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Show ins TEMPORAL RULE, AND BEETS. A reference lo the views of President Joseph F. Smith on his proper functions as the head of the Mormon church, is appropriate at this lime, in view of the publicity given to his connection with the local sugar trust. That connection is both oflicinl and personal. Its effect ef-fect is that he, ns president of the Mormon chinch, is president of the local sugar trust; that is, ho would not have been president of tho sugar trust except ex-cept for his position as president of the Church; ho would not otherwise been thought of in that connection; and of course, he was on .the inside of all of the stock manipulations and waterings. His profits from these manipulations and from the dividends he has received, must be very great. And the control that he has as religious counselor, instructor, in-structor, nnd director of the work and the consciences of those who raise beets for his factories, (they being en masse members of his church, nnd so under his jurisdiction,) gives him a trenicudous levorage over these farmers, which he uses without scruple, to his own advantage. ad-vantage. In the old times, when a ton of beets would buy a hundred pounds of sugar, thcro was oven then a reluctaucc among the farmers to raise beets. The toil of raising beets is very great, and the pay for that toil at .$1.50 per ton is quite meager. For, it must be remembered remem-bered that big crops arc uot the general gen-eral thing, but the exception, and while it can bo shown that in favorable years and on cspeciall' adapted soil, the profits per acre in raising sugar beets arc, under favorablo circumstances, great, it by no means follows that tho-aro tho-aro sp on the- average, yenr by year. On tho contra r3', the farmers often complain com-plain that th 03 do not receive for their crops, enough' to pay them for tho trouble and cost of raising tho beets, and so thc3' openly protest in the planting plant-ing seasons and do not want to plant tho beets nccessaiy to keep tho factories in operation. It is hero that Smith comes in strong. Jle tells the farmers, when they complain and protest, that tho3' should raise the beets; that it is their duty to do so, nnd that the original orig-inal investments nnd the communit3''s interests will suffer if they don't raise enough beets to kcop the factories running, run-ning, nnd as their spiritual director he urges submission on their part; so tho3' fool that the3' -'to obliged lo obc3 and always raise enough beets to run tho factories. In this connccliou it should be pointed out that President Smith uses his church suprcmac3- lo his own personal advantage, considering this to be entirely propor; for it will be remembered re-membered that a few .years ago in an address in Provo, he squarel.y staled, as an iuspirod man of God. as a. "prophet, seer, and rcvclator," that the man who couccdcd his rights to direct him spiritual- and denied his right to direct him in temporal affairs, lied in the face of God. This was a swooping statement, state-ment, sufficient to cover cver3' possible case, and it covers tho case of the beef, raisers to such an extent; as to get all tho beets that Smith desires. But docs that proposition work both ways? Does the factory via kc all tho beets that the farmers raise under tho pressure brought upon them by their spiritual head of their church? By no means. If it happens that thcro is an abundant crop of beefs, the factory takes only wbaLJt needs, and the farmer is left to carry tho loss, with acres of beets on his hands. There liavo boon times when fields of beefs were not taken because tho factory did not need them. In such cases, of courso, the only thing tho farmer could do was to sell such beets as he could in tho open market mar-ket for tho feeding of stock. It will thus bo seen that the .rule laid down by President Smith, tyrannical and arbilrar3 as it is, works but one way, and that in his favor only. Tho farmer is obligod to obe- tho President's Presi-dent's counsel, and raise beets, even if it doesn't pay him to do so; "but tho President is not obliged to tako the beets unless it suits his convenience. ' And this is the way tho local sugar trust of which Smoot was so fervent in his oulog3', operates 3'car b3r year in its business in Utah and Idaho, and car-rics car-rics out in practice the sa3ing of Smoot that President Smith is tho friend of tho beet-raisers. - |