The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-06
IN HOLBROOK'S COUNTY

Kinley. For years the columns of the
Enquirer teemed with silver editorials
With the appearance of Mark Hanna
and the Napoleon of Canton upon tile
political horizon, Graham's silver views
underwent a radical change. In No
J vemher, 1894 Holbrook attended the
| Trans Mississippi congress, held in st
Louis. AT that meeting William ],
/ Bryan, George @. Cannon and Frank
]. Cannon played important parts,
Bryan was chairman of the commit
tee on resolutions, and in the report
! presented by him was the following
I silver plank:
I'VE demand the immediate restorl-
\ ton of the free and unlimited coinage
/ of gold and silver at the present ratio
4 of 10 to l without waiting for the all
4 or consent of any other nation on
earth.''
olutions was adopted, and, In his great
joy, Holbrook telegraphed as follows
to the Enquirer:
St. Louis. Nov. rs. 1894.
Editor Enquirer, Provo:
Resolutions adopted by the congress
favoring the free and unlimited coin
age of silver at sixteen to one. Hur-
rah!
Graham ilurrahed with Holbrook, AMI
in most fervid manner endorsed the
conventions work. Among other things
the Enquirer editorial. in commenting
on the adoption of the resolution, said:
''The above joyous news came over
the wires after we had gone to press
Wednesday evening. That means that
all the great area of country west of
the Mississippi is for the remonetiZa-
ton of silver
TIME HAS WROUGHT A CHANGE.
Now those gentlemen are at logger
heads. Time has wrought a wondrous
political change, but in the case of
the Enquirer it has not caused much
surprise in Utah county. Its critics say
that IL is a weathervane in politics,
and / have been told that when polit-
ical division was brought about Gra-
ham took counsel of a gentleman
learned in politics as to which side
of the fence he should drop on. His
counselor is a Democrat, but he adj
vised him to become a Republican,
because says the counselor, !
thought the Democratic party would
be the gamer by it,
The Mckinley contingent is not to be
despised. 1t has a voting strength Of
over 1000. if estimates given me are
correct; it is in possession of the county
committee; it has the Enquirer at its
back; and Graham is certainly mas
ter hand at the game of politics. Hol-
brook has another element to contend
against; that is the laboring element.
The workingmen are ''forninst" him
because of the canard that he was IN
favor of reducing the wages of men
employed on the works of the Provo
Power company to 30 cents a day. Hol-
brook has denied the charge in the
Enquirer, and in the interview / had
with him. So far as I can learn there
is no truth in the charge, but the idea
has gotten into the heads of the toilers
that he is against them, and they
will air their grievances at the polls to
his detriment.
HoLBRooK AND THE CITY COUN-
GIL.
His contention with the city council
has also impaired the great popularity
be enjoyed during his first term as
mayor. He believed that he had the
right to appoint all the subordinate
offices in the municipal government.
The council was Democratic. The ma
jority members claimed that an agree
ment was made to divide the spoils.
Holbrook appointed ]. W. Whitecotton
as city attorney. The council refused
to confirm the appointment. A wran-
gle. wearying to the taxpayers, en-
sued. Whitecotton held tenaciously to
the office, until finally, but not until
after a protracted struggle between
the mayor and the council for suprell-
acy. a compromise was effected by the.
appointment of S. A. King, a brother
of the Democratic nominee for con-
gress, to the office.
GRANDsTAND PLAYS.
Mr.. HoIbrook is also adversely criti-
cised for the public spirit he displayed
in paying for the lighting of the city
out of his own pocket, when the city
treasury was barren of funds. HIS
work in extending the city mains to the
cemetery and his donning overalls and
working like a hired hand in the
trench, is also a subject by some for
adverse comment. His critics say that
both acts were grandstand plays,
made for the purpose of obtaining the
plaudits of his fellows and to insure
his reelection.
WHAT HIS FRIENDS SAY.
But such talk comes from disgruntled
ones or from outspoken political oppo-
nents 1t is at the hands of his friends
that he fares the worst. They, to a
man. say that he is clean, progressive,
level headed and a foremost citizen of
the town, and that he is worthy of all
the political honors that can be be-
slowed upon him in his own county,
but they do not believe that he is
strong enough to care for the needs of
a great and growing state like Utah
in the congress of the United States.
They cite his speech of acceptance at
the Ogden convention as a sample of
his oratorical ability, and say that in
a congress such as the next is to be,
where the greatest battle of the cen
tury is to be fought and won, that he
would be handicapped because of his
training, his inability to properly ex-
press his views in debate. and to
force himself into the position that
Utah's representative should occupy,
because of its prominence in the great
cause of which Bryan is the standard
bearer.