The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-07-10
THE CAPITOL REVERSE,

v
; mill tax for fifteen wears for the pur
, pose of buiIding a State capitol. have
: now been canvasscd, The vote in favu;
of the proposition was 1870: the vote
against was 1876; ma aiority Of 60GC
against the proposition. Of the totaI
vote in favor. Salt Lake county casi
3l33. and The counties outside Of Salt
Lake east 1851 Every county ouisidc
of salt Lake, with tho exception OF Gar
bon and Grand. gave Il ma jority against
the capitol.
OF course il might have been caSv for
salt Lake county 10 overcome this ad.
verse majority of COOS if the vote had
decisive. However il did not como out.
and il there had been such feeling.
aroused as to bring IL out. it is likely
that the corresponding feeling adverse
would have been stirred up throughout
the State, and the result would have
been the same. So that Salt Lake
city and county-has nothing 10 blame
itself with in this respect. Under no
circumstances could it have prevailed
| in that election against the adverse
fcehng that was so general throughout
thc State
What made that hostile fccling7 I'm.
qucstlonabIy, as We have stated hereto.
toro. 1t was the feeling which grow ont
Of the resentment towards the "Fcdcral
bunch in this city for It's corrupt and
freachcrous political deal and BETRAYAL
Of the Republican party and Of the
church. at the election last fall The
church. through It's eccIcsiasts, took n
NruIent and strenuous interest in that
political campaign. The stake prcsi.
dents of this county made themselves
extremely active in politics. as stake
presidents. openly and avowedly so, and
they used their church positions to the
full extent Of the ecclesiastical author
ty conferred upon them, and went even
so far as TO say that those church
voters who refused TO follow the dicta-
tion counscl') of these presidents
were 'traitors to their church - In
all the officious procedure Of these stake
presidents it was assumed by them as
the natural and rightful result Of their
political activity, that their followers
would be bound by the "counscl -
which they had given, They were so
bound, as the election returns proved.
At the same time that the Federal
bunch - was thus aligning the church in
favor of its political schemes, and So
falsifyipg the repeated declarations of
the church that il is not in politics.
this same "Fedcral bunch' made an
alliance with the brewers and liquor
cned, through their organ, the brewers
and the liquor interests with the pas
sage of a prohibition bill IN order TO
make those interests "come down with
campaign cash. They did come down
10 the extent of upwards of $40 900, the
Federal bunch - thereupon guarantee
ing immunity to the liquor interests
and the brewers against any prohibit
tion bill And it must be confessed
that the ''Fcdera BUNCH kept its cor
rupt bargain with the liquor interests
and prevented any legislation at all on
tne nQuOr question:
But when the church people found |
that the "Federal bunch had allied |
them with the liquor interests, they af |
fectcd extreme Indignation about it. !
They called a State convention TO pro
test, and great deal Of angry talk |
was INDUCED in in dcnunciation of the |
: Federal bunch.' - and in accusation of |
its political methods and its bad faith.
The church had always posed as friend |
ly TO temperance and even 10 probibi
ton, but all at once found itself aligned
alongside of the liquor interests, pledged
10 support the brewers and the liquor
men by bargain made by the - Fedora
bunch, with the representatives of
the liquor interests on the one side and
Of the church on the other, President
Joseph F. Smith being the one dealt
with by the ''Federal bunch" for the
backing Of the church vote in this
corrupt deal. President Smith, finding
the matter getting too hot for comfort,
lit out for his "vacation - TO the Sand
wich Islands, and stayed away until
after the Legislature had adjourned.
But the sore feeling which resulted
from the corrupt deal and the failure
to pass any legislation on the liquor
question remained The feeling Of re
sentiment at the betrayal of the church
and the shame and indignation which
lodged in the minds of a great many
of the church people to find themselves
tied up in that kind Of bargain with
the liquor interests, caused such feel
ing against the "Federal bunch - that
the capitol proposition, being attributed
10 that source, suffered an ignominious
defeat, 1t was openly stated all over
the State that this was the cause Of
the feeling, and it found concrete cX.
preston in many places in the form
that the voters "wcre not going TO
help Bill Spry' to carry out any more
of his schemes.
And this feeling accounts for the de
feat OF the capitol proposition. Ii was