Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1905-04-07
Friday. April 7, 1905.
WHAT Ais UTAH?

WHAT AlLS OlAHf
A Salt Lake daily contemporary goes
to great deal of trouble each morn
ing to make it appear that the Mormon
Church, or its president, is blighting
the prospects and impeding the
material prorgess of Salt Lake City
in particular and the state in general.
The shafts are all aimed, according
to the writer, at Joseph Il. Smith,
but the man must indeed be dullard
that cannot preceive that it is the
system of the Mormon Church that
is being attacked. Joseph Il. Smith
has departed in no material degree
from the course pursued by his pre-
decessors in office. His positions as
director and president of various
business enterprises have for the most
part been acquired by virtue of his
high ecclesiastical office, and are a
result of the prestige and influence
that this Office is supposed to carry
with 1t. Many of the enterprises
which seek TO profit by the prestige
his office lends are financed by gen
tiles, and while we do not believe it
is good to mix religion and finance
TO any great extent, we believe the
fault is as much with the timid bust
ness minds that seek to profit by an
alliance with the head of the church,
as it is with the high officials who
accept these positions. But to any
situation it is quite apparent that it
is NOT Joseph II. Smith that ails Salt
Lake and Utah. We appreciate the
fact that Utah has ills; that it is not
making the progress that it should
do, and the, cause is not difficult to
discover, AS long as we have the
disturbing influences at work among
us that we now have as long as there
is perpetual fight and turmoil in
progress that disturbs the peace of
our citizens and disquiets capital; so
long as we are pulling in different
directions aud cannot unite on one
single, solitary proposition for the
betterment of conditions in Utah,
just so long will there be something
ailing this state.
We have an unfortunate situation
here in Utah. In control of two
or three of the large newspapers is a
man who is so selflsh-who is so
blinded to tho public interests of
the state on account of personal
animosities and political disappoint-
ments-that he prefers to ruin every
thing within his reach, rather than
to sec the honors denied him enjoyed
by another. In the furtherance of
his schemes of reckless ruin, he has
found plant tool in the person of
another disappointed office seeker, and
between the two they manage to keep
up perpetual furore that is any
thing but reassuring. They have a
following among the rabble and their
shouts and applause add to the
general din and disquietude.
The people of Utah have stood for
this kind of thing for long time.
They have borne patiently the abuse
and Misrepresentation heaped upon
them by this element, but there is an
end to endurance, and Utah is be-
ginning to get tired We do not
relish seeing surrounding states de-
veloped and assisted by capital that
is denied US. We are tired of the
perpetual iangle-we want peace.
Unless there is change, and the dis
quieting element ceases TO retard our
progress, the citizens are likely to
rise up in their majesty and put them
out. Utah has many good pro-
gressive citizens who will not always
tolerate the rule or ruin tactics of
the ex-senators and colleagues who
are Systematically employed in mis-
representing and tearing down Utah.
--------------