The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-21
was bdt natural that each had a pre-

J vas blit 4ldluld tlicit CcA-i tie@1 u ~
ference.
Among the Mormon delegates B. H.
Roberts was the favorite for congress.
Nor was there anything so very strange
about that. He is their ideal orator; ne
was their most talented speaker in the
| constitutional convention; he was the
grand rushing river Of oratory the
Tribune had told them about; he was
the eagle at whose plumage ''the DAVIS
had pecked;" he is selfmade man;
poor man; one of the people
In him they see great possibilities by
turning his talents into broader chan
nels; they are anxious to have him
measure swords with men in congress
as he did in the constitutional conven-
ton; they hope to give him opportuni-
ties which have always been denied
/ him here; they are proud of the pro
gress he has already made in public
life in spite of "the DAVIS" and they
reason that, in a freer atmosphere,
''the eagle would soar still higher.
If Mormon delegates were entitled to
sit in that convention, they We're priVi
legged to vote for the man of their
choice. If the opposition to him was
scattering. if it was divided among
half dozen opponents, he was bound to
be the beneficiary; and it was not,
| therefore, due altogether to his support
that he was nominated. But men who
go into a convention expecting it to
abide by their choice if successful,
should net complain that another wins.
Nor Shn5t1d N n
other party, an organ whose
oft repeated motto is Anything to beat
the Democrats" waste too much breath
upon the right of man to run upon the
Democratic ticket who has been nom
mated in Democratic convention.
The Republican organ has endorsed.
as the Republican candidate for con-
gress, a man whose ability as thinker.
as an orator, as a writer. as man of
affairs, never brought him into public
notice. His only claim to distinction is
his ecclesiastical position in Summit
stake. If it hadn't been for that he
never would have been known outside
of Coalviile. And we say this with all
due respect for Mr.. Eldredge, too.
The Republican organ endorses him,
but turns to Roberts, whose abilities it
is bound TO acknowledge, whose talents
it has lauded in the past, and it criti-
cizes his candidacy because he is one of
seven presidents of the seventies.
The Republican organ denies that it
opposes Mr.. Roberts on the ground that
he is prominent in the church. Then
what does this mean?
a man has been nominated for con-
SresS in this state for the sole reason
that he has made a reputation as a
churchman, and as a reward for his
obedience to church mandates.
Wouldn't that apply to any man who
is prominent in the Mormon church?
Or would our contemporary make an
exception of Republicans in the same
position? 1t has been known to sup
port them. Is it possible for a man to
become prominent and influential in the |
church without making some such rep |
utation? Without some such ODE
dience? The same talents make man |
prominent in whatever sphere he works. |
And the Tribune has also said:
There are thousands of men who can
not demonstrate why the tides ebb and !
flow, but they know that they do. They |
can hear the plash of the water against |
the pier; they see the ships swing to |
and fro on their chains, and they know |
that the heart of the deep sea is throb- |
bling, though they cannot hear or count |
its pplse-beatS. They do not know that |
any better than they know that except |
for his church record, his church sta |
ton and the h0norS he has honestly |
won as a church orator; either of three |
or four other men in the convention |
would have ranked him for the posi- |
ton.
There may have been other men in |
that convention who ranked him." but !
the majority of the delegates were for /
him. There were men in the Republi- /
can convention beside whom Alma Ell |
dredge, as a public man, stood like Tom
Thumb beside the Chinese giant. But |
was nominated and the Re-
publican organ approved hin.
In each party in the politics of Utah |
there are two sensitive elements. Either
is prone to take offense. But, while
party lines are maintained, and they |
should be strictly maintained, the
rights of the majority are as sacred as
those of the minority, and scattered op-
position needn't hope to win.