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Show DEFENDS CHAIRMAN SPRY. Again our mossback friend comes to tho rescue, In the following hidebound letter: Salt Lake City. Utah, Sept. 30, 1904. To the Editor of Tho Trlbuno: It pains nic to obscrvo that Tho Trlbuno has gone out of Us way to crlticiso Chairman Chair-man Spry for his announcement that he would secure the voles of two Mormon Democrats for overy Republican Mormon who voted tho American party ticket. Perhaps it was unwise for Chairman Spry to have mado such an announcement In tho presence of a reporter, but no ono will deny tho truth of Chairman Spry's remark. re-mark. Tlio time has come when wo Mormons Mor-mons mul throw off tho guiso of subservience sub-servience to mere man-made, laws In Utah and tho United States and assert tho right granted us under tho Constitution to worship wor-ship God according to tho dictates of our own conscience and to voto only for such men who worship God in tho samo way. Why should any good Mormon bo ashamed to havo It known that ho believes be-lieves In tho dlvlno revelations handed down by God himself to Joseph Smith, tho prophet? Don't wo know that theso revelations reve-lations aro truo, and don't wo know that such revelations aro received today as thoy wero received in tho days of Joseph? Even in other churches revelations aro ro-celved ro-celved Just as ours was, and today John Alexander Dowlo hoa revealed to tho world that ho Is tho Incarnation of tho second Elijah? And why not? Isn't it Just as likely that ho has had a revelation today as that Joseph had ono sixty years ago. counseling and advising polygamy of all truo members of tho truo faith? I moroly cito theso facts to prove that wo havo a right to elect Mormons to whatsoever ofllco we chooso to select for them. Why shouldn't wo? Haven't wo a majority of tho citizens of Utah and aro thero any real good citizens outside of tho Mormon church fit to fill the offices within tho gift of tho peoplo of tho commonwealth? common-wealth? Let tho American party organlzo, and lot It preach against polygamy and church Influence If It desires, but lot It remember that wo who bcllovo In polygamy and church influence In all tho affairs of llfo havo suffered, and arc willing to suffer again, for our faith, if It should bo necessary, neces-sary, i But let me say to those who aro criticising criti-cising Apostlo Smoot and casting slurs upon that grand old patriarch, Joseph F. Smith, that wo cannot bo persecuted now as wo were fifty years ago. Wo own temples and stores and strcot car lines and banks, and If the people of the United States think that they can bulldoze us Into the belief that wo have not a right to follow tho rovclatlons that havo come down to us from God, thoy aro away off. Let thero bo no mistake about this. Tho leadorB of the church aro In harmony on the questions that aro now before tho people, peo-ple, and Reed Smoot has not done, and Is not doing, anything but what has been approved by us In our quorum. As a body wo apostles stand together as tho servants ser-vants of God; and when It comes to a question of whether a Mormon Democrat or Mormon Republican shall voto one way or tho other, wo can assure our friends, tho enemies In the American party, that Mormons generally will voto as the Mormon apostles dictate. It Ic all very well to talk about ten thousand thou-sand Mormons bolting because of dictation dicta-tion of tho church, but If they do it Is' because be-cause they aro not true Mormons, and arc not polygamlsts. No Mormon polygamlst polyga-mlst and all tho best and truest Mormons Mor-mons aro polygamlsts dares to disobey tho dictation of the church In politics or In anv other affair of life. And why Is this true? It Is true because be-cause there Is no other place In tho United States whero a polygamlst holds up his head with self-respect In any community. Ho must llvo in Utah or surrender polygamy. polyg-amy. No truo Mormon will give up his plural wives, and hence you sco no matter mat-ter how the polygamlst may be disciplined by tho church ho comes back Into the fold at the first opportunity. Ho must do It. Ho cannot live anywhere clso and openly admit that ho has more than ono wife, without going to jail. Gentiles who Imagine that somo few non-polygamlst Mormons represent anything any-thing like the sentiment of tho church on polygamy and church Influence, know vory little of what they are talking about Polygamy and divine rovclatlons aro tho corner-stones of truo Mormonisra, and all truo Mormons believe In and practlco them, and will continuo to do so dcsplto any puny man-mado laws of Utah or tho United States. All may remember how Moses Thatcher was divested of his high ofllco in tho Mormon church, and how humiliated ho was before the membership of tho church, yet all know Moses Thatcher was a polygamlst, polyg-amlst, and after ho was out ho never rcst-. rcst-. cd until he returned to tho church, and is today In good standing although tho only member whe does not hold an office. Perhaps Per-haps you have not forgotten Brlgham II. Roberts. He also voted against tho church. He. too, was a polygamlst, and it only needod a short time to bring him back into tho fold of the church and even restore hlra to his old place as ono of tho teachers. The fact is, the church has an everlasting everlast-ing hold dn its polygamlst members, and if it calls upon any member of the organization organ-ization to voto one way or another that voto will be cast as directed by tho aposr ties of tho church. Chairman Spry will secure two Mormon Democrats to vote tho Republican ticket in every ward and pro-clnct pro-clnct whoro thoy aro needed, to every Gen-tllo Gen-tllo Republican who bolts It, and if moro are necessary he will get them too. Furthermore, lot it be known that nono of the quorum of apostles is sweating blood through Inactivity In politics, and especially not Apostlo Smoot and, very truly yours, C. W. P. We arc sorry to see that our former admonitions to this orrlng correspondent correspond-ent have fallen upon such (barTen ground. We advised him on the occasion occa-sion of his former letter to come out of the dark woods and fens In which he has lingered so long, shake some of the moss off his back, take a breath of free vAmerlcan air, and endeavor to catch up with the prcessIon. But we see thi.t the writer does not realize his position, or the atrocity of his claims. For heroic, unblushing ef frontery this letter Is even worse than his former one. To claim that the only trouble with Mr. Spry's declaration of church control of Mormon Democrats so that they will be obliged to vote the Smoot ticket In order to offset the loss of Gentile Republican Re-publican votes, Is to show an obtuse-ness obtuse-ness to the true relations of things that one would suppose even a confirmed mossback would realize. To claim that the Mormons must stick together, vote as the priesthood directs, hold fast only to the brethren, and sink their Individuality in tho "counsel" they receive as a divine command, com-mand, is to take the back track on civilization, civil-ization, and try to reverse the progress of the last thousand years. Attendance on the semi-annual Mormon Mor-mon conferences and neighborhood funerals fu-nerals must havo been the sole and deep dissipations of the writer's life. A cup of strong coffee would no doubt make him tipsy, and even moro garrulous, garru-lous, than nature Intended. But In considering con-sidering the great scheme of naturo ono must doubt onco In a whilo tho benefi-cenco benefi-cenco of the Creator in conferring tho gift of language so indiscriminately that evory one seems to consider It necessary ne-cessary to talk, even though ho has nothing to say. In commenting on a former letter to this correspondent, wo advised him to como out and see the world; to get In touch with modern civilization. But now we think that counsel was 111 advised. ad-vised. He ought to stay as closely at home as possible, lest he get run over In the rush of the streets. He has, It Is true, always been out of date, always out of harmony with tho age he lives In, no matter how closely he may have been lu harmony with his quorum. But now he is more hopelessly In tho rear than ever, and it Is Idle for him to hope to catch up. He should take a mild but exhilarating dose of pennyroyal tea, crawl Into his blankets, as Usual without undressing, and snooze away another decade. |