Show TIE CHURCH AKJD POLITICS Comment ou President Wilford Woodruffs Letter Sugar House Sept 26 To the Editor of The Herald The answer of President Woodruff to the Tribune regarding his utterance at Provo recently and the future position po-sition to be maintained by the heads of the Mormon church was manly fair and to the point To say that sea se-a man holds a prominent position In any church is a bar to action or participation partic-ipation on his part In the politics of his country i absurd and foolish in s Y jO > the extreme I hold that i Is not only I his right but that it becomes a part of I hIs sacred duty to affiliate as his Inclinations I In-clinations direct with one or the other of the great national parties that in t the end wholesome laws and good government gov-ernment may be secured to the people I was perfectly right and proper for I President Woodruff to admonish the people over whom he presides to be temperate and govern themselves In reason in discussing during the campaign I cam-paign the issues between the two parties j par-ties In this there was manifest wisdom I wis-dom and forethought in the head of the Mormon people for the people of Utah like other sections of the country are liable to become overheated and unreasonable un-reasonable In the arraignment of party and party Issues often engendering the bitterest kind of illwill between the best of friends which lasts through life and not unfrequently causes the shedding o blood These things should not be and President Woodruff took an opportune time to admonish the people of a few of the evils likely to i grow out of passionate discussions of I party issues I The introduction of politics into the pulpit thus far can have none other I than the best of results But when a prominent church dignitary whether it I Is In the Mormon or any other church uses his church influence In persuading j his followers to accept the doctrines of this or that party or Influence their II vote In any manner in favor of a particular par-ticular candidate from the pulpit then he Is transcending the right of his high prerogative and a halt should at once be called The Sabbath Is n day set apart for the worship qf God and not Mammon On that day let the people assemble to worship and sing the I praises of God and hfs Christ for we I j worship almost too devoutly the other gentleman all the balance of the week Religion and politics never did go together to-gether and they never will There la something so different In their general makeup that they form a poor copart nership The history of the world has demonstrated this fact past peradventure peradven-ture The study of political economy is a laudable pursuit and should be one of the highest aims of every good citizen citi-zen but let them be discussed from a rostrum erected specially for that purpose pur-pose and not for private gain heralded from the sacred altars dedicated to the service of God I I W C A SMOOT J I |