The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-04-24
THE CHURCH ORGANS VAIL.

The church organ on Thursday even
ing continued its wall against the
American party and its fearful protesta-
| tion that church activity in politics was
| all that Utah needed. it pointed TO the
glorious days of the past, when the
priesthood had everything their own
! way. and lamentcd that the inhabitants
of Utah today were not able to see that
that priestly control is pure American
| ism.
The confession of the church organ
| that the priesthood had not been able
| TO establish in Utah an American civil
government is singular, indeed, in view
of the fact that the priesthood never
undertook TO establish any such govern
mcnt. and never intended to. What they
established, and what they meant to
establish. was ''the kingdom of God
on earth.;' under supreme rule aud de
tation of the hierarchs Of the Mormon
church. The News appears to be Sc
rencly indifferent aud unconscious in
, regard 10 this matter, assuming as a
matter of course, from its standpoint,
that the priestly government was the
right thing, and that any one who OBJ
iects to the pricstly control IN politics,
in business, and in civil affairs, IS not
good American. Having dwelt III the
odor and eXclusiveness OF priestly
control for so many years, 1t seems TO
ina aqine that that is the natural order,
and that everybody should accept 1t.
Directing to the claim made by The
Tribune that the progress here is
primarily due TO the triumph of the
American party and the oustlng of &C.
clesiasticism from municipal control,
the News undertakes to apologize for
the lack of progress manifested during
the church dominance. and makes sort
of indefinite claim that what it calls
''the strife" stopped the progress of
Salt Lake. and it quotes the following
as an evidence of the truth of what 1T
Salt Lake, when. in fact, that "strlfe
has been the making Of the progressive
city, and it quotes the following as an
| evidence of the truth Of what it says
Within the last six months one real es-
tate firm in this city has refunded S3O.OOO
on one trade and has seen SSo,ooo go else.
| where in another case, merely on account
| of the discords constantly eNistlng IN ouT
! ncwspa pers. One man from Denver had
closed deal and requested a return OF
| his money merely because his little
daughter was reading n certain daily and
| had got The idea that this city was
hell hole Of immortality and crime
| To which it is fair to say that under
the old domination of the priests there
would have been no such trades or deals
under negotiation. Everything would
have been stagnant. 1t is not
matter new to real estate men. or to
business men, to find in the multitude
| of transactions that arc occurring In
this city every month that there should
be an occasional failure TO complete the
negotiations. But as to the idea OF
the little daughter Of the man from
Denver who wanted to back ont of his
bargain, we should say the proba
| bility is that the notion she obtained
that the city was hell-holc - was de-
rived from the Deseret News ser from
some one of the INSCRIPTIONS opposi-
| ton newspapers, raInel thdu Ilohi
The Tribune. as The News undertook to
imply in its editorial. For there is no
doubt but the church organs, big and
little, have been industriously dissent
mating that idea about Salt Lake,
in their railing and unfounded accusa-
tions against the American admlnistra-
ton, against the police department, and
against the conditions generally that
exist Those ratings were complete
misrepresentation, and we should not
wonder if in some cases they have
been serious detriment to the progress
and good name of the city. The only
papers that have been printing things
that would lead one to suppose that
Salt Lake City is a "hell-hole of i'm
morality and crime are the opposition
papers And those have been full of
Just that sort Of thing, without sense
reason fairness or fact 10 support their
vile accusations. And if any trade has
fallen through on this account, those
malignant and mcndacious newspapers
must be blamed.
With respect to the establishment Of
truly American conditions in Utah, the
News confesses that the priesthood has