| Show THE NEXT PRESIDENT I Manner In Which He Will Be Selected Se-lected Described AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT IS NO FIXED RULE nr TEE CHURCH Lorenzo Snow the President of the Quorum of Apostles Will Undoubtedly Un-doubtedly Become the Read of the ChurchAction May Be Taken In October or Delayed Indefinitely Ever since the celebration of President PresI-dent Woodruffs nInetieth birthday on March I 1897 there has been speculation specu-lation as to President Woodruffs successor suc-cessor and the manner in which the selection would be made It was seen that he could not live many years longer lon-ger the natural order of things although al-though his vitality was marvelous After Af-ter the pioneer jubilee last year he became ill and fears of his recovery were entertained but he regained his acc 2tomed health and not long ago took part in the dedicatory exercises at PIoneer square But his health was failing and this trIp to California was taken in the hope that he might recuperate recu-perate During ali this perIod the discussion regarding hIs successor has been going on outsIde the church the mat irity holding that the president of the quorum quo-rum of apostles succeeding to the presidency pres-idency of the church by vIrtue of that office while others contended that any selection from the quorum might be madeMl Ml OFFICIAL STATEMENT To get an official statement of the matter The Herald yesterday secured this brief and clear revIew of the subject sub-ject from one of the church authorities authorized to speak When the president of the church dies or is removed for any cause the first presidency is at once dissolved and the council of the apostles then forms a body equal in authority to the first presidency and succeeds to that position without further action thus becoming in fact the presidency of the church The president of the quorum of apostles Lorenzo Snow then becomes virtually the bead of the church as he Is the head of the quorum When that body decides that tile first presidency presi-dency shall be reorganized it reaches the conclusion by its own vote and reorganizes the presIdency by choos ing the president by unanimous vote The president then chooses his first and second counselors with the approval ap-proval of the apostles the new presidency presi-dency thus chosen must then be presented pre-sented to the church at the general conference and when sustained by the vote of the church the reorganization I of the presidency Is complete and effective ef-fective It takes the vote of the body to institute the presIding authorIties a fundamental principle being that all things In this church shall be done by common consent APOSTLES TO ASSEMBLE AT ONCE After the death or removal of the I president his two counselors serve ad interim and carry on the business of the church until the apostles can assemble as-semble which Is at the earliest possible pos-sible moment after the vacancy occurs This Quorum wlll come together at once just as soon as word reaches them and as they are nearly all close to the city this will not be delayed at all In this case The apostles then assume as-sume the authority before indicated and mayor may not elect a new president presI-dent at once In this election however the vote must be unanimous COUNSELORS BECOME APOSTLES ONLY Presidents Cannon and Smith become be-come simply apostles when that quorum quor-um assumes charge THE PRESIDENTS As to the selection of the president there is no fixed rule of the church regarding re-garding the successorship although so t y tlr7 I 2 T 1 S t i l > 1r I i i I 2Ip S J 5 l j I r < 11 l jl S S r A l y S FOuR GENERATIONS President Woodruff Wilford Woodruff jr Wilford S Woodruff and iWllford C WoodruffPhoto waken bY Johnson aug 61 1897 I j 4N k i lMN far the president of the twelve has In each case been elected to the vacancy I and presumably President Lorenzo Snow will be thus selected However action on that matter may be delayed n considerable time In the case of President Young It was three years after the death of Joseph Smith before he became president It was also three years after the death of President Young before John Taylor was chosen During the period intervening they were presidents of the quorum of apostles I THE OCTOBER CONFERENCE In this instance it remains to be seen if the election will take place at I once If It should the new presidency will be presented to the general conference con-ference which convenes on Oct 6 The quorum of apostles will now really consIst of 14 members Presidents Cannon Can-non and Smith beIng added to it and with the reorganization the selection of the president and two counselors from the quorum will leave one vacancy va-cancy in the twelve to be filled i CHANGES IN THE TWELVE There Is however practically no doubt but that the precedents will be followed and that President Lprenzo Snow of the quorum of apostles will be elected to the presidency and will be succeeded by Franklin D Richards as president of the quorum of the twelve It Is possible that the apostles may assemble today as word was sent to all of them yesterday morning but It is more likely that they will not assume as-sume charge until the remains arrive here Sunday with President Cannon if i f |
