The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-17
THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE.

THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE
The session of the legislature JUS
closing will be notable, not for the
laws passed nor for the good accom-.
plIshed, but for the spectacle it ha.
offered of misrepresentation govern.
ment- This because the speaker of the
house and a self-constituted committee
of federal office-holders have dictated
absolutely the bills that should pas.
and those that should not
From the opening of the session
when the appointment of committees by
the speaker was assumed by Spry and
CaIlister and Hull, to the close of the
session, when the same combination de-
feated the Galveston bills, side tracked
college consolidation, commanded the
passage Of the fire and police commits
sion bills and named the appointees foI
the state boards. the governor of Utah
and both houses of the legislature have
been dummies. puppets. weak manikins
I'm the hands of men who hold no cleo
tive office, have no abiding interest in
the welfare of the people and serve nc
one but themselves in any capacity.
$50
Occasionally the people of some other
state break out in an uprising against
what they call BOSSES" the men who
silently but powerfully dictate nomina-
lions. pass upon legislation, name pub.
lie officials and absorb whatever emoIu.
ments they desire at the expense of the
people. Here in Utah, the legislature
willingly, cheerfufly bends its neck tC
the yoke of the men who hold no war.
rant of authority from the voters. who
neglect their federal duties to interfere
with the will of the people, whose only
prominence is self-assumed and obnox-
ious, who could not be elected to any
office they might seek. No boss else
where would dare TO let his hand be
shown so plainly as Spry and CaIlister
and Hull and Anderson show theirs; no
boss who did it elsewhere would be
tolerated longer than it would take to
kick him out of the legislative cloak
rooms. and ask for his removal from
federal position.
Imagine a free people submitting to
the program that has been carried
out this week A senator of the Utah
legislature takes his orders in writing
from this federal steering committee.
reads his orders to the senate from the
memorandum given him by the bosses.
and subservient majority unquestion-
ingiy votes according to his memoran-
DUN.
Imagine any .self-uespecting constit-
uency tolerating a speaker who refuses
to permit vote upon one of the most
important measures before the house;
who makes no reply to charges of con-
duct that ought TO have warranted ex-
pulsion from the house If they were
true; who arbitrarily refuses the COM
monest parliamentary rights to mem
be=s of the house, and gIories
in the shame he has cast upon
his office. Still worse, picture
the cowardice of the house that
tolerates such conduct, instead of eject
ing the man who gives the exhibition.
Both the senate and the house have
had courageous men who refused to be
driven like sheep by the federal syn
dictate of office brokers. The senate
particularly. has been conspicuous for
its defiance of outside interference.
though at last a majority was found
willing to take orders from Spry and
carry out his wishes whether the pee
pie approved or not.
In the house a minority has made a
good fight, and the Democratic menu
bers deserve special mention for their
conduct throughout the session. Al
though in a hopeless minority, the
Democrats have taken prominent part
n the discussions. they have been influ-
initial in the best results of the session,
ma they have been free from suspic-
on of trucking TO the sinister influ-
.nces that have played so prominent
ole in the disgrace of the lower house.
In purely routine matter both houses
rave neglected their work from day
o day until the close OF the session
ees the accumulated business placed
t the mercy of strangling committees.
whose duty 1t is 10 smother legislation
hat is needed, but which the members
re afraid to discuss. Days have been
wasted in futile discussion of the con-
olidation measures. in the finally sue
essful effort 10 kill the Galveston
Ills. in wrangles over petty affairs