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Show INHARMONIOUS HARMONY. A noteworthy thing in the speeches of Democratic day at Saltair wan the harmonious uniformity of their contra-dictoriness. contra-dictoriness. Ever' one admitted church interference in politics, nnd most of them denounced it; and 601110 of them, whilo really admitting and fiorcely condemning it, actually had tho gall to deny that it existed. Dr Conroy of Ogden atalcd that the D.omocrntic .party in Sujt. Lake was beaten, last year by tho rankest kind of injustice, by whisperings, and subterfuge; sub-terfuge; that is to say, tho usual moth-ods moth-ods of church influence wero emplo3'ed in that election, according to Dr. Con-ro.V Con-ro.V against tho Democratic party. Dr. Conroy identified this un-American method b' which ,tho Democratic party was beaten in Salt Lake with tho ecclesiastical ec-clesiastical bossism of which Apostlo Reed Smoot is tlio head, and ho resented resent-ed the idea of any man undertaking to control the politics of tho Slate by going go-ing out "clnd with supposedly religious authority lo boss politics." Mr. Roylauco of Provo was enthusiastic enthusi-astic against fusion, and also against U10 "Republican poctmaster at Provo drawing $200.00 a month from tho Government whilo spending most of his time running about tho Stnlo on froo transportation fixing up political deals for Reed Smoot." Mr. Movie denounced whisperers and gum-shoers, and charged flatly that tho Republican party had tturned to the church for i Is strength and support. Ho charged that tho Republican party dragged tlio relief societies of the church into tho last city election here, lie denounced the idea of fusing with the "Republicans, but on tho contrary demanded that the Republicans should como to tho support of- tho Democrats this year, on tho same basis that the' last year domanded the Democratic support for thoir candidates; that is to say, then they claimed lo havo the most votes, but that tho election last fall showed that tho Democratic party had tho most votes, thereforo tho Republicans Re-publicans should now go into tho Dom-. ocratic camps. This is good church doctnno whether .used in behalf of the Democratic or" Republican party. It is also tho provailing doctrine here; it is tho doctrine that is actodupon by both parties, tho Republicans voting tho Democratic ticket when "properly" callod upon lo do so, and likewise tho Democrats voting tho Republican ticket whenever tho church counsels it. Mr. Moylo was slriclly in tho swim in his position in thus recognizing fairly and squarely that both parties were mero church activities, each in its special direction, and each subject to the control con-trol of tho church at will. Mr. Pisher Harris also spoko against whispering and gum-shoeing, but was very broad-minded as lo tho rights of religious opinion. Ho is so tolerant as lo tin's thai ho is quito willing to have tho church elect him to office whenever it wishes to do so, and no questions asked and no reproach hurled back. Mr. Roberta mado very much such a speech as ho mado in tho campaign of two years ago against Mr. Howell at Lehi. It ia noleworlhy, however, that ho mado only ono such speech, and whilo repudiating tho idea that the church is in the political field, ho knew, of course, that ho was merely carrying out Reed Smoot 'a programme, whoso long suit is in doing precisely the saino thing that Roborts did. If Messrs. Roberts and Smoot can get tho people to beliovo in spite of all the evidence to tho contrary, that there is no church domination inpolitics horc, then all will bo . well, and tho , church can keep on exercising its political activities through ono or tho other of tho great parties 'and at will, and all will bo Herone, No man has had a moro bitter dose of church interference in politics than Mr. Roberts has had, and it is a most renuirkablo exhibition of gall for him to get up beforo a public audience in Ulali and deny that church influence, especially when sending right along with that denial a howl about the vory thing ho says docs not exist. Tt was a beautiful day, it was a beautiful beau-tiful occasiou, and Iho inharmonious harmony was a beautiful thing to see; and still, tlio thing that cropped out bigger than tho typical doukoy's oars all through was that everybody knew and recognized the fact or church interference inter-ference and control in politics, and moat of them dcuouncod it, especially when it works against tho Democratic party; but in thoso times when it has worked for the Democratic party, these denunciations havo been conspicuously lacking. As to that form of denunciation of church activity in political affairs, "it, is meroly a bogging partisanship and does not' go to 'tho root of tho matter, does not consider tho obnoxiousness of the church interference and control ns a vicious principle n politics and in civil affairs. It is a moro humbug and .pretense;. -The true -way ia to denounce it everywhere, at all times, and upon ovory occasion; to stnmp it out, root and branch, wherever it appears, without with-out (ho least referenco to its effect upon partisan success or partisan failure. fail-ure. Tho sort of denunciation of church influenco in politics that meroly denounces de-nounces it. when it is used-for tho support sup-port of tho opposite party is not worthy of ono moment's attention; an'd until tho Democratic party outgrows that narrow partisan viow with regard to church influenco, it is not worth whilo to give such Democrats much credit for sincerity in Ihia matter. And especially it is not possible lo give them credit for sincerity when they deny tho exercise exer-cise of this church influence, and at. the same time all through tho remarks, of every speaker and in tho moat per-fervid per-fervid emphasis, they admit the exercise exer-cise of that church influence and smart uudor it because it has beaten Chein at the polls. |