The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-04
MR.. FARR PROTESTS.
70 the Editor Of The Herald:


To the Editor of The Herald:
An incident occurred at the council
meeting last evening which | would ike
10 call attention TO- At a recent meet
ing of the council the matter of provid-
ing the necessary records. legal forms
and blanks for the municipal court was
discussed and finally referred to the COM
mittee on laws. Three bids for the cleri-
cal work involved in the preparation of
these records. etc. were submitted to the
committee, the bids being made by
Messrs. Boreman, HOlIingsWOrth and my
self. BOreman's proposition was for $50,
HollingswOrth SlZ4, and my bid was Sll5
The committee, after elaboration,
recommended in their report the ac-
eeptance of my bid. it being the lowest,
WhereupOn that brilliant legal luminary,
Mr.. Howell, recently elected judge Of
the municipal court. appeared upon the
scene and was forthwith accorded the
privileges OF the floor. [ am informed
that he expressed himself as being hOr-
Tified at the thought Of the councils per
hitting his political opponent to prepare
the records, etc, of the municipal court
especially the one who had conducted
writer. He also volunteered the infOrma-
ton that the work thus prepared, If 1t
should be awarded to me, would not be
in legal form, and that he would be IN
der the necessity Of doing it over again.
This disparagement Of the writer's legal
ability is very distressing, coming as it
does from the innocent simplicity Of
"boyhoOd." The writer. however. takes
some consolation in the reflection that the
learned Judge observed that even he
himself might not possess the ability
commensurate with the magnitude of the
enterprise proposed This latter most
menachOly admission will be unanimous
" acqUie5ced in by the members of the
legal fraternity, into the sacred precincts
of whose brotherhood he has in some
mysterious and unaccountable manner
been admitted.
Suddenly in an uncomfortable outburst
of patriotism, and in a spirit of surpris-
ing magn8nimity, he offers to do this
work free of charge, except the actual
costs involved, the amount of which he
was unprepared TO state.
I desire to call the attention of the
council as the settlement of the matter
was deferred for one week. to the motives
that actuated the opposition of this I'M
finished product Of the laboratory of legal
science His motives were not that the
writer does not possess ability requisite
for the work proposed. as he said, not
that he had any real interest in saving
the city from expense, for had there been
any prospect of the job being awarded
to my competitors in the contest, he
would have remained silent, but the
motive was a selfish and personal one,
that IT would not only be distasteful but
humiliating for him to be compelled to
accept forms of procedure prepared BY
magnanimity and whole-sOuledness of
such an attitude He sa ysthat he viii pre-
pare the records at cost. What is there
to protect the people from the payment
of an extravagent amount under such
proposition It Is absolutely indefinite.
nv bid was for Sis. and the work can
not be reasonably performed under that
figure. The council should consider the
motives that actuated Mr.. Howells op-
position to his political opponent and
if they do I think they will decline to
crafty any such pr0pensities.
ELIJAH FAIR.
Ogden. Dec. T. 1901