The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-14
MR.. DALE AND TIE CHIEF OF
POLICE.

! In yesterday mornings Herald Mr..
Dale stated his position regarding the
anti-hold-over ordinance, which he in
troduced in the city council, in a clear.
concise, manly way.
What Mr.. Dale says about Mr.. Pratt
viii meet the approval of vast ma
jority of the citizens of Salt Lake City,
regardless of party or creed.
The Herald is squarely opposed to
Mr.. Pratt for chief of police, not for
personal reasons, for there is no one
connected with this paper who has
cause for being opposed to him be-
cause of personal dislike or antagonism,
as Mr.. Pratt is well aware.
In the last city election, the main
! issue before the people was, whether
a partisan or non-partisan policy
should prevail in the conduct of mu-
nicipal affairs, and while Tar. Clark Sc
cured a plurality of the votes and was
declared elected, his election does not
mean that the voters of Salt Lake City
favor bipartisan methods The Dem
ocratic party elected a majority Of the
officers, including majority of the
members of the city council, and as
every Democratic candidate was elect
ed on a platform which was unequi-
vocally opposed to non-p artisanism
they are in duty bound to oppose by
all reasonable and lawful means, the
elevation of men to official position who
may be termed offensive partisans. We
do not mean to say that the members
of the council should oppose the
mayors nominations on captious or
frivolous grounds, but if the mayor at
tempts to reward prominent non-par-
tisans by appointing them to Office the
council should interpose its objection
and refuse to confirm on the ground
that public sentiment. as expressed by
the voters at the polls. is opposed to
partisan control in municipal af-
fairs.
It does not necessarily follow that the
members of the council should insist
upon the mayor naming men for office
who are in political accord With a ma
jority of the council The Herald will
accord Mayor Clark every assistance
possible in order that he may conduct
the affairs of the city to the best adj
vantage except that it viii strive to
minimize as much as possible the ef-
feet of his election in a non-partisan
sense
Mr.. Pratt is presumed to be a Re
publican, yet The Herald is justified
in assuming that he abandoned his
party in the last municipal election in
the hope that it would further his per-
sonal ambition and enable him to re-
tain the office he now holds, or gain
a new lease of power. There can be
no charge of dishonesty or disreputable
methods laid against Mr.. Pratt if he
was actuated by the motives ascribed
to him, nor can he justly complain if
The Herald opposes him for political
reasons. Aside from the political rea-
sons above assigned, The Herald is op-
posed to Nir. Pratt as chief of police on
the grounds Of public policy. This fea-
ture has been ably referred to by Air.
Dale During the past two years Mr..
Pratt has been continually in hot water,
and whether he has been justly or IN
justly assailed matters little now that
his term is about to expire. Certain
it is that the vast majority of the peo-
pie desire a change. We Go not be-
lieve that Mr.. Pratt would come any
ways near being the choice of the peo
pie for chief OF police if the question
could be submitted so that fair and
unbiased expression could be obtained.
Mr. Pratt himself will scarcely con-
tend that he is the man whom the
people want. It would seem, then, that
now is the accepted time to end the
unseemly controversy by allowing Mr.
Pratt, the police and fire commission,
and the present city administration, all
OF whom, let Us say, have been equal
~ responsible for the disturbance. to
retire together.
Mr.. Dale has been subjected to fire.
Quent unwarranted personal attacks on
the part of the non-partisan organ, but
he should not worry because he has
been assailed in this manner, for he
has done nothing for which he need be
ashamed. He made the race for mayor
and was defeated, yet there is more
glory to his credit even in defeat than
his assaiIant can lay claim to because
: its candidate was elected. The Tribune
5 can not point with pride" to it's course
5 in the last municipal campaign. The
Herald has no word of condemnation
for Mr.. Clark, because it believes him
:, to be an honest. upright man, but the
; Tribune's support in the last cam
, paign added nothing to Mr. Clark s
standing in this community. Nor can
its attacks on Mr.. Dale do him any
harm because, as the non-partisan or
l gan, it is like the mule-without pride
y of ancestry or hope of posrerity.
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