Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-21
SENATOR REED SMO07
REFLECTED Apostle Of the
Mormon Church.
THE SERMON PREACHED
CEREMONY WITNESSED BY MANY
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENTS
The Power of the Organization
Joseph Smiths Visions-Political
Menace of Mormonism.
Special From Staff Correspondent.

Special From Stan Correspondent.
SALT LAKE CITY, September A. 1903.
United States Senator Reed Smoot was
reelected yesterday an apostle of the Nor
mon Church and leader in the governing
body of that organization. The ceremony
occurred in the great Mormon Tabernacle,
in the presence of 5000 people and was
followed by paeans of joy from a chorus
of 500 voices accompanied by the great
tabernacle organ. The Washington cor
respondents were present.
The occasion was the quarterly conference
Of the Mormon Church and all officers from
high to low were reelected, or technically
speaking, Sustained" The ecclesiastical
authorities had prepared in advance the list
of officers to be sustained A reader pro-
nounced each name and then asked the
congregation If favorable to raise the right
hand Five thousand hands gave silent
appreciation of the choice. Then opportun-
ity was offered for dissenting expression
There was none to any candidate.
Dissent is practically unknown. The only
case in recent times occurred few months
ago. A young man arose to object to the
name of candidate and was proceeding
| to state his objections when he was vio-
lently SQuelched. He afterwards made them
public and they were that the elder in per-
son had just taken the young mans sweet
heart in plural marriage, in secret The
young man has been communicated from
the church, but they say that his sweet
heart is gone
The Sermon Preached.
At the services succeeding the election
of officers yesterday sermon was preached
by one of the elders of the church, who
am told has two wives living and a third
just deceased In his talk yesterday he
half way defended polygamy. Among
other things. he said:
'Polyg2my was a revelation to US from
the Lord. Polygamy was also stayed by
the Lord through revelation. We are in
duty bound to support our wives If the
world don't like 1t why-it will have to do
the other thing. Naughter) We believe
that Abraham was a good and glorious
man. We believe the Bible when it says
they shall come from the east, the west,
the north and the south and shall sit with
Abraham. l am afraid some of our Chris
tan friends won't want to sit with him.
They won't be able to bring their wives.
Naughter) They would probably have
more less objection to his daughter.)
Jacob had four wives, but they probably
would not go through the gates of Abra-
ham to be with him.
The scene in the tabernacle was interest
ing, but not impressive. Nothing in con-
nection with the Mormon Church seems to
rise above certain plane, and that is not
high, intellectual plane. The music from
the trained chorus of 800 voices and the
great organ alone gave the meeting the
sembance of a religious gathering. In the
extemporaneous prayer of the presiding
officer the President of the United States
and all others III authority were prayed
for.
When the 5000 people filed out 1 stood by
the entrance gates to watch them. The
majority of them bore countenances in
which earnestness rather than intellectual
ity prevailed. They were faces of men and
women who were ready to make any sac
rifce for their faith and go to any length
to- nf Of ts fanp w uynn
take many strange things on faith Many
foreigners were included in the group. and
the harsh gutterals of the Scandinavian
language were heard in the babble of con-
versation among the departing church peo-
pie.
Belief in Visions.
The stronghold of the church and the Sc
cret of its power is the inculcation of belief
in visions, seers and prophecies. The
churchs foundation was laid on the
vision of Joseph Smith. Since that time
there have been many visions. They are
always opportune and very convenient for
the purposes of the church. The unbeiev
ers have many stories about these visions,
but, of course, they are canards.
There is the story of the green paint Wis
ion of the late Brigham Young. The old
gentleman was in the merchandise business,
and the story goes that he found himself
overStocked on green paint, whereupon he
had vision In which the angel of the Lord
said that all of the faithful should paint
their fences and houses green, and he
quickly sold out. There are many similar
tales, all of them doubtless emanatfng
from the jealousy and hatred Of the Cen
tiles.
The latest story of visions, which am as
sured is absolutely untrue relates to the
matter of overhead wires. The Mormon
Church has come into control of the trolley
roads. In the center of many OF the streets
are the telegraph and telephone poles as we'll
as the trolleys, and movement was begun
to remove them. The wicked Gentiles claim
that the failure to remove Is due to a vision
which the church elders had that the poles
must remain yet a little while longer. / re-
peat this story just to show some Of the
misrepresentation to which the Mormon
Church Is subjected by the unbelievers
OF course, 1t Is a matter Of record that
when the church found polygamy bar to
admission of the territory to statehood the
head of the church was told in a vision to
abolish polygamy. That's one of the true
visions.
The Mormon Church will never be a men
ace to other ecclesiastical denominations in
this country. Its growth will certainly be
limited by clearly marked intellectual lines
Its recruits come, as is we'll known. from
the most ignorant and superstitious Classes
in this country and Europe.
Menace is Political.
The menace of the Mormon Church is po-
Htical, and at this moment the menace
hovers over the commonwealth Of Utah.
Idaho and Colorado and the territory Of
Arizona, where the Mormon vote holds the
balance Of political power.
Given a compact, secret organization,
bound together by religious fanaticism, the
bulk Of whose membership are to a degree
superstitious, absolutely dominated by q
handful of astute, able men, and the posi-
| biities of political influence are limitless.
The church deals with parties as you deal
with your butcher. The party which Is left