The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-12-04

THE "NQNPARTISAN" FRAUDS.

nOSS VINO nave tainted the ScnOo
system are now crying out to keep i
clean; thnt is, from their impure stand
point Their true meaning, of course
is that the school system must bc
kept in the condition of impurity which
their tainted methods have injected
into it.
OF coarse, the bogus nonpartisans
would like to disclaim the indecent
harangues in their convention in the
Third ward; and they dodge, evade, aud
squirm when they are cited to the
not much less Objectionable and illog
ical procedure in the nonpartisan
convention of the Fourth ward. which
insisted that its candidate must be not
a nonpartisan, but partisan.
OF course, the bogus nonpartisans
would like to claim credit for every.
thing that is good, and disclaim what
is bad, But stream cannot rise higher
than its source; and as the sources of
the nonpartisan movement are foully
tainted. and as 1T is certain that the
most vile, vicious, and reactionary SEN
timents in the most representative con-
rentions Of the bogus 'nonpartisans
were the ones that received the most
unstinted praise, it is quite impossible
to acquit the nonpartisan' general
movement Of the evil intent and dispo-
sition of its most earnest and we'll at
tended conventions. The party as r
whole must certainly be held for the
acts and sentiments of its conventions,
the moro especially when, as in the
Third ward, the nominee is not only
the best possible exponent of the worst
sentiments expressed at the convention
which nominated him. but he has in his
official service shown the most evil ten
denotes possible in the way Of weaken
ing the schools and making sectarian
interests his guide and sectarian CON
troll his aim.
It is impossible, therefore, to do any
thing elese than to hold the church
nonpartisans responsible for the re-
the ousting Of the "outside' teachers,
But those vile and vicious partisans
who are masauerading under the name
of "non-partisans wish to blind the
public TO their evil and bigoted methods
and plans. The game won t succeed,
for the people of this city easily detect
the imposition which the frauds seek to
work.
OF a like nature of fraud is the out
cry, first voiced in the Deseret News.
that the American design is to oust
all the Mormon teachers. But under
the much-vaunted non-partisan con-
troll, there are but few Mormon
teachers employed in the public schools
here now; the partisans Of the cam,
paign show that not more than one
tenth of the teachers Of our city
schools are Mormons. Could the Ameri-
cans do worse by the Mormon
teachers than that7 The showing by
the very ones who are working to bring
control of the ecclesiasts. is that Nor.
mon teachers are incompetent That
is the only possible conclusion from
the premises Of the opposition. And it
is the professed friends and advocates
of the Mormon teachers who make this
showing. For, il is to be remembered.
competency is the only rule in opera.
tion now, as loudly declared and in
sisted upon, as it certainly and genuine.
ly would be under American control.
,olr IL
of competence the only rule. They
would make no inquiry as TO the re.
liglon or polygamous sentiments of any
teacher, though the reactionaries and
their exponents ALWAYS make this in
quiry, and Mr.. Newman always
makes 1T point TO know these things
with respect to the teacher.
The Americans would in fact, as the
supporters only in pretense do.
make the schools non-partisan; they
would make the work in them free, un.
by any claim of duty to or
dependence upon any sectarian orga-
nization; they would make school
efficiency the real gauge of teachers
merit, and not subservience 10 rule
that has no business to be felt in the
schools at ALL
In short, the Americans would make
of the schools American schools, in the
broad, patriotic. glorious sense Of
free America, And this is the mark
toward which the schools must work
If thev are TO be of service 10
the public commensurate with their
great place in our public administra-
tive service, and the large cost 10
the public which their requirements
rightly exact.