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Show 128 WESTERN WILDS. Representative in Congress this to be done after Brigham Young dies, and the Mormon Church ceases to rule. The other Territories might be given more self- government, without the gross injustice of making them States, which is almost as great a wrong to them as to the older States. It is self- evident that an alpine region like Wyoming, needs a totally different government from that of a level State like Illinois. Perhaps the cantonal system might be the best, as far as it gives each little valley local self- government. The present system is an affliction to the pioneers. Had not Utah stood in the way as a possible danger, it would have been remedied ere this. The demand for good appointees from the President is al-most futile. The sad fact is: Government can not afford good men in office in most of the Territories ; the salaries are so much less than they can make at any legitimate business. And worse still, when they try to do their duty they are almost certain to be removed be-fore they learn how. An Eastern man is worth very little his first year or two in any Territory. The official, if honest, is exposed to a constant pressure from those ruled over, and a constant war on the President to have him removed. If he had no care but doing his duty, he would still have trouble enough ; but efficiency and duty are no dependence upon the favor of the administration ; * and while the official in the Territory is harassed by complaints, by a salary insuffi-cient for himself and family, by the damning criticisms or equally damning overpraise of the local press, he is more and more disquieted by notes from his friends at Washington, where the fiat of Executive wrath hangs daily over his official head, like the ever- trembling sword of Damocles suspended by a single hair. There are men in every territorial capital who turn uneasily upon their beds from some dark hint in the evening paper, and whose matin slumbers are disquieted by anxiety for the morning paper, to see " the latest from Washington." Let certain members and senators die, or resign, or be defeated, or differ with the President on some pet scheme, and away their heads would go like pins from the alley; and the more they had done their duty the more they might expect decapitation. Hear, then, my conclusion of the whole matter : the system should be completely reorganized, so as to give the Territories self- government, and allow their delegates in the House to vote as well as talk ; then they should so remain, to be hunting and roving ground for the rest of the nation till climate and soil change, or some other cause shall have made them rich and populous. * Written previous to March 4, 1877. |