The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-06-07
STORY OF HOW 1.-THE AUTHORITIES" BILKED
THE PEOPLE OF THE Fifteenth WARD

street was Topped off and was made
to form the new Twcnty-fourth ward
| The second time was about coinciden1
with the negotiations for the sale tc
the Oregon Short Line, when 1t was de
termlncd to annex to the Fourteenth
ward all of the old Fifteenth ware
east of Fourth West street. and TO cal
all of the remainder the Fifteenth
ward, taking the name of Twenty
| fourth from the west end and giving
it to a newer ward organization
| Now, it must be remembered that The
west siders were. once members of the
original Fifteenth ward-thcy helped tC
purchase its property and TO erect its
| buildings. IT. must also be borne IN
mind that when they were organized
| into the Twenty-fourth ward they were
called upon to purchase another build
| ing lot and to construct new meeting
house; which they did. adding costly
! amusement hall to the new ward s
structures. Thus. without changing
| their place of residence, they were com
PEELED to provide ground and buildings
| for two wards.
And here comes the gist of the story
What was TO be done with that S'o,'
900 received from the Oregon Short
built by the blood sweating sacrifice of
the good, old, generous Fifteenth
wardcrs! There were suggestions a
plenty, chief among them beng one TO
utilize part OF the money IN erecting
a monument to the memory of honest
Bishop Joseph Pollard. Then there
were others who wanted composite
monument. commemoratlDg the hVes OF
all the old bishops, also suggesting dl'
Of 4 "
which the remainder OF the money
could be expended.
But it was right here that "thc au-
thorities" stepped IN. Not f0r the
world and all that is IN 1T, could the
brethren' bear to sec blckerinS and
strife brewing among their tlocks; and
especially among the saints of the FIT
teenth ward, VINO had always been SO
faithful and energetic IN meeting all
demands made upon them. Meantime,
there was an opportunity 10 initiate the
rapamufiin who sneaks IN and 'swlpes
ali the marbles while the players are
uuarreling about whether or not the
last shooters "taw' is on or inside
or outside the rlDg-''the authorities
saw money in sight, and apparently
lying around loose begging to be taken
in and housed by some such benevolent
souls as themselves. That beseechlDg
plea Of the coin was too much-too, too
much!
And so these allwise seers were on
hand with counsel.
The upshot Of it all was that one
half of the money, $35, 1000, was divided
between the west side of the old Fif-
teenth ward, now constituting the new
ward of that name, and the augmented
Fourteenth ward; 800 TO each, If
you will notice, the Fourteenth ward
"chapeln has recently been remodeled
and thoroughly overhauled, and it has
been done with this money. However,
the people feel moderately well salts
fed at this, except that some OF them
thought the Fourteenth ward got more
than its share, lnasmuch as the pres
ent Fifteenth ward is composed of
about four -ffths Of the old ecclesiastical
sub division of that name, while the
Fourteenth took over only about one
fifth. These people imagine that the
money should have been divided pro
rata with the territory involved. But
these thoughtless ones doubtless neg
lect to remember that in the Fourteenth
ward resides the favorlte polygamous re-
lict Of the late President Brigham
Young, as we'll as scions Of other &C.
cleslastical royal families, and that
these must always be given the best of
III dI lue eApSHSc ol SuCH uOHeSJ COM
moners rs compose the Fifteenth ward
and supply the money through horny
handed effort,
However, when the people got to know
of it, the disposition Of the other half
Of the money, $4,000, was what pro-
voked the great commotion, In short,
''the authoritcs'' decreed that it
should 90 TO the J.. ID. ). hospital
and into the treasury of that instjtu-
tion it went. And even at this there
ton, were ii not known that the hos.
Of the late DR.. Groves, who stipulated
that the Mormon church should provide
for maintenance Of the institution which
his generosity founded The people
realized that in titbing and special do.
nations of various character they were
paying into the church ample funds for
the support of the hospital if financial
help to the concern were necessary. So
they resented this wholesale robbery
that "the authorities - had perpetrated
upon them Why should the Fifteenth
wardcrs be mulcted OF $35 900 for the
support Of the j., ID. S. hospital, anv
more than any other ward, they wanted
TO know'
Wait, though, That is by no means
the worst feature of the thing
Not loug ago, a poor woman Of the
Fifteenth ward fell ill., She was q
member of the church in good standing
having formerly been az faithful as
the rest in paying her "tithes and offer
ings.' and in helping to gain for hor
wa rd the urODerty of which tho T. n -