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Show THE AWFUL OUTRAGE! Tho mud volcano lias beguu another eruption, mid (his ouo is fierce and hot. What stirred it up? Nothing, only that a circular has been sent out by somebody showing Unit a large number of the leading ehuivli officials, including Pros'idcnt Joseph !'. Smith. have wiMnn two years past declared for prohibition. And this is denounced by the dishonest Smoot orgau as a Democratic trick, aud as an nfteinpl to "drag tho church into polities." and so altogether vicious and reprehensible. repre-hensible. But those who have been iu Utah for some years do not forgot I he "Nuggets "Nug-gets of Truth" got out in bchulf of the Republican party. The aim of that little circular was to show that the sentiment and policy of the Mormon leaders from tho first settlement in Utah has been idenjical with the Republican Re-publican polic3' of home mnnufacturo and protection. Thai, of course, was not an attempt to "drag tho church inlo polif ices! " Oh, no! That was simply sim-ply a political maneuver completely jus-tilicd. jus-tilicd. What .-justified itV Nothing except ex-cept tho fact I hat it was in the interest in-terest of tho .Republican parly. And so the Republican party has kept the church in politics all the time since, in its own interest, openly and almost avowedly. It might as well' havo been an open avowal, loo, because there was not the least secrecy about it, though false denials havo been frequent. There has never at any liino been any cessation cessa-tion of I his use of the church in politics poli-tics by tho Republican party. This has been so uolorious that tho charge that the church Republican party as managed in recent ycart, has been prae-fieally prae-fieally the same (liing as the old People's Peo-ple's party, alias the Mormon party, has often been made and can not hon estly be denied. That is, it is the means whorclvr the church exercises its political aud civil influence. But now Democrats have hud .tho lc-ineriiy lc-ineriiy to couio out and undertake to use expressions and bent iinenfs of the' chuiidi leaders in favor of their own party's prohibition plank and in effect ef-fect against the Republican parly. What an enormous sin this is! What u horrible attack upon .the church it is to "drag it into politics" Democratic politics. The Republican parly plot-tors plot-tors who have had the church up lo its cars in politics ever since Statehood, State-hood, and cveu before, must indeed bo shocked at tho idea of dragging the church into politics! What dumnnblc, stinking hypocrisy it all is! Here is a church Republican party which is the partisan agency of the church for political and civil purposes, pur-poses, making an outcry that-tho church is being "dragged into politics"; this merely because in tho interest of the Democratic party somebody bus got out a circular showing the position of church loaders on the prohibition question. ques-tion. Out upon such shameless hypocrisy! hypoc-risy! It is, of course, a scandal to have tho church' dominating the polities of the State. But surely it can be no worse for the Democratic party to seek church baekiug once in a while than for the Republican party to receive church baekiug all tho time. The only true rule is the American rule; that the church should keep to its spiritual work, (if it has any, and if not, disband,) and let politics and civil affairs alone. And tho strict obscrv.-anoc obscrv.-anoc of that rule is all that can ever bring peace fo Utah; that ami the equal enforcement of the laws, without fear or favor. |