The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-07
Republican Harmony.

Republican Harmony.
Merry Cain has broken loose in the
! Twenty-first ward.
/ The Hoffman club and the forces o.
! the sticker gang and other gangs, tc
use the language of Lieutenant Hoff'
man, are out for blood. The following
circular has been sent out by the HOff.
man political purity club:
TO the Voters of the Ward:
our primaries are the initiative of all
J political results; and as they shall be
onducted-honeStly or otherw;se-so VIII
! good or bad government be the outcome.
Powerful as the primary may be made
Tor our political welfare, it IS yet par
! tlcularly weak and defenseless against
/ the tricks and Wiles Of the plotters with
! IL the party; and while on the one hand
! j. IS capable of grea% good, it most often
/ IS made to serve only as tool for UNI
/ ScrupuloUS hands.
Much has been written and said on this
subject, and II cannot be repeated too Of
| ten If the better element OF a commune
! ty will not take the trouble to see to it
! that the primaries are held strictly on
the plane Of pure politics, then the schem-
er viii continue 10 capture the primaries
of the future as he has SO often done
With those Of the past.
Right here in Salt Lake City we have
several past masters in this art and the
sickness with which they get in their
work is another evidence that Utah is not
slow in anything.
The easy-going carelessness of the peo-
pie up to the present tine has been an
aid 10 these men. The vote of each ward
! has been allowed to take care of itself
and has ever been at the mercy of any
cllaue or combination that might see fit
TO take advantage of 1t.
For example, K has been possible for
say, ten voters to form combination to
elect. They go into the primary and put
IN nomination every single voter at the
meeting. By this ruse they scatter the
vote, and their own ten votes beng solid
Tor their man, they easily elect him, while
at the same time he may be excessively
dlStasteful TO every otner voter in the
ward.
Or even a single individual could, with
deep design induce number of honor
2bly-:ntended voters to Join him in form,
ing a cambine against which all the other
voters would be helpless, because dis
united.
The citizen who is not looking for Of
flee and who goes to the primaries and
10 the polls for the good OF his party
only, naturally becomes dissatisfied with
the way our elections are managed; and
thus we hear on all sides the expression;
Il am disguised with politics." and every
body seconds the motion. We nave how
ever, only ourselves TO blame for this
state of affairs. We can remedy it-and
# we viii not take 50 much trouble we
fully deserve the result.
1t clearly needs TO be somebody's bus:-
ness to take c0gn:Zance of this matter
and to provide the action necessary to
protect the integrity of our primaries 1t
needs organization to do this. We must
meet and condemn small impure cOmbin-
atoms by the organized power of the en-
tire ward. a scattering vote has ne pow
er for good and he who casts it is only
wasting his franchise and his time 1t IS
through organization alone-organiza
Of all the better element-that we may
hope for a remedy.
Late examples of the political methods
employed IN our ward have finally
aroused the public attention.: and the
formation of this club has been the re-
suit.
Our main object is to put an end to
such methods
All who are in accord with us are in
Vited to JOIN, and thus We truly hope to
represent the people But our labOrS viii
only be N the interest of the entire Re-
gard to whether any individual, person
member of our club. We are organized
strictly in the interest of pure politics.
In our late primary election the vote of
our ward was captured by a small self
constituted combination, and in a manner
TO render pOWerleSS, and of no possible
effect. the franchise of a large majority
of our people.
To make another such occurrence i'm
possible we propose in the future to meet
all sucn endeavors by putting forward a
club ticket, which. since we invite every
body to JOIN US, we intend shall represent
large majority of our voters, and by
means of which We expect to give full
and equal effect to each and every vote
in our ward.
In furtherance of our object we call at