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Show II Mormon Bishops in Politics I Unmitigated Curse in Idaho ji BY C. E. AENEY. Special to The Tribune. POCATELLO. Ida., Aug. 20. A Mor-mon Mor-mon said to me yesterday: "I doploro the facts that some of our bishops arc inclined to run for office. I do not think , it is rights If they are ambitious for politics, they should resign their blsh-Umi blsh-Umi . oprlc Their identity In politics em- j , , barrasscs the lay Mormon, who recog- l nizes their ecclesiastical superiority." This lias been the great curse of this southeastern Idaho situation for many years. Look back over tho past twclvo or fifteen years and call to mind the ' ' part which the bishops have taken. In our j politics. There has been Bishop "Budge, , BiBhop Parkinson, Bishop Hunt, Bishop J Hart, Bishop Steele, Bishop Ricks, Bishop 1 . Hyde, Bishop Smith. The significant . thing is that these bishops havo all, in j turn, held scats In the Idaho state lcgis- ' lature, and tho names mentioned above aro from the six southeastern counties of Idaho; facetiously referred to as our Um "Little Utah," i. c., Bear Lake, Oneida, i Bingham, Cassia, Bannock and Fremont. Some of these bishops have made- good ', representatives on somo matters. Oth- . ers liave been distinguished grafters. All have obuyed authority. The demand on . them to -abide by the whim of the au- thorlty from Salt Lake was even greater ' on them than as though they had been only elders! They have' bcon responsible j . all of them for the near approach to the enactment of that most vicious of all attempted legislation, a sugar bounty 1)111 They favored this because of the fact that in an adjoining state tho reve- ; lators of their faith held a slight ml- norlty of all the stock of the Utah-Idaho 1 Beet Sugar company. Here in Bannock county Is a flagrant . example of this commingling of privato j intercuts with public service. Here arc Ave high churchmen, all Mor- ' rnons, candidates for party nominations. President Lew Pond of the Gentile Vnl- ... ley stako of Zion aspires to become the P.epubllcun nominee of his party for 1 membership on the board of county com- missloners. Bishop Frank Hunt of tho ; Swan Lake ward of the Mormon church -; seeks the Republican nomination as a ' Bannock county member to the state 1 legislature. Bishop George Fisher of the Bancroft ward of the Church of Jesus UM Christ of Latter-day Saints is a candl- date for the Democratic nomination for the state senate. Bishop Mllo Hendricks UWl ' of tho Pocatcllo ward of the Mormon ; church is trying to be nominated on tho : Democratic ticket as a candidate1 for the ; legislature. Bishop F. II. Bcddlsh of the ' Lund ward of the Church of Zion is a B: '' candidate for the Republican nomination . for assessor of Bannock county. ' There are numerous elders from all parts of Bannock county aspiring for 1 : places on the two tickets, but their : claims for political preferment are less -; : odorous than these men of high ecclcsl- astical caste in the Mormon system. In a question of tho interests of this , church Organization and the people, they ' at once becomo biased parties, and biased in favor of tho Mormon system. They are the higher personages in the ays-H-, tcm. They are compelled to clioose be- H, twecn the church and the state, and. of .' course, they choose for the "religion" of their birth. The system they believe in . to give them proferment In this life and 'j endless happiness In the 'life to come, outweighs the duly which as servants of i an electorate (hey should owo to the ' state! Hv They arc at once In that unhappy Hiatus of trying to "3crvc two masters." BlahqpH should not run for public of- flee. It Is tho great curse of Idaho today. In Bannock county two years ago there was a most flagrant example of the ills attending this practice. This same Bishop Hendricks of the Pocatcllo ward of Zion was a candidate on the Democratic ticket tick-et for assessor. He had nothing save his prestige at tho head of the bishopric bish-opric to recommend him for the office. On tho Republican ticket opposed to him was Charles H. Bassett of Gentile valley, a non-Mormon. He had served the county at intervals for eighteen years as assessor and as treasurer with entire satisfaction to the people and with great credit to himself. The Republicans Re-publicans carried Bannock county by 800 votes, yet Bishop Hendricks defeated Charles Bassett by BOO votes. These are interesting phases of our political system sys-tem in Idaho for study by the voters of tho non-Mormon counties of this prosperous pros-perous young commonwealth. Barney O'Neil's. Pledge. In his interview to the Pocatello Trlbuno Trlb-uno here Monday, Barney F. O'Neil, Republican Re-publican candidate for congress, said this: , "I bellevo that what the people at this time are particularly concerned in Is the proper, careful and businesslike conducting conduct-ing of the state's affairs. Considerable clamor has been raised with a reference to conducting of our land board. This is more than a party issue, and I believe be-lieve that the people are entitled to lenow Just how much truth there is in the serious seri-ous charges that have been made. In ln-terviiws ln-terviiws recently granted I havo unequivocally unequiv-ocally pledged my administration, If elected, elect-ed, to a thorough probing and Investigation Investiga-tion of the conducting of the affairs of that board, and seeing to It tluit the guilty, whomsoever they may be, are properly punished, and that there be returned re-turned to the state any propertv which may have been Illegally or wrongfully appropriated ap-propriated by anyone, by virtue of any political office they may have occupied." Apropos to the shortcomings, the delinquencies delin-quencies and the favoritism attending the present state land board, how does it effect ef-fect the bishops? Are they murmuring or rebelling at the exposure of those frauds? Aro they leaving their people free to Indorse or to condemn these culpable public servants? Is the Indication at present pres-ent promising to a free, untrammeled vote In the six southeastern counties of Idaho? Not so! The bishops are In politics. pol-itics. They are candidates for office to the tunc of five to one county. They are out for the loaves and tho fishes. "Their people feel It incumbent on them to vote for their respective candidacy. Three-fourths Three-fourths of these people are In the Republican Re-publican column today and the grcnt percentage per-centage of these three-fourths nre the boasted herltngo of Brady for governor, no matter what his record Is on the state land board. He lias been obedient to the requirements of the Mormons. He has cemented tho Gooding alliance between be-tween the Republican party and the Mormons Mor-mons and tho bishops all appear to have been advised to "sustain" him as the candidate of tho Republicans for rcnom-inatlon. rcnom-inatlon. The murmuring of the elder referred to at the beginning is a healthful sign. He Is one of many who are disposed to assert their independence, but fear to do so, by name, because of the coercion which would surely follow. It will be Interesting to watch the vote of this southeastern Idaho country on August Au-gust 31 and to see if these live bishops aro "set aside" as party nominees. It will also be of interest to observo the vote on Brady nijd ace how many lay Mormons step aside from the evident designs, of the bishops to give him the lion's chare of their vote |