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DEBATE WOULD MUCH LIGHT Utahns, we believe, have been brought up to revere the constitution of the United States as divinely inspired. r Today Apostle Ivins and some others are endeavoring to shepherd their flocks into a belief that the League of Nations covenant, in the form brought back from Europe by President Wilson, is inspired M1 ANY . by heaven. Among our leading statesmen in Washington are many who, using the reason God has given them, have declared that the Wilson covenant is in direct conflict with the constitution of the United States. We are inclined to the belief that one of these statesmen is Sen- ator Reed Smoot. It is the settled conviction of eminent constitutional lawyers that some provisions of the covenant would annul the specific powers granted to our national government by the constitution. They argue X, for example, abridges the right of Congress to declare for war or that Article X, for example, abridges the right of Congress to declare for war or peace and to make peace ; that Article 15, which gives the assembly of the league power to deal with any issue that may lead to war, limits tiie right of Congress to deal with such domestic questions as immigration and the tariff, or, for that matter, any domestic leg islation or regulation which, if contested by another nation, might cause war. tvents seeni to be shaping themselves for a magnificent debate between our senior senator and Apostle Ivins, one standing by the old constitution and the other seeking to convince himself, his fellow bemocrats and others that the league covenant is a revelation form on high. It would be an absorbing debate. We believe that a defense of the United States constitution, ably conducted by the senior senator, would be most illuminating to men who have passed much of their time south of the Rio Grande. On this side of that river, which seems to divide night from darkness and right from wrong, reason from passion and wisdom from folly, we still rely upon the old constitution and are glad to boast of it even in the face of skeptics from the wilds mental wilds of Mexico. Some of us, no doubt, are convinced that the men who framed the constitution were not wholly without divine guidance, but there is hardly one of us who would insist that any one man, among that noble company, was raised up of God to frame this instrument of government for a free people. We take it that Apostle Ivins has excluded the United States Senate anci their reservations from the realm of divine inspiration. It is Wilson and his covenant, even to the crossing of a t and the i dotting of an i, that are inspired, if we get the meaning of our esteemed apostle. We are of the opinion that the people of Utah will look forward with. eagerness to a debate such as we have outlined and will be loth to think that it will not occur. We wish to warn Senator Smoot to beware of certain political devices which even apostles sometimes resort to. The senior senator has been absent for some months and may not know just what kind of jiu jitsu he may have to contend with. We can imagine, for example, that at the conclusiqn of the debate the chairman might arise and say : Those of you who agree with Apostle Ivins remarks and who wish for peace in the world will please signify their asset by saying aye. Of course Senator Smoots friends might see to it that the chairman is of his persuasion and, in that case, the presiding officer might say, those of you who agree with the remarks of Senator Smoot, wish for peace, uphold the constitution of the United States and are in favor of the Fourth of July, will please say aye and cry down with Ivins and war. DEMOCRATIC CIRCUS - of the democratic politician under the Wilson regime ways THE us of the ways of politicians in ancient Rome. Ancient Rome was a musty old place by the time Caesar found it politically profitable to distribute grain among his followers and entertain them with games at the circus. By the time he arrived on the scene the politicians had learned all the tricks of their trade. There were men in Rome who could mark the ballots or count out the other party with an efficiency unsurpassed in our own day. President Wilson is opposed to abolishing the minimum price on wheat. It is a guarantee that has made millions for the farmers. It has kept up the prices of other commodities. It has made men rich in many lines. In fact, the Wilsonian plan during the war was to stimulate production by placing a premium on profiteering. Like Caesar, he was distributing public funds to favored classes. The farmer was coddled with high prices for his products; the workers were coddled with high wages ; the shipbuilders and the manufacturers of all kinds were coddled with excessive prices. In two years we spent, at the of the army and navy, about dictation of the commander-in-chic- f $40,000,000,000. If all this ends the way the giving of largesse in Rome. ended ye shall find ourselves at the bottom of an abyss. |