The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-22
ITS FERocIoUs INDEcENcY.

On Thursday morning The Tribune,
In a 6velinc paragraph. asked, in view
of the apparent inability of the Colo
RADIO Legislature TO elect Senator
how it would do TO elect Ex-senator
Frank j, Cannon. formerly of Utah.
There was no idea that this would stir
up anybody's ire, much less that it
would lead 10 any such a ferocious. in
| decent assault as was committed upon
Senator Cannon in Smoot's organ yes
tcrday morning. 1t seems, indeed, i'm
possible that an innocent suggestion of
that kind could he the real foundation
of such flood of stupid slum railing
as the Smoot organ INDUCED in its mad,
brutal raid against former Senator
note referred to was not. in fact, the
| chief reason for the vicious assault.
1t is more likely that an editorial in
the same issue of The Tribune, direct
| ing attention to the account which Sen
ator Cannon gives in Everybody's Mag
aDne of the Abraham Cannon plural
marriage. was the real cause of the as.
sault made. In that editorial we sug.
gested that, instead of going so far
| aheld as to get Colonel Roosevelt to
deny something which Senator Cannon
had said it would be more to the pur-
pose to have President Joseph F. Smith
give his version of that incident
If this was the real reason for the out
rageous assault upon former Senator
Cannon, the article may be supposed
IN a sense, TO be as from President
Smith, rejoinder to the suggestion
IN that editorial; surely, however. not
direct from President Smith, but from
some vile tool who sought to curry fa.
vor with President Smith through this
means of reply.
Aside from the personal billngsgate
directed against Frank j. Cannon, the
article charges him with instability in
politics. and specifically with betraying
the Republican party in 1896 at the Re
publican National Convention. on the
silver issue. Mr.. Cannon in that case
acted with his fellow Republicans of
Utah. and in accordance with the in.
structions contained in the platform of
the State Convention which sent him to
the ST. Louis National Convention that
year, For good many years the Re
publcans of Utah had put forward tho
silver question as "the paramount is.
sue It did so that year The dele.
cation which went to ST. Louis. on the
platform declaring silver to be the
paramount issue, presented it to the
National Republican Convention of that
year as the paramount issue When
the convention decided against them.
they, as honorable men, withdrew from
that convention, and their withdrawal
was emphatically approved by the Re.
publicans of Utah. The succeeding No
vember election proved decisively that
this was the case. Bryan carried Utah
on the silver issue by majority of up.
ward Of fifty thousand. The Mckinley
vote was practically Il negligible
quantity in Utah that year. SO that
Senator Cannon in this manner was
spendidly true to his trust, and the
people, with vigor and magnificent
LOYALTY, maintained by their votes the
principle which they had declared TO
be the paramount issue in National poll
ties.
This matter is all within the easy
recollection Of any one of middle age in
Utah. There cannot be the least aues.
tion about the facts. about the plat
form, about the vote 1t is all on
record, and there is not the slightest
chance for any divergence of opinion
about it, The loyalty of Mr.. Cannon
throughout was conspicuous. and lust
as conspicuouslv did the people display
their appreciation of that LOYALTY by
their votes at the Presidential election
of 1896
The scavenger rubbish which the
Smoot organ heaps up as against Mr.
Cannon is mixture of foul scurriIty
and unlicensed abuse. 1t is stupid i'm
that it charges upon him number of
things and connects him with express
sions never applied to him, but TO
others. Everything that it has heard
in tho way of obscene gossip relating
to anyone in Utah II has laid at Mr.,
Cannon s door The filthy datribe is
disgraceful at once to the author of il,
and to the thricc.degraded paper that
prints it