer some of the
points made by the Times article too
hastily and with all too brief notice,
yet the tenor of the reply, in the main,
is 10 the point, manly, discreet. and
spirited to remarkable degree. That
part of the original article charging
nepotism and general care for his
own family must have been excessively
painful to him, yet he meets it in a
way which is creditable both to his
head and bis heart Surely, surely no
man occupying his position, with all
the good things at his disposal, could
have been more impartial or fairer in
any sense than this man has been. We
are very sure that personally, we could
not, neither do we believe there is in
all broad Utah ten other men who
would have refused TO provide for their
sons, especially knowing them to be
capable and worthy in every way, as
they were, and as Mr.. Cannon knew
them to be. In Jhis phase of the matter
he certainly did exhibit manliness OF
very high order.
In regard to the business matters
spoken of as well as the political situ
ations of the last campaign, the reply iE
not as clear and as explicit as it might
have been OK as it could have beer
made with advantage to Mr.. Canncn's
side OF the controversy. The spring
ing of that 10000, 900 business PROPOSE
tion at critical moment in the cam
paign, under the circumstances, the
hard times, the almost hopeless out
look in a business way, if it were moi
accidental, and if It were only cam.
paign measure, as many suppose, was g
shrewd, far-seeing and adroit thing
But this Mr.. Cannon emphaticaliy de
MES. We cannot doubt the sincerity o.
The reply, but at the same time we can.
not but regret the close resemblance il
bears to the truth. If MIR. Cannon
had had some one convincing fact Il
urge, establishing his utter lack Of con.
nection with that affair altogether il
would be infinitely better for him. i
he could only say that being one of the
first presidency he could not have en-.
tered into the scheme without Yiolat-
ing the canons of the church and sin.
ming against one of its most rigid re-
quirements-YiZ., the higher clergy
should abstain from politics and conse.
quently all business enterprises calcu.
lated to influence political action-hoW
impregnable his position would have
been. MIR. Cannon appears to be more
the victim of this lack of political inhi
bition in the policy of the church, than
a beneficiary, albeit it is no little thing
to have son in the congress of the
United States, and it is no little thing
to change democratic state into re.
publican commonwealth, just at the
moment when ones republican son is
elected to represent that state in con-
gress.
We give Mr.. Cannon the benefit of
every doubt and construe every cir.
cumstance possible in his favor, and
yet we come back to the regret which
we have so often expressed, that it is a
pity that the high clergy do not ignore
and stay out of politics altogether. 1t
would be so much better in every way.
and had this rule prevailed before, how
much trouble it would have saved Mr..
Cannon, the vital and leading per-
sonal influence in the church. MOI
withstanding all this we cannot with
hold our hearty concentrations from
the able paper which he has published.
1t is a document worthy of the best
brain in the land and it speaks for its
author the possession Of faculties of the
Very highest order. We said right
when we urged that his own pen was
the only one in Utah to call into re-
quisition in the answer. We cannot
withhold our admiration because of the
temperateness and good feeling of the
reply, no less than its simple and rugged
ability. If the reply had dealt with the
wonderful change of political sentiment
and its causes, in Utah, within the last
two or three years, the effect would
have been greater and better, but we
are not without the hope that Presi-
dent Cannon will, in the future, deal
at greater length and more candor on
this point.
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