The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-01-14
YOUNGER MORMONS
HATE Pol YGANY
Witness Declares They Would
Revolt Were 1t Taught in
the Church

WASHINGTON. ID. C., Jan. 10
Three witnesses for the defense in the
Smoot case today testified that polyg-
amy was dying out in Utah so rapidly
that there is no need of prosecutions.
1t was declared that the younger Nor
mons are all opposed to polygamy and
that if they thought it was being
taught there would be a revolution in
the church. 1t was admitted that SEN
ator Smoot had to get the consent of
the church to become candidate for
senator, but only in the form of a leave
of absence from his church duties. and
1t was declared that he could have
been nominated and elected without it.
H. e. Booth, of Salt Lake. a nom
Mormon lawyer, who went to Utah
from Iowa in 1885 and has been active
in the politics of his state, asserted that
the Mormon church, as church, did
not interfere in political affairs but
that individuals took an interest in
politics in the same way that other cit
liens did. He gave instances of pop
ular church members being defeated by
candidates Who had been responsible
for anti Mormon agitation. Mr.. Booths
understanding was that all apostles
were on salary to serve the church
and had duties to perform and owed
something to the church. He said he
believed the church opposed the cleo
ton of Moses Thatcher for congress-
and he was glad of it, because Thatcher
was polygamist 1t was his Judgment
that president Joseph F. Smith had
kept the church out of politics.
Women Receive Sympathy
Sympathy was with the women who
IL
was a Discrimination to prosecute the
polygamists for that reason He thought
polygamy would die out soon of itself
and that it was better to permit this
rather than to prosecute husbands and
leave their plural wives as outcasts.
His observation was that there had
been no plural marriages with the
sanction Of the church except perhaps
the case of Abram Cannon. There
would be an immediate revolution in
the church if the president of it should
sanction plural marriages.
Senator Shoots candidates for the leg
islature would have been defeated had It
not been for the Gentiles. There had
been no church interference. There was
no question that Mr.. Smoot received
church consent to run for senator, but he
believed Mr.. Smoot would have been nom-
mated and elected had that consent been
refused. He thought if conditions were
allowed to go on as they were now in
a few years nothing would be heard Of
the Mormon question
On ss-examination Mr.. Booth insist
ed that he had been consistent opponent
of polygamy all through his residence in
Utah, but said conditions could not be,
changed any more rapidly than they were
changing. He admitted that on both sides
of his home President Smith maintained
houses for his wives, but until the Smoot
hearing he had never heard that polyga-
nous cohabitation was practiced since
the manifesto.
Shouldn't Prosecute PoIygamists
Chairman Burrows asked if an amend
ment to the constitution of the United
States prohibiting polygamy would be eff
fective, and received the answer that it
was not necessary. The witness said
however, that he thought it would put an
end to polygamy. The witness con-
demned polygamy, but poygamists should
not be prosecuted because of the disgrace
to their wives. On cross examination by
Mr.. Tayler, Mr.. Booth admitted that the
prosecutions of some Mormons was re-
garded by many members of the church
as an especial badge of honor.
Arthur Pratt. warden of the Utah peni-
Tertiary, and son Of Orson Pratt, who
was an authority on church affairs, testi-
fed that he never had been a member of
the Mormon church. He declared that
from 1875, when he arrested George
Reynolds, and down to 1890, he had ar
rested more Mormons on charges of
polygamous cohabitatien than any other
officer. He said the arrests entailed a
great deal of suffering among the Nor
mon people, and that it was the women
and children who got the worst of the
prosecutions. He said that there could
be no question as to the decrease of
polygamy since 1890. Mr.. Pratt denied
that at the time the politics of Utah
divided along party lines some Mormons
had been set apart to be Republicans and
some to be Democrats. In the three years
Joseph F. Smith had been president the
church had been kept out of politics, but
before that time it had been factor