The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-07-17
The Smoot Case

Editor Tribune The following remarks
heard the other day upon the Smoot case
may be of some general interest from the
fact that coming from representative OF
tho younger class of Mormons may be
is more or less widespread among TINS
class OF church membership. And be
lieve the sentiments herein expressed are
entertained by 81 greater number OF IN"
intelligent. thinking class or young Nor
mons than Is generally supposed. To me
1t reveals the existence OF a strong unoer
current which isN silently flowing on 10
It's flood tide. Said one young man 10
| another, We'll. since Senator Smoot has
returned from the capital and given yom
that unctuous handshake he knows so we'll
how To give ] suppose you see his case
In 2 different lght now"
mo; on the contrary and notwtthstand-
ing the present status of the case, my
Views have not changed think now
Just as / did during the investigation. 1
Senator smoot retains his seat oil. not.
the effects Of the struggle for II VIII b.
the same upon Utah and the Mormon peo-
pie generally. II is an irreparaole IN
! church Will be the biggest loser in the end:
Neither the expulsion nor the retention OF
Senator Smoot In the United States Sen
ate can now materially affect the injury.
| ft Is 100 late. II cannot now be repaired.
| The suggestion that the election Of Apos-
| tie Smoot to this high office would prove
baneful TO the people OF Utah has been
| derlded and scotTed al by his supporters.
| ] know, but listen TO me few minutes
| and believe YOU VIII ll1nK a6 90 AnDu
! you. ] do not accuse Apostle Smoot of
| enterta lining a desire or even thought
| OF harm TO the State or to his church hy
| his fight for Senatorial honors, but that
1t has come no thinking man can doubt
| 'I pass over the undesirable notoriety
| we have gained at home and abroad. |
pass over the great losses we have sus-
tanned In our Industrial lie through in
| vestments OF capital being retarded and
dissuaded. and home-seekng discouraged
| rather than encouraged and accelerated,
"A
| the public prints much better than | can
say them | will speak only of the relig
| ious side OF the question as l see ii as
Neither Apostle Smoot nor any of the
| church leaders, | presume, foresaw what
would be brought out In the investigation
| by the Senate committee. notwithstanding
| that the spirit OF discernment is supposed
TO be one of their chief gifts,
Such startling things were revealed
| IN the testimony given by the witnesses
that many young men and women were
upset and began TO think. And 1t Is
from this thinking that the church will
! suffer most severely by way OF doubt
lack OF confidence, disaffection, all OF
which. sooner or later. means loss Of
| membership"
~. in common with thousands OF others
have raised my hand many times to sus-
tain President Joseph +. Smith as a
under oath that In the twenty years or
more OF his official life he has never re-
| ceived revelation. / confess II was Il
! shock TO me and I began 10 think. Then
| he Is forced TO lay bare TO the world his
| family affairs, revealing his Ideas OF mo-
rality and his conception Of good faith
and integrity And then ! think, And
| grossly humillated and held up to shame
| before tho world. and that his humiliation
and his shame fell IKE black pail upoh
| the church, OF which he is head, and we
all became, In the eyes OF all intelligent
people. the objects of mingled pity and
contempt; 1t was as If that cloak Of
! sanctity in which a devoted people had
| clothed their holy and yenerated leader.
| had been, in one evil moment. torn from
his body and left him standing IN all his
| I'VE, as Mormons have been. and are.
| conscious OF some lmperfections In our
leaders, and have been willing to tolerate
them, among ourselves, as we do our
| individual faults. in the hope that some
! day we shall rise above them. But 10
| hold them up to the contempt or the
| billion is an of1ense we cannot pardon.
| IL President Smith can forgive all this.
| he certainly possesses one sanity virtue.
| ''As 10 President Lyman's testimony, II
II had not been so puerile it would have
| been contemptibe: as It was, II was
merely humorous. And 1 say this with
! but he could have made better show
! ing. We keenly sense his faults and I'M
perfections and wish they might be fewer
! than they are, but we could tolerate
| them among ourselves had he not been
| held up 10 public scorn. whereby we were
made partakers OF the odium and ridicule
hoaped upon him. And L believe he Is
the next In line OF succession 10 the presi-
! dency. which stimulates more thought in
| the thinkers of young Utah.
! THE undoubted effect of the Smoot case
| in the minds OF the young Intelligent Nor
mons in respect to their leaders has been
to strip them OF the sacredness In which
| they have been held and 10 show them
up in their merely human attributes. You
| may say what you please, but | assure
| You that veneration for them Is holy mon
| OF God IS gone, and that they are now
| looked upon as only men looking out for
| their own welfare. You may instill in
| the minds of a future generation. which
| may grow up ignorant OF these facts.
| a veneration such as has existed In the
past, but you can never rebuild it in this
one. Humanity. gross humanity, has been
too much in evidence, TO permit OF any
! thoughts of holiness In these men. No
less than 80 per cent OF the young people
In the church feel as do, and the num-
Der is Increasing You may think they
| are all right because they attend the
! 5unday-schoois and other associations but
! deep down in their hearts these eenti-