Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-10-25
ADDRESS TO CITIZENS.
GOOD GOVERNMENT VS. POLITICAL BOSSES


The Citizens Reform party's COM
mlttee has lsued the following address:
To All voters--In n few days you
will be called upon TO express at the
nolls your choice of city officers. In
ihis campaign there IL more at stake
Than the triumph of n faction of q po-
iltIcnl party or the personal gratifica-
,inn 81 candidates. 1t Is Il fight be-
tu,ten the friends of good government
and the political boss. In other words.
van are Ia decide whether the city gov
eminent shall be administered as
busiuegs in which every citizen Is
stakeholder or whether 1t shall be run
AZ political machine for the benefit
N one or another party; whether the
snoils system In Salt Lakes municipal
affairs shall live or die.
This Is the sole lsgue-the only is
sue Neither the silver question nor
Inc tariff question nor any other ma
tional issue is involved. The result
Of the election viii decide nothing in
any Of these questions whichever
wav the election goes. 1t win be In
sense silver victory, for nearly all
If Our people believe in silver and
the plurality given TO the successful
candidates Will be also a silver plural
ity But that is not material in the
nresent campaign. The overshadowing
nupstinn Is -partisanism or parti-
sanIsm; government by the people or
government by the political boss. ON
he ono hand stand the friends OF good
governuent: on the other, the self
seeking politicians md their subservl-
ert tools who want public office for
nrlvate gain. You must choose between
them.
the people is omnlpotent aud where the
principle Of majority rule is revered
E..ta ftn To. tta.s..
or rule by the few Is promptly con-
demned Knowing this, and with the
intent of using popular pride for their
own selfish ends, the friends OF politl-
cal rule have sought 10 create the i'm
preston that there Is something secret
in this Citizens Reform movement,
charging that 1t was a star chamber
or "dark-lautern" proceeding. Nothing
could be further from the truth. They
saw II the Non Partisans had called n |
convention, open to all the people, and
let them nominate ticket. It would |
have been more in accord with popular !
usage But suppose such a convention |
had been called. What would have been |
the result? The men in office, the men |
who want office and the political heelers |
Of ali parties would have attended that /
convention in q body and defeated any /
proposition looking to the placing of .
non. partisan ticket in the field. Know
ing IfllN ana ItdlElnB lilsll Sutn men ]
Invariably run their own party CON
vent0ns to suit then selfish ends. the be-
lievrs IN non-purtisauism took the only
safe course open TO them. They, as did |
the nom partisnns Of New York, formed
a committee Of leading. representative
citizens and that committee, after ma
ture deiberation and after canvass
ing every section of the city for avail
able candidates, selected and placed in
nomination the persons for whom
they now ask your SURFACES. Not one
Of the nominees sought the honor: in
most cases 1t was forced upon them,
M. Clark and others only accepting
at great personal sacrifice out OF
Patriotism and because they felt II to
be their duty toward their fellow
citizens.
Contrast this method with the meth
DDS Of the political conventions, where
seekers after place engaged in unseem-
~ scrambles for nominations, and
when the ticket was brought forth, not
out Of the cool deliberations Of body
Of men Intent on serving the best in
lerests OF the city, but as the result of
dsgraceful trades between selfish Of
hce,seekers, The difference in the
methods is plainly discernible in the
tickets, Compare them carefully. 1t
you do not conclude that the Citizens
Reform ticket IL the best we do not
ask you 20 vote for IT,
The question OF method. however, Is
not an issue, The political parties
ADOPTED one method. the Non-Parti-
sans another, The results are shown
m The respective tickets. You nrc nor
eeecung methods, Men and women are
nftore You for your SURFACES. II they
are good honest and Trustworthy. il
matters little how their names We're
paced before You, providing. of course,
was done by honorable means. Look
10Y to the methods, therefore, but to
lha character and competency of the +
nominees. Apply this test and we feel
S XII yon VIII give your support to the I
'ctiyens' reform ticket.
clrlAFNs' REFORM COMMITTEE. $
JOHN r, GAME. Chairman.
.1AMEs Il, WALKER, Secretary.