The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-03-16
LIQUOR BILL FORCED.

I'h Federal bunch liquor bull has
been passed by both branches Of the
Utah Legislature. and doubtless the
Governor will promptly sign it. That
measure is one Of the most indefcns
ihle ever passed by a State legislature
in many of its features. The worst
!of all is the placing of the adminlstra-
Etion of the saloon business in the hands
of the courts, Thus mingling judicial
and executive functions in a way quite
irepugnant to the constitution. Two
main points must strike the public FOR
icibly in connection with the passage of
| This bill
First. the evident reluctance of the
members of the lower House of the
! legislature to vote for the bill in its
changed form. One after another the
members rose in their places, denounced
thu changes made in the bin. and vet
voted for it Tho open statement was
made also on the floor Of the House,
that the bill WAS being passed, not
for it-quitc the contrary; tho major
litv OF the House was clearly against
the bill in it's final form; FOR a mem
Der said, without being called to nc.
count and without being contradictcd
that the bill was being put through
| by forces outside of the membership
of the legislature, meaning the Fed
eral bunch. No ono criticised this
! shocking statement; no one objected
ito it no one denied it; it was the
plain, obvious truth. The measure is
not su-h measure as the House
wanted to pass, because the House had
distinctly smothcrcd that sort Of thing
in Lill originally presented to it. SO
that tn bill is not in fact an act Of
the legislature, but is forced through
by a power which the House was not
able to resist.
Second the bin, while pretending TO
take the saloons out of politics by
handing over their administration TO
the courts, must necessarily have pre-.
Icisely The opposite effect. II VIII work
in Utah exactly as Mr.. Reese. rector
of the ST, Paul S Episcopal Church,
shows that it works in Pennsylvania.
The Judges are elected there as they
will come 10 be elected here, through
the saloon influence. and on the basis
OF whether they would bc satisfacto!
10 the sa,non element or not The
Tribune from tho frst has pointed this
out as the inevitable result OF making
the courts administrators of the saloon
business. 1T will. of course, be neccs-
ary for the liquor element To sec that
the judges will ''trest them right in
and Judge who will not meet lhe
liquor interests in this can depend up
ION facing the hostile saloon vote In
asmuch as the Judges are elected on
partisan tickets. both the Republican
Iparty and the Democratic party will
take pains To nominate Judges who will
be " satisfactory TO the proprictors
and managers of saloons. 1t is de
plorahle forecast, but it is precisely
what Mr.. Reese says is the fact in
Pennsylvania. and it is perfectly cvi.
dent case that the same thing will be
true in Utah.
The Federal bunch brought the sa-
loon permanently into politics in the
Icampaign of 1905: and that bunch
lsccms determined to push the saloons
further and further mt politics. SC
that the liquor element will he an ad.
liunct and supporter of the Republican
party all the time, or be at its mercy
If it refuses political sugar and co
operation.