The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-08
THE AMERICAN BOOST,

(
! No oae disnutcs. but all arc abundant?
ready TO admit that the pioneers did
such work as WAS essential in establish
ing themselves when they laid out the
city, they built habitations; they
| ploughed and watercd the farm lands
and the gardens, they planted fruit
trees. they did the primitive things cs-
scntial in opening 4 new country. But
there they were disposed TO stop. They
progressed Just SO far, and considered
either knew how TO make n great me
lropolis. OF who cared TO do ii. In fact,
they preferred not 10 do it. Their ways
were not ways that led them in that
direction: their wishes were simple,
their aspirations limited
All that was seen as soon as tho
proposition was advanced TO push tins
city out of the country village class
and make a real city of it, The found
ers. and those who spoke for thcm
cried oui in opposition, The church or
gan. speaking for them. demonstrated
to their and its own satisfaction the
usrlcSsncss Of such innovations. and II
argued, as il has constantly argued,
that the expense of doing such munlcl-
pal work, would he so great that the
effect of it would be TO rob poor land
holders of their property, forgetting the
immediate and enormous benefit TO that
property
Under such conditions and with
those rcactionary ideas in the ascend
ant it was idle TO hope for city-build-
ing here in the modern sense, with the
old sentiments I'm control. Accordingly,
nothing could be done by way of ad.
vanccmcnt until the control of munich
pa affairs was taken out of the
hands of the heretofore dominant
and non.progrcsslvc faction. AS soon
as this was done. through the election
of The Liberal city ticket. with Mr..
George NJ. Scott as Mayor, in 1890. the
city made a good beginning toward
city hettcrment. IN Improvement that
continued throughout the Liberal adj
miniStrations. Thcn the church control
began again. We say the church con
church control. it was a church control,
nevertheless. with those in the city
offices who would "obcy counsel - And
as the church control had always
been q reactionary control. that reac.
tion came IN directly upon The rcsump-
tion of the old domination, There was
Il nominal division on party lines,
with pretended release of voters from
Pricstlv control III politics But these
were soon shown TO be Illusions; the
of tho S'solid eight"
Councilmen, four Mormon s'Republi.
can Councimcu joining with four
Mormon Democratic - Councilmcn, 10
hold up all plans for the benefit of the
city, and to paralyzc progress, being di-
rect proof of that illusion A like
demonstration Of the church control Of
ITS voters and the incflectivencss of
party division. was shown at the
election of 1908, where, rs
we have repeatedly shown the church
changed Republican, majority of
1900 TO a Democratic" majority of
2200; and again last fall, when the
church called its Democrats all TO
vote the Republican ticket, under
pain of being branded as 'traitors TO
their church, SO, the News's claim
that there is no church control in
civil and political affairs. oft made
and rs easily rcfuted, counts for moth.
ing.
BY reason of the paralyzing church
control, the city languisbed. and men
OF independent minds were outraged
and betrayed. They came out of the
filthy pool, on to open. firm ground. and
formed the American party. And with
their first municipal triumph. magical
change for the better at once began.
Population and wealth flowed in in
heavy streams. To be sure, the mines
helped largely. But the mines had done
more than their full share all the time.
Even when the reactonarv control
blocked municipal progress, the mines
did about all that was done: but with
that old constructive and detcrmincdlv
obstructive control, nothing was or
could be done by the city, as such.
The change from that to live vital con
troll accounts for the splendid advance
begun by the Liberal party in 1890,
and renewed by the American party in
l9O0. The reactionary conservatism. in
like manner, accounts for the torpid
ness that ensued all the time Of church
control from the first. and for rcsump.
ton of those dry-rot conditions as
soon as either church party obtained
control For, the division among the
Mormon people made. according TO
COUNSEL as detailed in the political
manifesto Of 1896. had been as nearly
even between the two parties as posi-.
bic, IL being assumed (Which was the
fact) that the faithful saints had no
political principles and would as lief
belong TO one party as to another. This
was an adroit move of the priesthood,
for ii left them in absolute control,
there being always sufficient controlled