| OCR Text |
Show THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE. Tho paramount issue . in Utah this year is tho redemption of this county from tho clutches of a treacherous, lawless, law-less, and treasonable hierarchy. Thoso who" claim that tho great issue is tho Presidential campaign will havo to show a greater rcason'for their opinion opin-ion than appears in cither ofThc party platforms or the Bpoutmgs'of" tho campaign cam-paign orators. As long ns the ears of tho public are dinned daily with protestations pro-testations on the onc sido from Taft and on tho other from Bryan that onc or tho other is tho true heir to tho Roosevelt policies, and that, the Roose-volt Roose-volt policies are tho issue of tho campaign, cam-paign, and both sides claiming to bo tho trno exponent and tho right agency through which thoso policies can bo carried car-ried out, it is impossible to get up much enthusiasm either for Taft or for Bryan. Tho chief rivalry between tho two National parties this year acems to bo as" to which should bo tho most "radical in declaring against trusts, monopolies, nnd tho criminally rich. nnd at tho same timo on tho quiet persuading tho trusts, combines, and criminally rich-that they aro not to be particular' interfered with, no matter how the. election goes. Tho peoplo at large, therefore, must necessarily take rathcrn languid inter'-" est in tho whole matter. : But here in this county we have a live, burning issue, the question of individual in-dividual freedom, of civic supremacy over ecclesiastical pretensions and dominance. domi-nance. Here wo havo to -emancipate the peoplo from a corrupt and vicious ecclesiastical thralldom. The question comes right home to every citizen, and is the only live, real issue that is now beforo tho American peoplo in an' locality lo-cality of the country. . Here we have to fight anew tho battlo of liberty. Nowhere No-where else in this country is there an ecclesiastical hiorarchj' in control of pol- diction in the name of God over tho temporal affairs of mankind. "The fact of tho matter is, when a man says you can direct mo spiritual!-, but not temporally, ho lies in the presence of God," is the defiant proclamation of Joseph IP. Smith, tho president' of the Mormon church. And with that as tho issue, openly proclaimed, plainly acted upon, and this samo president of tho church coming out openly and turning tho church conference con-ference into a political ratification meeting meet-ing in behalf of tho Republican candidates, candi-dates, what is the sense of talking about tho puerile divisions on National lines that mean practically nothing, that hnvo no vitality in them, nor earnestness or distinction, no call- of force or effectiveness 7 What doos it amount to to any citizen hero to listen to tho clamor as between Taft and Bryan that the one or the other is better bet-ter fitted to carry out tho purposes, plans and programme mapped ouf. Ivv Prnsideut Roosevelt? It is mere froth and mouthing. There is nothing to it. ' Wo havo hero a live, vital issue of immediate and tremendous importance to ever- voter. And on this issuo tho fight will be 'maintained, and will be fought until victory is obtained. We will obtain it in this county this .year, aud gradually Americanism will spread to the various counties of tho State until Utah is redeemed from tho ecclesiastical eccle-siastical clutches, from the dominance of tho selfish, lawless, adulterous, robbing rob-bing priesthood. And until thnt final victory is achieved, it is idle to talk to tho people of Utah about some wishy-washy wishy-washy National issues that arc no i&sucs at all. ing. no must be sorry that ho came, and certainly his coming wan of no. advantage to the causo which ho ca'mo hero to represent. |