The Boise citizen. (Boise, Idaho) 1906-1910, 1907-03-01
HDOStI6 Senator Was
V6rU Discreet
UTAH REGIMENT WAS GENTLE
GOOdWln's Weekly Gives Some
Interesting Facts

Goodwin's Weekly calls attention to
some matters that Reed Smoot omitted
from his speech in the senate and vet
which are common knowledge in the in
termountain states. The article is as
follows:
In his speech Senator Smoot nlaced
especial emphasis upon the worthiness
OF the Utah battery in the Philippines
as a proof of Mormon loyalty. 1t was
a splendid command. At the time there
were three Mormons in Utah to one
Gentle The battery was 625z per cent
Gentiles.
The commander was Major Dick
Young, He was educated at West
Point; he is most accomplished officer
1t was most natural for him to want TO
enlist.
Yet Senator Smoot might have shed
flood of light on the senate had he
in this connection, stated one fact Had
he said: when the declaration of war
against Spain was wired west, of course
1t created some excitement. A dav or
two later in the Sunday Tabernacle
service, Brigham Young, Jr., then one
OF the consellors of the First Presidency
advised against enlisting or taking anv
part in the war. That was doubtless the
sentiment of the First Presidency. But
1t was soon apparent that Utah's quota
would be filed by Gentiles if need be.
Then the president of the church took
the other side, spoke of the righteous
ness OF the war, and let the bars down
to young Utah to enlist" The above is
history Had Senator Smoot added
this, Had the president of the church
taken the same ground that Brigham
Young, Jr., had taken, Major Dick
Young would never have volunteered.
for it is the business of Mormons to
obey their president, he would have
thrown more light on the real situa-
ton in Utah than did all the speeches
delivered on the Smoot case. And, more.
he would have been telling the real
truth.
Again, Senator Smoot in his speech
declared that polygamy is not mandatory
in the revelation, and gave a purported
number of polygamous families in Utah
when the manifesto was issued, and
the number now
Had he been desirous of laying the
facts before the senate ntheir entirety,
he might have added the following:
"The original revelation commanding
polygamy withholds the higher glories
Of Paradise to those who will not enter
into that state The president of the
church who was president just prior to
my advancement to the apostleship, de-
clared that all the officers of the church
should become polygamists. Some we're
forced to resign their priestly Offices be-
cause they would not in middle life,
enter that state. Ninety out of every
0ne hundred of the high officers of the
,hurch have been polygamists since the
lays of Brigham Young They are and
always have been the ruling officers of
he church. Another little matter which
desire to explain in order that the
senate may have clear understanding
If matters, is that the decrease ir known
,olygamous families in Utah is in al
most every case due to the fact that
hey have removed either to Alberta,
Canada, on the north, or Chihuahua,
Mexico, on the south, and that many
more polygamous marriages have been
dded. For example, the man who has
harge of all the Mormon schools in
Mexico had one wife when he left
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