Show r I J 1 OUR CONDITION S Utah is an anomaly in politics Most j iCi 1 of her people have come here on account of their religion and comparatively few I TJi have thought of much else and for polt Ir tics have cared less than is usual with t those going to a new country Doubtless the first great rcquisite to political and intellectual I in-tellectual enlightenment and advance I 4 I tinent is a material advancement and I heretofore the people of Utah have dedicated i dedi-cated their energies to improving their physical condition being well content tot i 1 r to-t leave to others the control of their spiritual spirit-ual and political welfare The reason fort for-t this in in great part I to be found in the fact that the majority of Utahs inhabitants in-habitants have come from countries I where their lot was poverty and in L whose government they had no participation participa-tion in any way whatsoever Coming direct di-rect from European countries to Utah they have had no familiarity with American Ameri-can institutions and in Utah they have found all things dominated by the church to which they belong To learn the American idea i of government they have I i I gone to their spiritual leaders and those I leaders have taught them that the more t nearly our Government approximates to the ideas of the Old Testament the more r nearly it approaches to the ideas of its founders and that when the President nnd Congress and Supreme Court have departed from the interpretation of the Constitution given by l the I church authorities i authori-ties the Government authorities haveS i have-S depaitcd from the true idea I of the American Government This is i not strange when we remember that those who have come from foreign countries have gained their knowledge of American institutions through Mormon elders who have told them that in the United States the New Jerusalem was to he established and that for this purpose God inspired the men of the Revolution 4 and the founders of the Government to establish a free government upon the earth Indirectly then the Mormon people peo-ple have come to think that this Government Govern-ment was established for them and that p c t at is built 1 upon the I theory of universal suffrage that each man may help to hasten forward the time when Christ shall come to reign Believing this it 1 was but natural that they should surrender surren-der to their spiritual leaders the direction di-rection of their elective franchise as I that franchise was given them for a I 1 1 1 1 111a1 purpose anu tneir ecclesiastical 1 heads are divinely inspired to direct and nay what that purpose is They have not arisen to a comprehension of the fact that universal suffrage is given in America to I S preserve to all citizens without reference to their religious persuasion their political politi-cal rights without which there can be C t no freedom as in ihe preservation of civil and political rights is the safety of religious rights The exercise of political rights is the exercise of physical force while the exercise of religious rights is the exercise of moral force but when these two are exercised together the intolerance t in-tolerance of religion makes the force of I politics an engine of intolerance and I tyranny and oppression In such cases J the Church directs and the State obeys and those who are in authority have power and pomp while those who are not t1 have persecution Can it be otherwise i t other-wise when that which claims to t i be infallible controls that which is fallible It is the theory of the survival of the fittest and the right of the strongest to rule put in practice The mind must ever rule the body and when there is a union of Church and State the I Church will be the mind This has been r 1 our condition in Utah and is so largely today but things are slowly assuming a different aspect and those who have I thought that in the supremacy of their church laj their protection are beginning begin-ning to that in I see the supremacy of any church there is a danger to the very I i > > 1 power which protects the church If the civil power shall become subordinate to the ecclesiastical power there is no certainty cer-tainty as to which denomination will i control and in the conflict that V would ensue to obtain this control many churches which now live would be lost Tins the people of Utah the Mormon people we mean are slowly but surely 0 recognizing It is true that they have j not voluntarily learned this but experience experi-ence is fast teaching it to them and now they look upon a far wider field than the al I one to which they have heretofore been used The successful endeavor to enforce the laws has brought about this change and error in regard to the law and the t government will always exist where the law is allowed to be overridden The people here are learning that the law is 4 the will of the people formulated and enforced and that it is no abstract 4 I i tiling coming from we know not where and that the true and only legitimate I I manner of changing the law is to change the minds of the people 1 When it is desirable II de-sirable to have n change in the law the means for effecting this is not by petition and protest to those who are merely its ministers but through agitation and appeal j ap-peal to the people who elect those who administer the law NVlien the people of I to Utah recognize these facts and act in L accordance with them our troubles in this Territory will have come to an end i All questions will not be settled for as time rolls on new questions will ever arise and it is for the good of I p mankind that they should but B the method of settling set-tling them will be known which is the lft C I end of all j great government For political politi-cal l communities to be without agitation I is for them to be in a state of stagnation I and polititical stagnation is civil death I |