Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-06-04
CHURCH AND STATE.

prove lLldI bltSI6 10 llO CuOh IiA'-o 49,
union of Church and State in Utah.
With the majory Of the people OF Utah
there is a belief that there is no union
Of Church and State here because the
Mormons predominant and they vote
their tickets in accordance with their re-
ligious convictions, and because the NOM
inees are chosen principally on account
of their religious standing, and their
qualification for civil Office is q secondary /
consideration. They have but one oo-
iect. the advancement OF their church. and |
TO that end they bend their politics, and
are unable to see that this thing is the
very union which they disclaim exists.
The argument most generally used by
them is this: We are almost the only
electors in many towns and counties and
in all we are very largely in the majority
Our government rests upon the VIII OF
the people, and we in this Territory are
this people. We also bear the burden OF
taxation. This is a government OF the
people, we are that people, therefore we
have 4 right 10 rule. We have
a right to rule, and we choose TO rule as
we do, and if we are content to be
guided by the priesthood, that is all right,
for the power to govern comes from us,
and we can use it as we please. We
grant most of the above argument to be
correct, and vet with all this there still
exist the union which they deny. And
why does that union exist? Because the
ecclesiastical power of the people guides
and controls the civil power. If the
doings of the civil officers are not in har-
mony with the will OF the church, as an
organization, the civil officers are CEN
sured by the church, and they conform
themselves to its wishes. Recently there
were large mass meetings held through
ont the entire Territory to take into con-
sideration the grievances OF the people.
The call for these meetings was made at
the annual conference of the church, and
made on the motion OF an apostle OF the
church. What were the grievances to be
considered and protested against? Po-
litical and civil grievances. To show
this, it is but necessary to make short
extract from the Declaration and Protest:
"The authorities at Washington have dis |
regarded our rights in the matter of local |
self-oovernment. = A Territorial gov- |
ernuent is not a republican institution"
1T has been the undertaking policy to send !
strangers into our midst as governors, |
Judges, prosecuting attorneys and marshals, |
men who with honorable exceptions, had no !
interest in the common welfare"
The Commissioners appointed under the |
Edmunds law have grossly abused the |
authority conferred upon them"
''These are some of our grievances. Now |
hear our protest.
"We protest against unfair treatment on |
the part of the general government"
"We protest against q continuance of
Territorial bondage. subversive of the rights
of freeman and contrary to the spirit of
American institutions"
This plainly shows what was the nature
OF the grievances complained Of Now to
whom was the call for mass meetings
directed? "To the Members of the
Church of Jesus Christ OF Latter-day
Saints in the Several Stakes OF Zion
This call was signed by the Hon. John T.
Caine as chairman, and Bishop John Q.
Cannon as secretary. In the call these
gentlemen designated the places where
the people were to meet. They were
called "to assemble in the Several Stakes
of Zion, at such places as the
Presidents thereof may designate, on
Saturday May ID, 1885, at o'clock p. m"
Why were the Presidents OF the Stakes
selected TO appoint the place of meeting,
when there are county organizations of
the Peoples party in each stake? We
insist that the Declaration and Protest
was political and civil in every particu-
lar, for did not the gentlemen of the COM
mittee who carried it down to Washing
ton assure the President in the very out
set of their remarks that "The First
Presidency of the Church had nothing
whatever to do with the preparation or
ratification of this declaration of the peo-
pies grievances and their protest against
the wrongs inflicted upon them?" When
the committee came back and reported
the result of their labors, where and to
whom did they make their report? At
the regular Sunday afternoon religious |
services held in the Big Tabernacle Nav |
3lst, 1885. A rather strange place in |
which to report the result of political |
mission, was it not? The report was
doubtless made there because there ex-
lists no union of Church and State in
Utah. And perhaps it is for this same
reason that the eXpounding of the Con-
stitution and the protestations of love for
it by the leaders OF the Peoples party
are always made in the religious
pulpit in places of worship on Sundays,
and never on the political platform as in
other communities. Perhaps it is for the
reason that there is no union of Church
and State in Utah that when the present
Delegate to Congress from this Territory
was first nominated in convention OF
the Peoples party, the convention could
not agree upon man until one or two |
delegations had waited upon President |
Taylor several times to know whom they
should nominate, that President TAYLOR
said the Hon. John T. Caine was to be the |
man. The same reason may be |
assigned for the remark the writer
heard one OF the Seven Presidents /
OF Seventies of the Church OF Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints make in refer