The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-03
WHO cHAMPIoNs vIcEa

Il
the advice of one Of its members. that
things ought to be allowed to run wide
open, and that no live town could af
| ford TO enforce morality by statute or
be strict with the lawless element" The
Herald had stood right in with the
commission. That is as absolutely false
as its charge that one member of the
city council had secured places for
dozen or more members of his family
in the waterworks department"
The Tribune then goes into a num-
bling about ex-Chief Pratt, and how his
only offense was that he would not shut
his eyes to Iawlessness. We recall very
distinctly that once when he refused to
shut his eyes to lawlessness and made
an arrest of a large number of lewd
women and their consorts, the Tribune
sent up a roar like that of the bull of
Bashan because of his action. On that
occasion it said, editorially:
The periodical raid upon houses of
ill-fame, which always attends the in
auguration of new city officers, was
carried out yesterday. The
remedy has often been tried before, but
somehow the business has not been
broken up. The effort has been made in
almost all countries at short intervals
ever since the patriarch of old was
caught mapping; it has been continuous
for three thousand five hundred years
that we know of, but the vice has not
been obliterated. In large cities near
seacoastS or mining regions, as means
of protection to respectable women, the
dens have, under proper restraints, been
licensed. Our new city officers may
succeed in effectually scattering the
pest; they will not eradicate it, and
this is so certain that the proposed
drastic remedies will simply delocalize
the evil, but in so doing it will be scat
tered from Camp Douglas to beyond the
Jordan. Hence the raid Of yesterday
was a failure; as many as may be
tried wilitbe failures, and no glory will
attend upon the spasms of official vir
tue
That was the position of the Trib-
une. position practically advocating
the licensing of these dens of infamy.
What was that of The Herald? 1t was
this:
The raid of the police upon the houses
of prostitution yesterday morning was
the first result growing out of the ex-
pressed determination of the new city
authorities to execute the city ordi-
nances The number of pros
titutes and their paramours ar
rested at this one dash by the
officers reveals a sad condition
of our city's morals, and proclaims
that it is high time that stern and
Unrelenting measures be adopted to
purge the city of this abomination.
Now that the work has started, let it
go steadily on; let there be no weak
ness nor partiality exhibited, nor
doubt as to its ultimate success. To
make a city absolutely pure in re-
spect of this sin is, of course, out of
the question, but that Salt Lake can
be made much better than it is, adj
mits of no question. II it becomes
known that the law in Salt Lake is
rigidly enforced against this evil,
many of those who have come here to
engage in this business will, like the
Arabs fold their tents and silently
steal away. and the evil will be that
much reduced. If men who resort to
such places are arrested as well as
the unfortunate women, and their |
names as relentlessly published to the !
world. and they made to suffer the /
penalty of the law. they are going to /
for fear of detection and the shame /
that follows it-and the evil is again I
reduced 1t is no answer to all this !
to say that the women will simply I
scatter throughout the residence por-
ton of the city, and the evil will be as
great as ever. People jealous of their
own responsibility and that of their
neighborhood may he trusted to keep +
the vicinity of their homes clear of
such establishments. Let the officers /
steadily continue to enforce the law
against this class of offenders, and
the moral atmosphere of the city will
be improved.
Which gave encouragement to the
police commission and the chief of po-
lice in their efforts to enforce the or
dinances and suppress the dens of in
fanny, the Tribune or The Herald? 1t
was The Herald that stood for law,
order and decency, while it was the
Tribune that favored letting vice go
The Tribune's article of yesterday
morning closed with these words:
1t is true that the place complained
of should be suppressed, and it is an
encouraging sign to see that a paper
that has done its utmost to build up
conditions under which such a villain
Gus dive could thrive, begins TO sicken
of the results of its scandalous, reck-
less and malign course. 1t is a hopeful
sign for the city, and invites to yet
further steps out of the cesspool of the
of indecent public adj
in the interests of vice
and crime.
A beautiful example that of the
devil rebuking sin. If there was ever
a paper in the world that championed
indecent public administration in the
interests of vice and crime, it is the
Salt Lake Tribune 1t is not so very
ong since it expressed, in its editorial
it's rejoicing whenever it saw
Dr. heard of a young man of Mormon
oarentage visiting the dens of vice.
If it has ever once raised up its voice
to demand the suppression of dens of
vice. gambling hells and dives, we fail
10 recall it. It's malicious and splenetic
1utbursts against the city council and
The Herald are solely because they
nave opposed the appointment of Mr..
Arthur Pratt as chief of police. When
Mr.. Pratt was chief of police he always
lad the support of The Herald in his
Efforts to enforce the ordinances and
suppress vice, the same as every other
.hief of police has had and will have.
The Tribune should take the beam
nut of its own eye before complaining
# notes in other peoples eyes.
CONCERNING REPUBLICAN BIZ t
METALLIsTs."