| Show UTAH SIX SURVIVING DAILIES of the bitter fight against policies of the Mormon Church was beginning to change In those days the routine editorial barrages between the two papers were journalistic Gettysburgs The Tribune was not an initiator of the feud but rather one of its creations The principal founders William Godbe Harrison and Eli Kelsey were prominent members of the LDS Church when they launched the Utah Magazine in January of 1868 Articles advocating economic policies specifically mining development in conflict with those of Brigham Young and the Church leadership led to excommunication of the Godbe group Up to this point the schismatic elders insisted in speeches and in print that it was not their purpose to attack the Mormon Church as an ecclesiastical institution but rather to reform and liberalize its economic and political policies On April 15 1871 they enlarged the scope of their crusade by starting The Salt Lake Daily Tribune and Utah Mining Ga zette Thus was the present 125 year old Salt Lake Tribune born to serve as spokesman for the new Liberal Party and bring aboutcoalition of Godbeites and gentiles The outlook for the project as evaluated by Edward Tullidge in his History of Salt Lake City was less than impres sive at the time but potentially bright Both groups Godbeites and gentiles were few in numbers and as Tullidge wrote Even when united they were but an insignificant minority compared with the party since known as the PeopleParty the Mormon Church party On July 24 1873 The Tribune was taken over by three Kansans -George Prescott Hamilton and Fred Lockley With Lockley running the editorial department the new publishers embarked uponslashing no-holds-barred fight on the Mormon Church and earned the title among the Mormons and their sympathizers of the border ruffians This ownership continued until the fall of 1883 when Goodwin who had joined the staff of the paper three years earlier and Lannan purchasedcontrolling interest 151 Digital image 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah Al rights reserved |
