The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-10-05

en-? 1t was this: That if the Mormon
people continued in the same party, the
old fight would be continued, that reli-
gious hate. bigotry, contention and
strife would continue. and that those who
consistently could go into the Republican
party ought to do so. ] remember that
on that occasion l stated my own views.
and declared my devotion to the Democ-
racy- / remember well the remark of
that distinguished gentleman who had
sat in the congress of the United States
for many years. the Hon. George Q. Car
non. 1t was this: That men who have
such convictions should stay with them
should be true to them And that was
the statement made by many of the peo-
questions. These did not know where
they properly belonged, and there were
many reasons why they did not decide
We were confronted with this situation
four years ago, when the gentleman who
constitutes largely the brains of the
American party was chairman of the
Democratic committee in this state. I
was willing to meet this situation, and to
talk plainly, but was disSuaded by him
l recognize fellow citizens. full we'll
that there is a problem connected with
this matter which 1 am personally not
able to cope with, and that is TO say
where the line should be drawn l real
ize the fact that in that wonderful or
ganiZation of the so-called dominant
church, the exercise of the privileges of
the priesthood is such that / am not pre-
pared to and do not attempt to say where
the line should be drawn.
But there is one thing of which [ am
fully convinced, and that is that an apos-
! tie of the church should not be given
political preferment. When the Hon Reed
Smoot came cut for the position of sena-
tor from this state. i said to him then
and repeat now that it was a great in
! justice to the serious convictions of the
| Latter-day Saints for an apostle to be a
| candidate for political office And why ?
The theory of the church. the teachings
of the church, that the authority of that
! church shall not be criticised, that there
! shall not be faultfnding with those
| whom God hath anointed precludeS the
| possibility of man holding high eccle-
| siaStical position being able to come out
/ on an equal footing with a man who is a
| private citizen.
| And believe it is all right that the au-
| thorities of the church should not be crit
| icized and that there should no fauitfind-
| ing with them. That I approve of. If a
man is going to seek political preference
| before the people of this state he should
/ first resign from his high ecclesiastical
| office. L voiced these sentiments in pri-
vate. and L will voice them in public
And / wish to state here that the time
| has come when there should be an ex-
preston given by the Democratic party
/ on this question. / am prepared to voice
my sentiments plainly and sQuarely and
meet the issue.
High Office Used for Politics.
/ IL VIC dIS 10 ne elGTndltN riGEIen by
men who occupy high ecclesiastical posi-
lions or high offices in the church and are
| so INSCRIPTIONS as to endeavor to use
! the high ecclesiastical position to further
their own selfish political ends, let us
know IL, and meet the issue. / cannot say
| that Apostle Smoot or Senator Smoot has
used his ecclesiastical position to further
! his political ends, but l do know that his
high office has been used. / know this
| from the testimony Of hundreds
But there has grown up in this state a
| class of people whose chief vocation in
politics is to go about whispering. and
| whispering and whispering and utterine
| what in secret or in private that which
they would be afraid to utter in public
and they have charged indirectly, if not
directly, and led the unwary and unfOrtu.
nate TO believe that the authorities of tho
! church wanted this or wanted that; thai
! the presidency of the church wanted this
or wanted that But as one closely as
! ISOLATED with the politics of this state il
is only a matter of Justice for me to say
that after closely examining and consid
ering this great question 1 can truthfully
say that the present administration of the