The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-07-30
FEDERAL BUNCH ARROGANCE.


The salaryfed bosses of the local Re-
publican machine, smirking from their
tax-feathered nests On the political
plum~tree, preen in Snug selfsatlsfac
tion and scatter sneers and slurs and
other characteristic foul reminders of
their arrogance over the convention of
Republicans who met in Provo last
week to exercise their rights as citi-
zens, and to record their wishes as tax
payers
That these independent Republicans
would provoke the wrath of the ma
chine and call down upon themselves
the maledictions of its organ was to
be expected. No man has a right to
breathe this mountain air unless he
gets permission from the outfit which
controls this State and county, accord
ing to the code Of the machine No
Republican has right to think unless
the machine censor approves the
thought. No Republican may aspire
bosses.
There are good men and strong in
this State, loyal and active Republi-
cans who attended that Progressive
Republican convention in Provo, whose
voices have not been heard in party
councils for some time because they
had incurred the displeasure of the
bosses or because they had refused to
countenance the methods employed or
to be compromised by the unprincipled
alliances made by these same bosses in
the name Of the Republican party,
Gloating over the boss decreed ban
ishment of these old time stalwarts of
the party, and sneerIng at their public
temperance at the Provo convention,
the local organ Of the machine is in
its element. 1t calls that convention
an assemblage of ghosts" whose
50 shrouds and cerements tapped dis
mally' while "the rattle of dry bones
almost drowned the cheers
1t is just as well for the big boss to
whistle and play his organ to keep his
spirits up as he passes through the
alleged political graveyard where the
victims of his ambition and domina-
ton are coming to life. The little
band of political headhunters who have
formed his body guard for many years,
who have reared many a headstone
over an empty grave, and have done
many an imitation ghost dance at the
door of the dominant factor in Utah
nnlilIrS IN nr1ar fnr.a
retirement they sought and preferred,
are now face to face with an ''as-
semblage Of ghosts they cannot lay.
Above the "rattle Of dry bonesD NAV
yet be heard their shrieks of terror
and their cries of "Out, damned
spot!" before the injuries they have
wrought can be repaired
For the methods OF the machine in
Utah have done the Republican boss
organization more lasting harm than
has been done the Democratic or Pro
gresslve parties by all the slander
and abuse it has hcaped upon them.
A few more such victories and that
party is undone. Such victories may
rebound to the personal advantage OF
some Of the bosses, but they reduce the
organization TO a state of demoraliza.
tion.
These slnrs and sneers will not hurt
the Progressives any more than they
hurt individuals thus assailed. For
this independent movement in Utah
Is not a protest against Taft or an in
dorsement Of Roosevelt so much as it
is an expression of distrust and dislike
of the Smoot machine, the Federal
bunch, and all that they stand for in
the employment of unfair methods and
improper influences in perpetuating
themselves in public Office The Re.
publican prohibition convention regis