The Washington times., 1901-10-28
PRESIDENT OF THE MoRMoNs.
Policy and Powers of the Successor
of Lorenzo Snow.

SALT Lane CITY. Utah Oct. 27.-Now
tliat Joseph f. Smith has succeeded to the
| Presidency Of the Mormon Church in all
! the world. through the death of Presi-
dent Lorenzo Snow, much speculation is
| being INDUCED in as to his policy This
| speculation is much shown among
| Gcntiles as within the ranks of the
church. for the reason that the policy of
| he new president will affect all classes.
| Cpon assuming the reins Of government.
! President Smith announced that his pol
| icy would be largely along The lines pur-
sued by his predecessors but this might
| mean much or nothing. President Smith
| Is nephew Of Joseph Smith. the Nor
mon prophet, and has always been a zeal
Gus churchman. In fact, he has frequent
" been called fanatic. owing to his radi-
| cal views upon all affairs of church dis
cipline.
AS president Of the church. and trustee
in-trust for all of its property. President
smith has almost unlimited power. Strict
| ly speaking. he is the church itself He
| has supervision in a way over every Of
ficer of the church. and almost every
| member is an officer of some kind. While
| 1t is generally understood that the presi
dent of the church never takes any action
that is not sanctioned by bis two coun-
selors it must be remembered that tn.
president appoints his own counseIors
and should he at any time find their views
distasteful, he could easily rid himself OF
them and choose others. This. however.
has never been done and pr obably never
vii! be, unless something extraordinary
should arise wherein the church would be
divided. The president has a number OF
minor places which he can fu by direc-
hfVf
upon by the various quorums. which are
subject to the president Should a
quorum decide upon an official who is dis
tasteful to the president the official
would be promptly turned down and an
other substituted In short. the Presi-
dent of the Mormon Church has the same
power over the people Of the church that
the President Of the United States has
over the people Of the country. the vari-
Gus quorums Of the church, or 70 be more
explicit, the quorums Of the twelve
apostles, bearing the same relation to the
president of the church that Congress
does to the President Of the United States
The only difference is that the President
OF the Mormon Church has by far the
greater power. comparatively as there
Is not one instance in thousand where
any action taken by him is not approved
In things relating to the finances of the
church the president has the same gem
eral power as in spiritual affairs. The
late President Snow issued bonds to the
amount of Sl0co.O00. in order 10 restore
the credit of the church. the only secur-
ity given being the promise OF President
Snow, as trustce-in-trust of the church
property. that the bonds would be paid
upon maturity. The bonds were all taken
within a short time and as they bear
per cent interest, the investment is con-
sidered good one. President Smith now
steps into the shoes of President Snow
and will hereafter act in all financial af-
fairs of the church
1t has already been announced that
President Smith will enforce many rules
Of the church, as laid down BY the
doctrines and covenants which have
heretofore not been enforced as rigidly as
he has desired. One of these is the join
ing of secret societies by members of the :
church. He could not prevent a man
from joining one OF these societies. of
course. but he could refuse to recommend
any man for promotion in the church
who belonged TO secret society. and
this would quickly put an effectual stop
to the thing.