| Show THE CHURCH AND politics the following correspondence will need no further introduction or explanation than that the cause of it all was wa a brief discourse diso oune delivered by preel dent woodruff in provo on sunday last hut the dinst the salt bait lake tribune of monday morning contained a synopsis of those remarks remark and later in the day addressed president woodruff a letter containing three queries regarding the meaning of certain passages in its report atio be the same evening forwarded a bi bile lei reply both letters appear la in the trib une of this tuesday morning and the reproduces them for the reason that we the latter day saints gen krally will be much interested in and ought to be informed of the indue t and toe the correspond ence the IrV bune letter was as foll follows SALT LAKE CITY sept 24 1894 wilford woodruff president of 0 the church of jesus christ of latter iatter day saints dear sir heretofore the tribune has ban reported you and others in authority in your church as giving utterance to lo the sentiment that the mormon people ought to divide upon national party lines according to the political sentiments which each man might entertain without interference in any way from e officials official ot of your church in that matter frequently has that utterance been given and the public has bag come to rely upon it as fixed and final now however this feeling of safety from church interference in fr polities politics 0 1 ii has been disturbed and a fresh 1 sh of unrest introduced by a report which appeared in the tribune this morning of your remarks yesterday at provo the report was made by a man in complete sympathy with yourself so far as church affairs go and who it is certain would refuse to misreport mia report you in any way sub subsequent ze quent inquiry develops that he is confident in the accuracy of his report of your remarks as he understood i hem the portion of that report which causes uneasiness to is the following bit it la is generally thought the first presidency should have nothing to say about politics he continued 1 I picked gad ached up a paper this mornin morning I 1 saying baying that we had no business to meddle in it politics we have a right to lead the people in spiritual and temporal affairs Weba we have the same rights of leadership that president young had and that the prophet joe joseph in b smith had in temporal affairs yes in political affairs yes tao we have a right to advise both democrats and republicans to I 1 lead ead a pure campaign W e have a right to say to the people that they must be pure in politics as well weli as lu iu temporal aff affairs alre we have thousands of children growing to manhood in zion I 1 am interested in their welfare and I 1 would like to see them brought up under proper influences fluen ces and not under the influence of such a campaign as we had bad two years ago the purpose of this inquiry is ia to ascertain with exactness first whether your remarks were precisely an aa reported and if not wherein they depart from precision second if the remarks were as reported then in what sense dodou do you wish them to be understood whether as a claim to control the political actions of your people absolutely or only as a citizen to advise the right third the claim is apparently made in your remarks that the church authorities claim the right to direct the people in their business and po politico litteR and 1 in general their temporal affairs as well as 8 spiritual pi ritual it to Is desirable to know whether this claim is really made and insisted upon at this time and is in to be in the future while the public has been led to believe that claim a thing of the past most respects respectfully ully TRIBUNE publishing co WOODRUFFS REPLY president woodruff replied to the above queries as follow fol lowe salt lake gentlemen answering the first question in your note I 1 have to say that I 1 believe the extract you quote from your report ot of my remarks at provo is sub ly correct to the second my reply is that the control of the political actions of our people absolutely is not setup as a claim in my remarks and I 1 certainly would not wish them to be so understood I 1 hold thatis that it in ia the right of the priesthood to advise at any and all times and under any circumstances those who profess to respect its powers in all matters pertaining to their temporal p ral welfare and their spiritual salvation azon it in the th matter of politics that the latter day saints should be governed verned by pure principles and in political governed Fo affairs should realize and act upon their responsibilities as saints and citizens this thesis is not to claim clai ruthe the right to advise them how or for whom they should vote or which party they should join we emphatically arid and sincerely approved the division of the mormon people on party lines and we recognize every mans agency and respect his right to choose in these matters for himself we have not advised and do not advise our people how they shall vote the elections that have been held in this territory since polities politics on national pary lines was introduced are proof 0 0 f of this policy we have asked no ve republican p publican lub lican to vote the democratic ticket and no democrat to vote the republican ticket we have never advised men to vote other than their convictions prompted them and have no intention of giving such advice at the same time we claim the right both as individuals and as leaders of the church to counsel our people to keep aloof from the corruption the scandal and the filth of polities politics as too frequently practiced in the world to set an example in this as in other things and it IL to is in this sense that I 1 wish to be understood as asserting the right of the priesthood to give counsel in political affairs As citizens we have the right of opinion and of speech we also have responsibilities and M dut duties lesto to ourselves oure elves and to others bat until the foregoing oan can be construed as meddling in politics I 1 shall be unable to find g ground ad for the uneasiness of which you k however in the light of ef this statement of my meaning and views view I 1 r trust there can be no further cause of anxiety or unrest I 1 assure you there is no foundation for it if yours respectfully WILFORD wo |
