The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-04-24
AN oBFUsCATED PRESIDENT.

The industrious sowing Of seeds of
error in the Smoot case has been very
effectual in the East. In the United
States Senate there were some mem
bers who were so apparently benlghted
and hopclessly at sea on the case that
they seemed to imagine the objection
TO Apostle Smoot' IS having a seat in
the Senate was on religious grounds.
Others took the exculpatory tactics OF
assuming, contrary to the record, that
sjmoot had been charged with being per
sonally a polygamist, and they triumph
antly announced that since this charge
was abandoned" they felt bound to
vote for him to retain his seat. 1t
mattered not to them that this alleged
charge, which they so airly dismissed
as having been "abandoned,' had
never been in the case at all. What
they were searching for and were de-
termined to find, was some excuse to
plead to their constituents for deciding
the case in fact on political grounds,
rather than on its merits or on the ethics
! involved. Unfortunately this political
vice prevailed under the guidance and
dominance of President Roosevelt and
Smoot was retained in his seat for rea-
| sons entirely apart from those which
appeared in the record, and which had
no bearing whatever upon the case.
| That is to say, he was retained be-
cause he was supposed Republican,,
and the Republican Senators being In
such large majority and being so com
| pletely dominated by the President,
voted for political reasons-and be-
cause Of the pressure from the White
House. IN his favor-to retain Smoot
in his seat despite the fact that his
unworthiness on principle. to retain it
had been fully shown We speak of
unworthiness as bearing upon the cause
and interests which he represents. Those
interests arc a law w-defying polygamous
! priesthood which sets its seal of auto
cratic control upon the civil affairs and
dictates the politics of Utah TO suit
its own purposes, and without regard
to party lines or party interests. 1t
serves its own interest first, and it
uses whichever party is most conven-
lent; one year 1t will be the Ere
publican party and one year the
- Democratic party. One year the
Republicans will show pretty much all
the votes there are; the next year two
thirds Of that vote will be eliminated
and the Democratic vote boosted. This
has been going on year after year,
and the Republican Senators, misled by
the tremendous Republican vote Of 1904
in this city, apparently were entranced
with it, overlooking entirely the sig
niiicauce of the vote of the year fol
lowing, when in 1905 the Republican
vote Of this city was practically elimi-
mated
The latest case of utter misappre-
hension on this point is shown by Prcsi
dent Dabney Of the University Of Gin,
cinnati, late of the University of Ten.
nesscc, in recent talk he made to a
Presbyterian brotherhood in Philade-
phia and TO the students OF the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. Referring 10 the
Smoot case, President Dnbney is re-
ported to have said;
What n travesty we have recently wit
messed in the United States Senate OF q
trial for theoretical polygamy by men.
the most Of whom are guilty OF consecu-
tive polygnmy. Is not the sin OF conse-
cutive polYgamy as great and dangerous
10 the family as that OF contcmporaueous
polygany?
This, of course is the usual Mormon
slander upon the public men of the
country 1t is constantly proclaimed
by the Mormons that polygamy is the
true business, becanse the public men
who are not IN polygamy openly and
avowcd!y are sure TO be in it in some
secrst and abominablc form. Their
theory is that man VINO is in polyga.
my will be absolutely true to his polyga-
nous wives; as the old saving used
to be when polygamist was asked
how many wives he mad. his reply would
usually be- Enough so that let other
men s wives alone That appears 10
be the keynote Of the whole Mormon
doctrine on this question. President
! Dabney has caught the spirit of it, and