The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-10
(Copy.)

I
the nation. Yours truly.
FRED ]. KIEsEL.
(Copy)
Fred J. Kiesel. Esq, Ogden, Utah.
Ny Dear Sir:-Your letter is received
| l cordially agree with you that it Is
absolutely necessary that all partisan
differences should be laid aside
!, amongst silver men, and that a mar
who has stood squareiy by the cause
should not be replaced. except for the
most substantial reasons, carefully con-
sidered. Mr. Cannon has discharged
his duty in the senate with ability and
fidelity TO the cause. He has voted with
the Democrats on every important
! question, ] believe, since he has been in
the senate, and but for the fact that he
is nominally regarded as a silver Re-
publican, he might truly be called a
! Democrat. If the rule, BY their fruits
We shall know them is to determine
where a man in politics stands. it
would seem that Cannon and l belong
| in the same list. having always voted
together. Very truly yours,
JAMES K. JONES, Chairman.
The letter of Senator James K. Jones.
chairman of the National Democratic
committee, to Hon. Fred j. Kiesel. of
Ogden, is truly remarkable document,
remarkable because Chairman Jones
constitutes himself the special pleader
/ for the return to the senate of the
United States of Senator Frank j.
Cannon. All the grand talk about CO.
operation among the silver. forces in
Utah has for its real object it would
seem, the return of Senator Cannon to
the senate. Senator Jones, by writing
this letter in behalf of Senator Cannon,
makes the issue in this state, so far as
he has any control over it. the re-elec-
ton of Senator Cannon.
The national chairman urges in his
behalf that he is a Democrat in all but
name. If this be so, then why cling so
tenaciousIy to an empty name and let
go the solid substance? If there be
nothing in a name, then why set such
great store by it? Great stress is laid
on Senator Cannon's record. It has
been very fair one, no better than
would have been made by any good
silver man. Senator Jones says he
and Senator Cannon have always voted
together. Then he voted for Senator
Cannon's proposition to pay an export
bounty on agricultural products. There
was nothing Democratic about that
In Utah Chairman Jones would make
the candidate, and he espouses the
cause of a particular one, the issue.
Senator Cannon in his letter to Chair
man Lippman says that the candidate
is nothing, the cause everything. There
is no question as to who takes the
broader view.
Chairman Jones has practically I'M
dertaken to dictate to the Democrats
of Utah not only what they shall do in
the ensuing campaign. but whom they
shall return to the senate if they carry
the legislature, as he expects them to;
and the candidate whom he says they
shall take, for his letter amounts to
that, is not a member of the Demo-
cratic party, but has been one of its
most bitter enemies in this state. 1t
is a most unwarranted and unjusti-
fable interference in local matters by
the national chairman. The Demo-
cratic party in Utah has no liking for
dictation, and dictation to it from the
national chairman is quite as objection !
able and offensive as dictation from /
any other source. If successful, the /
result could only be disastrous to the /
Democratic party: 1t was the at
tempted dictation of national party
leaders in Idaho politics that accom-
plished the defeat of Senator Dubois.
Chairman Jones cannot be unmindful
of this fact.
His attempt to force Senator Cannon
down Democratic threats will not sue
coed. The Democrats in Utah have the
greatest desire to be in the fullest
harmony with Chairman Jones and the
national leaders, but they feel that
they are perfectly competent to take
care of the situation in this state. We
most sincerely regret that Senator
Jones has constituted himself the
champion of Senator Cannon's re-
election, for we are convinced that no
good to the Democrats can come
from it.
The letters of Hon. Fred ]. Kiesel
and Senator James K. Jones are self
explanatory, save in one particular, and
hat is, that Senator Jones has changed
his mind since last December. It is
known that on a certain occasion he
-eiterated the well known Democratic
doctrine of home rule when, in speak
ng Of the relation of the national COM
nittee and the chairman thereof to To-
al state politics, he said that if he
we're a member OF the Democratic state
legislature of Arkansas and the ma
ional committee or its chairman should
iend word to him directly that he vote
or certain man for senator, he would
esent it as an unwarranted interfer-
nee on the part of the national COM
nittee or its chairman.
Local state politics in Utah was I'M
/