The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-05
THE pEALING OF THE ORGANS.

Once more the evening and morning
church organs are pealing in harmony.
The sound no doubt is sweet to their
/ ears if not TO those of the public. They
agree exactly in disagreement with
The Herald. They see eye to eye and
blend voice with voice on the perfect
good law and good sense of the de-
cision of two out Of the four judges
of the Supreme court. Justices Mer-
rift and Bartch are applauded for their
ruling against the right Of women cit
liens to vote at the first state election,
and the remarkable grounds of their
decision are pronounced IAN especially
powerful argument" More than that;
the ipse dixit is promulgated that 1.-The
decision would be undoubtedly affirmed
by the court Of last resort could the
case be carried that far in time The
modesty of that final adjudication by
the two organs would be remarkable
after the pretension of humility which
their first notes assumed, if any in
consistency they exhibit would be re-
garded as uncommon.
The charge that the movement to
secure to the women of Utah what
! many of our foremost lawyers and
two of the Supreme judges declared to
be their legal rights, the Deseret News
repeats, and the Tribune echoes with
glee; that is that it originated in
trick" We are fully aware that the
evening organ claims to be non-par-
tfsan, fair and willing for other peo-
pie and papers to entertain their own
views, but we are also aware that it
attributes vile motives to those per-
sons and papers when their views hap
pen to run counter to it's position and
interests.
The movement in favor of all the
citizens. made voters in the proposed
state by the proposed constitution,
originated in the clause of the enab-
ling act which has been so many times
quoted. and the evident meaning of
which has never yet been turned aside
by legal word-twisting, judicial sophis-
try or newspaper denunciation. 1t is
this:
''The qualified voters of the proposed
state shall vote directly for or against
the adoption of the proposed consti-
tuition
Are we to understand that ''this was
a trick?" If there has been any trick
in the movement, who are the persons
guilty of attempting it? We are will
ing to compare the character, stand
ing, reputation and moral and mental
endowments of the gentlemen who
took the ground, which they still main
tain, on this side of the question, with
those of their editorial accusers. Where
is the trickery in taking the straight
forward common sense. grammatical
and logical meaning of the language
used in the enabling act? Is there not
more "trickery'' in attempting to wrest
1t from its obvious Specification and
construe it in a different sense?
If Congress had meant TO provide
shat the qualified voters of the terri
tory should vote on the ratification of
the constitution. would the enabling
act not have said so? Take out the
word proposed" and read IT thus:
The qualified voters of the state shall
Vote directly for or against the adop-
ton of the constitution" Would there
be any dubiety as to the meaning of
the provision? The state not being
yet admitted and the constitution not
yet adopted, the word proposed" is
inserted. It does not change the mean
ing that those whom the proposed con-
stitution makes voters in the proposed
state shall vote on the ratification.
Where is there any trick in contend
ing that whether those qualified voters
of the state are male or female they
are entitled to vote as provided in the
enabling act?
As to the question of voting for state
officers. that turns on the point
whether the next November election is
a state election. If it is q territorial
election The Edmunds-Tucker act APP
plies, as it relates to such elections and