The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-21
PAVING THE WAY
FOR CHAMBERS
Friends Preparing to FolSt
0uSted Councilman on =
the City Once More.


With the city elections more than seven
months away, lines are being laid look
ing toward the selection of Republican
councilmen and incidentally to give at
least one of those ousted from office dur
ing the past year upon accusations pre-
ferred by Attorney j. d. Skeen, an OPP
pOrtunity to Vindicate himself. Inc man
in question is Fred w. Chambers, VINO
during the Glaslnann administrations was
known as Glasmann'S Good Man FRIDAY
The foundation is being laid for Mr.
Chambers candidacy at the present time
In fact, this work has been going on Tor
quite a while, the first public indication
being an address delivered by Judge j.
A Howell in the Fourth ward meeting
house a short time ago. More recently
however, those who are championing the
cause of Nj. Chambers, including ahe
Glasmanu papers, have grasped the tact
that MIR. Skeen has refused to further
prosecute the city cOuncilmen as a drown
ing man would seize straw, and are US
ing this for all it is worth, in an effort
TO show that Mr.. Chambers, although
convicted of illegally appropriatlng the
city funds TO his own personal use, is
free from corruption.
Mr. Chambers friends have carried the
movement so FAR that within the past
few days Councilman Edwin Williams was
approached by a friend of Chambers and
asked If he was going to aspire TO the
city council at the next election. MIR.
Williams was INFORMED Ifldl MI 0ndili-
hers was anxious TO ''vindicate" himself
by being reelected to the council. Mr..
Williams was appointed to the position
when Mr.. Chambers was Ousted from Of
flee. His friends are urging him to stand
as a candidate for election, and 1t is
probable that he will do so irrespective
of the desires of Mr.. Chambers.
Judge J. a. Howell in delivering an ad-
dress in the Fourth ward meeting house
one Sunday evening, made what the Gias-
mann papers stated was a remarkable
statement" This is dOubly true when
the fact that Judge Howell sat as trial
judge in the cases brought by Mr.. Skeen
against the couneilmen is considered He
said:
Among the clouds which dim our polit-
zeal horizon, none rs fraught with more
danger than the prevalence of corruption
in office. I thank God that locally we
have no such curse and I speak advised
", mindful of the accusations which have
been made against some of our public Of
ficers, and of the trials which 1 have con-
Quoted upon those accusations. But after
hearing all the facts in relation TO them
reiterated time and again and viewing
them as 1 would any other cases, IN
biased by prejudice, L am still able TO
say. with all assurance, that not only is
there no reason to believe that these men
were guilty of grating in any sense that
the term is used, but that on the con-
trary there is every reason to believe
they were not guilty of that Offense. 1t
is true that they received more salary
than the courts (my own among them.
have said they We're entitled to receive.
but that simply means that they did not
correctly interpret the statutes, or rather
that they interpret them differently
from what the courts have since inter-
preted them, but we must remember that
hindsight is easier than foresight, and
simply because these men made a mis-
take they are not on that account crimi-
mails. especially when there is not only
no evidence that they were actuated by
TFg7a oct
shows that they acted cOnscientiously."
Following these remarks come an edi-
torial stating that Judge Howell in open
" declaring his conviction that the cOur-
ciImen were not culpable, did much to lift
from the convicted the stain of wrong
doing. and that his words might prove a
defense at some future time for the chill
dren of any one of those men when some
one hurled the accusation that their faith
er was a CRATER.
Some time later came the announce
ment that Mr.. Skeen declined to further
prosecute William Craig, who at the pres
ent time holds the office Of president of
the city council. Mr.. Skeen is openly
charged with forming some sort of a
combination with Mr.. Craig that resulted
in this action. Both he and Mr.. Craig
deny this Mr.. Skeen says that he does
not care to enter into q newspaper con-
troversy over the matter. He says, how
ever, that he Is fully prepared to explain
his actions should 1T become necessary.
At this stage of the case the Glasmann
papers jump into the breach and say:
1.-TWO cases of all the councilmanic cases
were vigorously prosecuted and they were
the actions against Fred W. Chambers
and Robert Paine" After that there is
no reference made to the Paine case. The
rantings continue about Mr.. Chambers
and says.
''Why hold Fred Chambers up to scorn
If you are inspired by an absence OF
hatred and revenge, Mr.. Skeen?''
The whole move is taken by both Re
publicans and Democrats alike 20 mean
that Chambers friends, aided by the Glass
mann papers, are doing all they can tc
gracefully open up the way for Chambers
candidacy in order that he may ''vindi-
cate himself from IAN odium most IN
bearable'