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Show IT WILL MEAN A STORM. It is certainly true that if the dominant church liero forces or permits the election of Reed Smoot to the Senate it will make the devout Mormon people peo-ple more heart-burnings than they have felt since the Congress of the United States closed its doors against B. H. Roberts. The claims of the Mormon Mor-mon creed will be fully aired by the press and people peo-ple of this country with a discouraging result to Mormons. The American people are strong partisans par-tisans and wrangle without sunt over matters political. At the same time they are very jealous over the full sovereignty of the Republic and not very patient toward those who give to it only a half-hearted fealty. If Apostle Smoot goes to Washington as Senator, his claim for a place there will surely be questioned. He will be asked if it is not true that his first allegiance is to the Mormon Mor-mon creed, if that 'creed has not a temporal as well as a spiritual side and if the temporal part is not founded on the claim that the president of the creed is likewise the chief of a temporal government govern-ment which claims the full fealty of its subjects? He will be questioned touching the authority which, in his estimation, is held by the head of his church, and before they are through with him, the apostle will be forced to admit that his first political politi-cal fealty is to that head of his church. After that, re believe the decision will be that no Mormon Mor-mon apostle is entitled to a place on that floor. With that storm started it will be more and more difficult for Mormon churchmen to obtain places, even though backed by the votes of thousands of willing subjects. It is liable to go further and bring out a resolution that no Mormon can ever hold the office of Senator, on the ground that their fealty is not to the Government, but rather to another an-other government which is Asiatic in all its methods, meth-ods, the very opposite of the free Republic of the United States. The church had better call Mr. Smoot off. |