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Show A BRAVE REPUBLICAN. One of the ablest and most closed anab'tioal articles of the long scries now appcariug in American newspapers newspa-pers on tho Smoot case, is reprinted in this issue of Tho Tribune from - tho Washington (Indiana) Herald. Tho writer must have been intonsob' watchful watch-ful in tho progress of the Smoot investigation in-vestigation and must bo possessed of fino perceptive qualities as well as a most courageous individuality to thus present the case to the readera of his Republican journal. Doubtless tho Herald editor, in addition addi-tion to tho thoughts exprossed by him" ou this subject, has a serious sense of the Republiacn responsibility, perhaps innocently assumed but now willfulb' carricd, in the allianco which ho assumes as-sumes has been made with tho Mormon Mor-mon hierarch3 What might havo boon a perfectly natural political suggestion, merely advantageous to tho party in whose behalf it was made, has becomo a most dangerous menace to that party's standing in this country. So long as the crimes against statute b3' the Mormon hierarclvy and the treasonable trea-sonable character of the organization wore unrevealed to tho public gaze, theru was apparently nothing offensive to morals or political ethics in tho acceptance ac-ceptance of political aid from tho leaders lead-ers of tho church; but when such political po-litical aid extended by them demandB in return, protection of them in their offenses againBt civilization, the Republican Re-publican party must be aware that its continuod affiliation will be tho occasion occa-sion of an uprising of Bontiment within its own ranks against" tho admission and retention of the Mormon church into a partnership iu porpctuit'. As wiaeb' remarked by the editor of the Herald, tho complaint is not against Reed Smoot tho man, but against the practices for which ho is responsible. To escape from his accountability iB impossible ao long 38 he remains a member mem-ber of tho governing body of tho Mormon Mor-mon church. To affect in Washington a devotion to American ideals and to aland in Utah as tho living exponent of tho blaaphcmous claims of Joseph P. Smith nnd tho intense defender of tho Oriental practices of Joseph F. Smith, conatituto a dual rolo which no American Senator should bo permitted to play. Reed Smoot has hia opportunity opportu-nity to bo a citizen of tho United States or a member of the trnitoroim and criminal organization known as tho Mormon hiontrcltf-. Whon he chooses to ho both, he delibernteby renounces his devotion to the country and demonstrates demon-strates thnt ho holds his obligations and his opportunities ns a chief of the polygamous cult in Bupcrior ostoem. No man can bo both a loyal, lawa.biding, patriotism-inculcating citizon of this countr3', and at the samo time a responsible re-sponsible protector of the chiefs of tho Mormon church, who have violated their covenant to the county, who def' tho laws of the State and the nentimentali-ties nentimentali-ties of the Nation nnd who speak of the Government and the people of the United States as their "cnemios." Sinco a man cannot, be both or perform per-form both, his attompt at the maintenance mainte-nance of tho two positions is at once an effort to evade or mislead public judgment; and beneath that is a confession con-fession that if exposed and required to mako his choice ho would hold lo his law-breaking cult rather than to his patriotism. In fact, when Rood Smoot was driven into a corner at Washington, ho said that in such an issue ho would go to some other country meaning thereby that ho would not desert the bogus prophots of this criminal organization, in which organization it is an early cx-poctanc3 cx-poctanc3 that he will be tho chief. The people of Utah thank the Washington Wash-ington (Indiana) Herald for its splendid outspokenness in this case. More Republicanism Re-publicanism like that of the Herald is needed in the Nation in this hour of trial. |
