Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-08-24
POLITICAL CORRUPTION.

:
The utterancos Of the Deseret News
an the evils OF the misuse OF money In
poltlcal campaigns have attracted
very general attention. They arc COM
mended by honorable and incorrupliole
4ltizens Of all political persuasions'
the debaslng effects Of bribery upon
avery community where 1t prevails, are
noted and the consequences that would
enme from It's Introduction here arc
easily foreseen. They loom up In pros
meet as the certain effects Of The insid-
ious and destructive cause. It should
be opposed by every available MEANS
ana exposed at every certain opportu-
nifty,
Reports that are In circulation con-
corning this crime against law and
morality may he greatly exaggerated
Such matters usually are. But that
there IL real foundation for them is ev-
ident, even though there may be much
difficulty IN reaching ana disclosing II.
The trouble with rumors Of that char
acter Is, the lnformants are reluctant
TO give names and places and prices,
and the purposes for which It is alleg-
ed votes are bought and sold, without
some specific and well-auhentlcated
cases It Is almost useless to try TO
get to the root Of the evil
Men VIII talk about instances OF
which they have heard, and the facts
Of which they are sure, but when re-
quested to furnish positive proofs they
fall down and give their case away,
because they either cannot or will not
name the parties involved, or If they
do mention them, the story Is denied,
or there is failure TO come to the front
and tell in public or before a tribunal
that which is whispered in secret,
Scandal ought to be vigorously avoid
ed or suppressed IL there are proofs
of bribery or attempts at such corrup-
tlon, they ought to be furnished when
charge IS made. SANDER Is contemp-
tlble, and to be as much despised as
the wrong that Is said to be done, and
Of which there are no proofs to be OF.
fered
AS we have stated before, there are
unavoidable expenses attending every
canvass and every election. They must
be met, and every citizen who Ia in
terested may lawfully and nghtoously
contribute thereto. The amount is for
him TO determine and may be meas
ured by his means, No rational person
VIII object 10 such use OF money for
political purposes II is the barter OF
votes or influence for lucre or some
other valuable consideration that is IN
view, when we denounce the corruption
OF our political system 10y the power
Of Mammon. It debauches the COM
munlty Il vtiates the llfe-blood Of the
body polite. II pollutas the very spring
and source Of moral vitality and habit
and dcgrades all who use on receive IT,
As to the prevalence Of the evil, we
can only mention that which Is report
ed from diner quarters, and that
merely I'm general terms for we would
hot do Injustice to any person or party
by mentioning names or alleged oc-
currenccs without sufficient data 10
Prove what we state. We can denounce
the wrong az It exists IN principle, and
warn as We do, every citizen Of Utah
against being daubed with the vile
pitch Of the infamy And we can and
do inYltc the uncontamlnated to aid IN
stamping out the crime by every means
available We copy the following from
The Provo ENQUIRER which after refer
Ing 20 the remarks Of the Deseret News
on the subject speaks out vigorously
in this way;
III has been reported that IN this city
and county money has been received
and has only aWaltcd takerR The En-
quirer hag reason to believe that the
money was really held by some par
ties for distribution II opportunity of-
fered aud service for It could be given.
q little Of II has, we believe. been put
into circulation Provo city is not.
however, fruitful field for the briher
and We have no apprehension that any
body here can be bought by any such
means nor do We believe that any
where In Utah county can the briher
successfully work his nofarlous
schemes
The utmost vigilance and caution
should be exercised by political par
ties this campaign, in selecting candi-
ties for the Legislature. Reports
have recently been In circulation that
g certain candidate Tor a high Office has
determined on spending fortune, II
necessary to - ure the prize Some
politicians whose honesty has never
been known 10 be Beyond suspicion.
have suddenly become active aspirauts
tor seats IN the Legislature. The zeal
win which they are working 10 effect
the object coupled with rumors thar
thcy are so and SOS man, though the
rumora are denied by the suspected
PARTIES, create some misgiylngs I'm hor-
est mems minds Anyway, there is