The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-25
ANOTHER OF
@ G D E N S
DEMANDS
REV. NOBLE STRONG ELpERKIN
ADDRESSES LEGISLATURE.
Demand Of City That No oaths BE Re-.
quired of and No Duties Be I'M
posed Upon Its Officials.

In the third of a series of lectures
delivered at the Congregations
church. addressed to the Utah State
Legislature, Reverend Noble Strong
Elderkin presents what he terms an
other demand of Ogden. He says:
Gentlemen Of the Legislature:
The situation in Ogden is so pecu.
lisr that 1t demands special considera-
tion at your hands. We have earnestly
urged you to repeal all anti-gambling
and all anti-social evil laws. In their
stead we wish such laws as will please
these boasted main industries of ours
upon a sound legal footing. If our
representatives ask for more stringent
laws, so that our officials may the
more efficiently deal with these evils.
they In no way speak for us. You Will
not heed their incoherent mutterings,
But II member of your body. who
ia now in the employ of the National
Liquor Dealers association, at $3.50
per month, and whose fondest hope Is
the passage OF a good, strict prohibit
tory law, so that his clients Will be
put out of commission, proposes law
by which the business of Ogden's
queen will be legally recognized. you
may be sure that he speaks for us,
whether he halls from Weber OF not
1t is reported that he will introduce
that bill. Pass 1t. Ogden wants it.
And thus we confidently hope the In
suit heaped upon us by Salt Lake,
when 1t checked the philanthropic en-
terprise of 'our leading lady," will be
avenged. She Will then be queen of
tho south as we'll as queen OF the
porth. She will have come to her own.
Salt Lake will be hers as we are;
Ind our ancient rivalry will melt away
FOR we shall both look up to com
mon master. 1t Is a consummation
deyoutly to be wished for
We ask of you, gentlemen. one other
thing. 1t comes directly out of these
matters which have concerned us for
the past two weeks. II you repeal
the laws contained in chapters 81 and
33 of the compiled laws OF Utah, 1907.
you Will need to pay little attention
to the demands of this sermon. III
you do not repeal these chapters, Og-
den asks Of the legislature that no
oaths be required of. and no duties
imposed upon. its officials. Our rca-
sons for this request are patent
Laws upon our state and city books
expressly command that gambling
and the social evil shall be suppressed.
The laws further insist that officers.
paid by the city and county. shall
see to the enforcement OF these laws.
OF course, this is a preposterous re-
quisition on the face of 1t. At least
that seems to be the sentiment of our
officials. i have been at pains to fHd
some official who would openly as
sumo the responsibility for protected
law-breaking. So far all have been
troubled with peculiar and malign-
ant disease of the thumb. You go to
the police and broach this matter and |
the thumb goes out. 1t points to the |
The mayors thumb works the !
same way. 1t slips around toward the |
county attorney. The county attorney |
says he'll see the mayor. So it goes.
Some thumbs point toward Judge |
Murphy. The voices behind those |
thumbs say you may take one Of these |
cases to the municipal court seven |
times day and be thrown down.
The point is here, Everybody |
sidesteps. None of them has duties.
That is, duties TO suppress these law
breakers. OF course, there. are duties |
of protection for the privileged crimi- |
nails. The Ogden police, however,
recognize three heinous offenses: One |
is TO be poor and be found drunk. This !,
offender is unmolested until the sa-
loonkceper has all the offenders |
money. Then the patrol is called, |
and If the culprit pleads guilty, he
gets five days on the rock pile. If |