The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-25
THE TRIBUNE CALLED DOWN
HON. HEBER J.. GRANT GETS
AFTER IT VIGOROUSLY.
The Policy of Its Editorials Regard
ing Mr.. Roberts and MI. Grant
Very Clearly Demonstrated.
Salt Lake city. Sept. a,

| To the Editor of The Herald:
Having heard that the Tribune of
late has been devoting considerable of
its s0ace TO myself and the church to
which I have the honor to belong, 1
took the trouble 6or the first time) to
read its editorials from the 18th inst.
in full. to date 1t has been said that
by repeating a lie often enough the
person uttering it will learn to believe
it to be true, and this seems to be the
| case with the Tribune editorials.
To begin with, after the recent DEM
ocratic convention, it announced that
'Heber ]. Grant was busily engaged
| fitting srom seat to seat interviewing
delegates in behalf of Mr.. Roberts,
ana from then until the present time,
upon the basis of this falsehood, the
Tribune has been hammering away. L
went to the state Democratic conVen-
lion as a regularly elected delegate,
| took my seat. adjoining the Hon.
! James II. Moyle, never left 1t from
| the time L went into the convention
until every county had voted, ana
never interviewed one single solitary
! delegate during the convention or be-
| fore the convention in the interests of
/ the Hon. B. H. Roberts. However, l
! wish to say that if l had done what
the Tribune claims L did, as a citizen
and a taxpayer of this state L had
| perfect right to do it
| In the Tribune's issue of the Goth APP
! pears the following:
"Three-fourths of the people OF
Utah are Mormons. Three-fourths o.
| the Democratic party is composed OF
members of the Mormon church. In
| convention where they are entitled to
| sit they choose a man of their faith Tor
an important position. Naturally they
colo ie. ln1at all
meut. faction or party will aim to do
that. The objection is raised that he is
| prominent. Why should they select one
Who is not?-Herald.'
''All that is an unworthy evasion; no
one objects to anything in that con-
vention except that the people did not
nominate Mr. Roberts-it was the
church. 1t was not Heber j. Grant as
man who in that convention was urg-
ing Mr.. Roberts nomination, it was
Heber Grant as an apostle, and when
urging brother after brother to vote
for him. it was intended and was I'M
derStood that he was declaring the VIII
of the first presidency and the apos-
ties Of the church. That is the OBJ
lection. It was Asia. and not the
United States that was running the
convention.
The above is an insult to the. dele
gates in the Democratic convention
and the people of the state.
1T was not Heber Grant as a man
who in the convention was urging Mr.
Roberts nomination, it was Heber
Grant as an apostle, and when urging
brother after brother to vote for him.
it was intended and was understood
that he was declaring the will of the
first presidency and the apostles of the
church" As stated above, [ urged no
person to vote for Mr.. Roberts in the
l,
thority from the presidency of the
church, nor from any of the apostles
to urge any delegate in said convention
to vote for Mr.. Roberts. When the
editor of the Tribune says 'it was I'M
derstood that he was declaring the will
of the first presidency and the apostles
of the church, he makes a deliberate
misStatement.
In the editorial of the 22nd he says:
Young minds are plastic; they catch
and retain impressions readily; what
strikes them with great power they re-
tain, so that the impression is fixed
even to old age. This region we have
all thought for years past was pos
sibly under transition, we agreed that
a dead past would bury it's dead, and
all turned with a sense of relief to
brighter and more hopeful future"
Yes, Young minds are plastic and
retain impressions" and some of the
young men of Utah remember only too
we'll that the Tribune, which is now
trying to speak for the young men of
Utah and telling them what they should
do TO be honest and straightforward, is
the same paper which some years ago
recommended gambling hells, etc, as
reforming agencies for these same |
youths. Their plastic minds have not
yet forgotten these recommendations. !
When the editor of the Tribune said
that he agreed that the dead past |
would bury it's dead, we can only say |
that the recent editorials show very !
plainly that he has violated his agree
ment.
Because I favored Mr. Roberts for |
candidate / have committed a great |
crime, in the Tribunes opinion, but |
nothing is said about my favoring and /
also voting for Hon. Robert n. Bas-
kin, than whom in days gone by a !
more unrelenting and bitter opponent |
of the Mormon church could not be |
found, but he, true to his pledges. has /
in very deed buried the past and is
looking forward TO q brighter fu- |
ture;" and although his opponent for
to the high honor of JUS
tice on the supreme bench, was a CO.
of mine, and has been a
warm personal friend for many years,
inasmuch as | considered Mr. BaSkin |
OCblCA A0dAiliOQ lbi liit IOSillOiif
voted for him and offered to second his
if it was thought that my
doing so would do him any good. All
the rant of the Tribune about Mr.. Rob-
erts being untrue to his pledges and
to his people, amounts to so much
dry rot. when one stops to think that
the same man who is now attacking
him, only few years ago, was sound
ing his praises as loudly as he is now |
trying to cry him down.
In the issue of the 23d the Tribune
says:
In 1895 the high Mormon ecclesiastics
put out a demand that men holding
high offices in the church and drawing
salaries for their services should not
without approval become candidates
for political Offices. The Tribune said
that was right; that it was nothing
that any church would not insist upon,
and that such officers should obtain
that consent or resign their clerical
positions when they become candi-
1ates. Our position was invulnerable."
I agree with the Tribune that its po-
sition taken in 1895 was invulnerable,
out today it is contradicting itself by
-aking the exact opposite position.
When the Tribune speaks about go
ng back to conditions as they were
-en years ago, and refers to the COM
ng election and says: THE result will
De watched with Euch solicitude all