The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-10-31
3. H. RoBERTs'S SPEECH.

In his speech In the Sixteenth ward
amusement hall on Thursday evening
b. II. Roberts for the most part was
At has best. In one portion of his
speech he seems to have been mslod by
an erroneous and ridiculous iutcrprcta
tion put upon Senator Cannon g re
marks IN the theater as 10 the band
Of twenty.six. Otherwise his speech
| was firstclass in tone, in spirit, and
admirable in force. His treatment Of
the Federal gang was precisely the
sort Of drubbing that that disfcputable
| gang deserves And where Mr., Roberts
attacked the "Mouth' for its per-
| sistent lying about deal between the
| American party and the Democratic
! party, he spoke words of truth and So
bernes5. And wherein, following this
up. he ridiculed the childish outcry of
the Mouth" because Chairman King
of the Democratic party, and Mr.
Kearns happened TO lunch together in a
public restaurant in Salt Lake City as
something too puerile to be considered
in campaign, his satire was biting and
crisp.
From these things MIR. Roberts passed
10 the question Of the repeated appeals
from the Republican party workers, in
the name of the church, to have Nor
mon Democrats vote for their ticket
He traced this through the campaign
Of 1895 and right along from election
to election ever since. Sometimes this
plea was in order TO sustain Smoot;
sometimes to sustain somebody else;
sometimes because ''we can t afford TO
desert Apostle SmootH: sometimes it
was for Plummer; sometimes for some"
body else, but always in favor Of the
Republican ticket and never at any
general election in favor Of the Democ-
racy. In treating of this long line Of
continuous appeals by the Republicans
for Democratic help, Mr.. Roberts very
pertinently said: "In all seriousness,
let me ask you the question: Ism t it
about time that we stood up and looked
these supplicants for our votes in the
face and say, Look here! We have
grown tired Of this. aud If you want TO
defeat the American party, since you
have made such miserable failures of
it up to date, suppose you give the Dem
ocrats chance. Ii there is any com
ing over, you be the ones to come; We
arc tired. And, moreover, we have
right to suspect that there is no sin,
cerity in such proposition; that you
don't mean that you want tho Republi.
can votes in the county for Republican
officers, but want straight votes from
Taft TO constable. - And surely there
ought to be reciprocity in this sort of
thing. If the Mormon Democrats are
to como to the relief of the church Re.
publicans, surely those church Republi-
cans should occasionally come to the
relief of the Mormon Democrats. That
would be nothing more than fair. The
idea of continually insisting that the
Republican party is tho only church
party and that IN order TO sustain the
church and its officers the thing for
Mormon Democrats TO do is to vote the
Republican ticket, is surely getting
very stale.
Mr.. Roberts then paid his respects to
the gum-shoe methods in the circula-
tion, anonymously, of dirty campaign
circulars, the whispering as to what |
Mormon Democrats must do TO save
their church, and the contemplate in
of those who do this whisper
ing, and the ridiculous gullibility of |
those who listen TO it-al were well !
dealt with by Mr.. Roberts. Surely, he |
said, in effect, the Mormon church must |
be weak, unstable affair if it can be |
way that the Republicans are trying 10 |
make the Mormon Democrats believe. |
oy some sort Of politics or civil pro-
,edure which has no power whatever to
,ouch the church at all. And right there
IS the crux Of the whole question. It
s absolutely impossible for the church
% be harmed by an American victory.
,r any other kind Of q political victory
lere. There must be some foundation |
upon which any procedure must rest in
,rder to bavo that procedure amount to
Aud surely there is no rea-
'on for the Mormon church to fear
.nything CT that kind,
When Mr.. Roberts proceeded TO the
Of the declarations OF the
,hurch, often and emphatically made,
md made from every source that il is
untitled TO speak, OF withholding their
land from politics and civil affairs, he
,ut the thing exactly as it is, SO far
IS theory is concerned. Those persons
yho involve the church in politics in
lefianee of the church declarations
hat it is'out of politics, and who under
AXE to make the church stand for po-
itical aud civil rule here, are doing the
hurch the greatest injury possible.
3ut the trouble is. that it is the chief
eaderS of the church who do this
President Joseph +. Smith, Apostle
'moot, and so on. 1t is they who arc
living color and substance TO the