The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-06-10
IT'S DIFFERENT IN UTAH.

Whenever there is a discussion OF
any proposition, especially anything in
the way of politics and political admin
| istration, it is the usual and truthful
reply to representations as 10 how mat
ters are done generally throughout the
country. that ''it is different in Utah. -
What is going on here just now is IA full
| illustration of that idea.
There was n census taken of the popu-
lation of this country this year. IL is
Just about concluded, The people here,
as else where. were invited, in fact,
pressed. to answer freely and candidly
all the questions that the census emu
merator asked, under pledge of comb
dencc. AS rule, we believe that they
have done so under the assurance from
the Government that the answers would
he preserved in secret. that no one
would have access TO them save under
the guarantee, and that no use was TO be
made of them save officially and DIS
crcctly by the Government officers, all
of whom were sworn TO absolute secrecy
with regard to these returns VIC oe-
licve the oaths administered to the cen
sus officials have generally been kept
inviolate throughout the country. NOT
so in Utah There is here n constant
leak of figures, and it seems very hkely
that even the most intimate revelations
that the census questions called for are
in the hands of unauthorized persons,
with the liability of improper use to be
made of them at any time that VIII SUIT
the convenience of the treacherous OF
ficial who has evidently taken copies of
ANYTHING that he would consider most
to his advantage, with the intent OF
using them without restraint and in de-
tiancc of his oath.sworn obligation.
There is also in the various depart
ments of officialdom in Washington,
general idea of comfy that imposes an
obligation upon each department to
keep inviolate the work and respect the
proprieties of the other. For instance,
IT would not be considered proper for
an official of the Treasury Department
TO get hold of secret of the Depart
meut Of Justice and make il public. 1t
would be held highly improper for an off
cial of the Interior Department, hav-
ing knowledge of a secret matter In
the Treasury Department, TO make that
matter public And yet, in Utah we
see two officers of different depart
ments of the Government, one an OF
fetal of the Treasury Department and
the other an official of the Department
of Justice, combining TO disclose the
secrets of the Department of Commerce
and Labor, which has charge of the cen.
sus work We see that this is done with
impunity, and tho "influences at
Washington seem sufficiently powerful
TO prevent any inquiry into this iuva-
sion of public rights this outrage upon
the citizenship Of the State, which gave
information under the pledge of secrecy
and now finds that information in the
hands of unauthorized persons.
Such sight as the Collector of Inter
nal Revenue, a Treasury official, worm
ing out and conveying 10 n company Of
which an official of the Department Of
Justice is president, and having that
company disclose To the public the see
rcts of the census before they are given
out in Washington, is something that
could occur nowhere else but in Utah
without the officials implicated being
called sharply TO account. All OF which
demonstrates the theorem that cit is
different in Utah When the brethren
get together and conclude TO defy the
laws Of God and man, they do it with
perfect impunity. and no power appears
to be adequate TO call them TO account.