The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-10
MO SION

No FUSION.
The Smoot Republicans seem to be
displeased at The Herald's determine
ton to oppose their proposal for
fusion of Republicans and Democrats
in the approaching municipal campaign.
Senator Shoots newspaper even gets
peevish about it, and declares that ''the
sympathies and purpose of The Herald
are in line with the sympathies and
purposes of the Sheets party, formerly
the American party" Lest there be
others as dense-Or dishonest-who wish
to believe such twaddle, The Herald
will restate its position.
In the first place. the Smoot wing and
the American wing of the Republic
can party represent nothing but a fac
tional row in their own organization.
They have both done the state immeas-
urable harm at home and abroad; they
have both thrived on fractional and sec
tartan prejudice. on social and political
feuds. The real leaders of both camps
have encouraged and fostered bitter
ness and strife, that they might profit
personally and politically. They have
shown no consideration for the welfare
of the state or its people; they have
resorted to personal abuse, to defama-
ton of the state on one side. and defa-
nation of individuals on the other.
They have been a curse to Utah, Ish-
maelites of destruction. They have
l.. 10 al
ifications for office, whose tenure is
disgrace to the public service, and
whose character inspires neither conf
dence nor respect.
The city administration has been
satire on business methods, parody
on public service, a stencil in the nos
trils of decent men. The few good cit
liens who have identified themselves
with the city's management, have been
lost in the odium which attaches TO the
overwhelming majority of incom-
petents The Sheets regime in the po-
lice department has got beyond the
power of words to describe, it is so I'M
speakably disreputable.
on the other hand. the Smoot ma
chine has given the state three years of
disturbance. 1t furnished an, exhibition
in the legislature which has not been
paralleled in the history of the state
for arbitrary methods, baked leg
islation and machine domination of
every state institution, including the
educational system of the state and its
magnificent Agricultural. college. 1t
gave Utah Joseph for speaker of the
house. 1t furnished the spectacle of a
whole legislature taking orders from a
committee of federal officehOlders who
were not elected. who could not be
elected by fair vote. to any legislative
responsibility. This committee named
the committees in both houses, DOM
mated the speaker until he was a pup
pet manikin, killed the only important
legislation Salt Lake asked, mutilated
other important legislation and left its
wreckage in almost every bill that
passed.
Considering the fact that the disrup-
ton of the Republican party has left
ii powerless in city elections: regard
ing dispassionately the personnel of its
leadership, why should the Democracy
fuse either with the Smoot Republic
cans or the Americans"
Why shouldn't the Democracy nomi-
nate and elect a straight ticket of Dem
ocrats and restore the city government
to decency and economy once more?
What possible reason could any sane
man assign for the surrender of the
Democratic party to Smoot or Spry or
Callister, or all of them combined?
When the Republicans thought they
could carry Salt Lake with Lynch, they
had no thought of fusion; now that
they see no possible chance of winning
except by fusion. they talk glibly of a
combination with the Democrats and
plead public necessity as an excuse.
The game won't work. The Democ-
raey of Utah and of Salt Lake City is
not buying gold bricks for the profit
that may accrue to one wing of the
Republican party. 1t has gone along
consistently advocating what 1t thought
was right; it offered the best ticket in
the field at the last municipal election