The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-03-01
A Fleeting riumph
WASHINGTON Gndiana) Herald,

Washington (lndiana) ilcl"i"'
The Mormon apostle, Reed Smoot, is
TO retain his scat in the United states
Senate, the place be obtained through
the dictum Of the Utah hierarchy ana
which he holds simply because OF inc
fact that the unwritten law of political
partisanship forces the parhsans 10
stand together But ii is heetlhg trl-
umph, for the foundation OF Reed
Smoot's case is builded on the sahos.
There can bo no permanent unloh Oh
the church and the State IN tins coun-
try. and the agitation against ohooI'
while it is temporarily ineifectlYe, must
in the end accomplish the purpose Tor
which it was brought into active lLe,
In spite of the fact that the hgh1
against Smoot lasted for more IMAM
three years. we are Of the firm OPINION
that the real issue in the case has been
but family interpreted, 1t IS not Smoot
the man who was attacked by the anti
church party of Utah, but Smoot the
apostle of Mormonism Not because
Smoot is Mormon, but for the reason
that he is Of, for and with the unholy
combination that seeks the controi or
the politics and the commercial ana IN
duStrial interests of the lntermountaln
States We have heard in this conten-
tion much about the guaranty given 10
every American citizen To worship bod
according to the dictates of his own
conscience or not to worship HIM If he
so elects, But all that was irrelevant;
II did not belong in the discussion, and
it was mado prominent simply because
that specious plea could be used 10 OBJ
scure the true Issue involved.
With due respect to the Senators who
stood for Smoot, we maintain that they,
as well AS many of the newspapers OF
the country, have not gone deeply into
the Mormon menace TO the Intermouu-
tain States. We shall confess that the
opposition to Smoot did not appeal TO
us at the first. but the closer the ac-
quaintauce with the circumstances the
clearer it appears to us that the people
of Utah who have set their faces firmly
against this church domination of their
politics and their business are exactly
in the right. And we have not the
slightest doubt that eventually they
will win their way.
IF we arc to take them at their word,
the most of the Senators who stood in
support of Smoot assumed that as the
open charge Of polygamous practices
had not been made against him, the
fact that he was not proved TO be a
polygamist in actual personal life was
sufficient TO purge him of the charge
that he, as an apostle of the Mormon
church, had abetted polygamy by his
association with the notorious polyga-
mists who are the controlling indu-
ences of the church of which Smoot is
an apostle. The man who profits from
stolen goods, even though he had no
hand in the theft, is equally guilty with
the actual thief. The Mormon church
is managed by body of self-confessed
and notorious polygamists, the real
head of the church being a man who
lives with five wives in nagrant viola.
tlon of the moral law and the statutes
of Utah, But the moral law never had
any place in the disgusting eastern SEN
sualiry of the Mormon church, and the
statutes of the State Of Utah were not
intended TO apply to the polygamists of
the church. Sometimes there is little
miscue, and one of the faithful gets
hooked, as was the case last summer
when the Mormon prophet, Joseph f.
Smith, was fined for unlawful cohabi-
tation, but these incidents are not fire.
Quent. AS rule, the prophet and his
associates in the apostolic confederacy
are able to keep Themselves out of
court.
SO far rs is known Reed Smoot is not