The Wall Street Journal's editorial writers even have a name for liberals who attack high corporate salaries. They call it the politics of envy.

Ah, yes. Envy. What distinguishes envy from fairness? Probably point of view.

For an interesting illustration, read the Legislative Auditor General's review of the management salaries and bonuses paid by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA). It's available on the Web at http://www.le.state.ut.us/audit/newaudit.htm

SITLA manages 3.4 million acres of trust lands that were granted to Utah at statehood. The earnings from these lands flow into endowments that benefit the public schools and other public institutions.

Basically, the auditors say that SITLA pays annual bonuses, ranging from $2,000 to $40,000 per employee, to its entire permanent management and staff, and that is way out of line with anything else in state government. "With these bonuses, SITLA's administrators are compensated, on average, 26 percent higher than their counterparts in Utah state government and trust land management organizations in other states," the audit says.

SITLA's board fires back that its bonus program takes into account salaries in the private sector, as Utah law requires, and that the managers have earned the bonuses by consistently increasing profits to the state by at least 15 percent each year. What's more, bonuses equal only two-tenths of 1 percent of SITLA revenues, though the board does not put that in context by comparing it to private business.

To its credit, managing SITLA like a business has worked. In the 11 years since it was created, the permanent school fund has increased from $85.6 million to $580 million. Annual income has gone from about $14 million to $93.9 million.

But the SITLA board should not overplay the private business card, especially where executive compensation is concerned. In the corporate world, stockholders are grumbling about excessive bonuses for upper management, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering new regulations to make compensation more transparent.

Besides, SITLA is a public trust, not a private enterprise.