The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-07
GETTING FROM UNDER.

GETTING FROM UNDER.
No great discernment is required to
understand why Mayor Thompson was
glad to lay down the burden of office.
His physical condition has not been
good and the constant turmoil within
and without the party which he repre-
scented must have been largely respon-
sible for the nervous breakdown which
threatened him. On top of this, the may
or found the men who induced him to
run for office had deserted him because
he insisted on retaining Sheets as chief
of police until all the charges against
him had been disposed of in court.
When Sheets gave up and retired
rather than be harassed by the mai
contents, the mayors inclination led
him easily to the last Step IL his politi-
cal career.
The Herald has had no great adnira-
ton for Ezra Thompson as an execu-
tive, but it wishes TO record now its
belief in his honesty of intention and
his desire to do what seemed to Kim
best for the city. His administration
has been a dismal failure in its ex-
asperating appointment and retention
in office of men who were unfit 10
serve the public rightly; the mayor
himself has shown no discrimination in
the choice of appointees who would
help him and satisfy an exacting
public.
Sheets appointment which was in a
measure forced on the mayor, was the
first blunder, and The Herald said then
that Sheets political affiliations would
make a good police force impossible.
When the scandal in the police depart
ment came out, the mayor with a sense
of loyalty that was creditable more to
his instincts than his judgment, stood
by Sheets and declared him innocent
in advance of his trial The public
thought that a man under such grave
accusations should have retired, at
least from active service, until the guilt
or innocence of the accused man could
be shown.
This was the first big blunder; and it
shook the party organization so hard
that it was threatened with disruption.
The council members of the "Ameri-
can" party, led by Black and Crabtree
have contributed materially to the
mayors disgust with political life;
Raleigh, his street supervisor, has been
another thorn in the flesh.
Coaroalxr Iapo rtr,a,,t -
casion for approval and it must have
been a thankless task for Thompson
10 continue in office after he found his
party advisors had deserted him when
he needed their support most. Every
citizen of whatever party will appre-
ciate his position and join in the hope
that his retirement will bring the
health and peace of mind he seeks.
X X X
Just what effect the resignation of
Sheets and Thompson together will
have on the fortunes of the party re-
mains to be seen. At the outset the
blow has evidently Jared the city hall
contingent hard-so hard that even the
garrulous Blacks conversational talent
failed him when the mayors note was
read in council 1t is plain that a re-
organization of the party is contem-
plated by the men who contribute the
money for campaign purposes, and
that this reorganization promises the
retirement of the men who have been
so conspicuously offensive in the
party's management.
Such a move is inevitable If the party
is to have any chance at all of main
tanning its existence as a power in local
affairs; and even with a reform within
the reform" party there are thousands
of voters who will doubt the sincerity
of any reform" that may be proposed
in an organization that had Sheets for
its mainstay and still has Mulvey and
Black as its high priests.
Speculation as to Thompson's sue
cesscr centers about the names Of w.
Mont Ferry and w. ]. Halloran.
Blacks friends think he regards him
self as possibility, though no one else
does, and A. J. Davis, president of the
council, has had some yearnings him
self. Salt Lake people who have only
the city's welfare at heart will hoph