The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-05


In his letter to the Tribune George F.
Gibbs makes a number of uhtruthful
statements-so many in fact that it
! would be folly to notice any except
those he has numbered as his main
arguments. He says:
81 deny having written to a Demo-
crat. The gentleman was not a Demo-
crat at the time, as he had not declared
his politics This is true beyond ques-
ton, for his ecclesiastical leader, Presi-
dent Simpson M. Molen, had been and
was still urging him on to join the
Democratic party when my letter was
in his possession
Mr.. Gibbs is wrong and, as brother
in-law of Joseph F. Wright, he should
have known that Mr. Wright was
chairman Of a Democratic club in
Medicine Bow, Carbon county, Wyo-
ming, as far back as 1884. For veri-
fication of this statement we refer to
Mr.. Wright and to Judge Hanker, of
Rawlins, Wyoming. Mr.. Wright had
been Democrat for many years before
he received the Gibbs letter and was
we'll known to be one at that time.
Mr.. Gibbs says again:
ST did not write to John F. Wright
as a bishop; I wrote to him as my
brother-in-law, believing at the time
that he was Republican inclined
The letter is addressed to John F.
Wright as Bishop and speaks for it.
self Gibbs says further:
"All the private letters I have ever
written since 1 have been connected
with the Office of the first presidency
(now twenty-siX years. have likewise
''purported" to come from their office;
and the charge that l attempted to
speak from the standpoint of the first
presidency is utterly false. l spoke my
own sentiments from the standpoint of
a citizen interested in the political vel
fare of his state, and his own people
a thing 1 am perfectly capable of doing
as well as one interested in the cause
of his own party"
If Mr.. Gibbs spoke from his own
standpoint and not from that of the
First Presidency then why in his letter
does he say that he gives the Bishop
IAN idea of the situation as viewed by
those who have at heart the best in
terests of the people. whose POSITION
enables them to judge disinterestediy
and unselhshly in this important mat
ter?" Certainly Bishop" Wright
understood what he meant, and, being
a Democrat, was very much worried
over what followed in the letter; SO
much so in fact that he turned the let
ter over to his party leaders to be used
if necessary for the protection of his
party whenever the exigencies of the
case should demand it.
The division or party lines took place
in the spring Of 1891. The letter was
written June 81, 1891. John f. Wright
was nominated July Is, 1891, for the
legislature on the Democratic ticket,
and was elected Aug. following. 1t
was in July that the letter first came
to the knowledge of the Democratic
leaders of Cache county. 1t was the
cause of many Scandinavians in Hy-
rum joining the Republican party, ac-
cording to the statements of a man
named Winger, who told County Chair
man Turner that he and seventy-three
others had turned Republican because
of that letter.
In July, 1891, the chairman of the
Democratic county central committee
of Cache county issued proclamation
of warning. reciting these facts and
denouncing the efforts then being
made to aid the Republican party by
such undetermined methods. The
chairman had also learned of a sim
liar letter from George F. Gibbs to
h 70 IN, Do
surprised. therefore. when Paradise
changed from a Democratic strong
hold into a doubtful Republican pre-
cinct.
Mr. Gibbs calls attention to the
charge that he Suggested that the
people should be divided mo about
an equal number of Democrats and
Republicans. and that there should be
another large class not allied to either
party" And in answer to that he
says: This misrepresants me. / did
not convey any such idea
In his letter to Bishop" Wright we
find: at would be an unfortunate
thing for US. more unfortunate than
you, perhaps, can readily see now,
were our territory to hecone. solid,
either Democratic or Republican
What did Gibbs mean? In another
place he says: There will be a great
many soon ready to move either Il
the Democratic or Republican ranks
and the question is, what infius nee
should be used to guide all such So as
to bring about the best results 10 the
whole?'
The unsupported charges that Simp-
son NJ. Molen broke faith with Bishop"
Wright or urged him ID Join a Darty
to which he had belonged eor several
years viii not be very generally be-
Heved No more upright, honora BILE
man lives than Simpson M. NIolen. but
that class of men seldom find favor
with a man like George II Gibbs
The statement that Wright first
gave UP the letter to Moses Thatcher
is q lie of the whole cloth variety, as
a statement from George w. Thatcher
published in this connection will show.