Show WEBER BR COUN COUNTY V AMERICANS DEfiNE DI POSITION IN 1 PLATfORM I When the tho conditions surrounding political affairs aro are such that it becomes necessary and Imperative that Americans should tho tics which havo have theretofore bound them to tho the political parties to which their temperament temperament tem tem- has Inclined them thorn and to to form torm a new political party It is desirable If not incumbent upon them thom that they should set fet forth the causes which have in their calm judgment rendered this severance expedient and morally Imperative declare their actuating motive and purpose and prescribe the tho principles whoso observance will In their opinion boat best remedy the evils of which they complain in order that people of like mind may havo the tho opportunity ity sty which organized operation co-operation affords to help in tb the tho triumph of or those principles and aud to mako make them the tho dominating dorm dom factors In tho body politic To this end the American party of or county in its first county convention does doCs hereby solemnly declare that tho the history of tho the Republican and Democratic parties pasties of or Utah sinco since tho the admission of Utah as a a state demonstrates demon demon- strates that un-American un conditions prevail in tills this state in jn that Utah is dominated by an ecclesiastical tyranny instead of by the tho free flee and enlightened conscience of the people and that both the these o political parties are more Instruments instruments instruments in in- utilized by what has become known and accepted by Americans Americana as the Mormon hierarchy for the perpetuation perpetuation per per- of its power in the tho civil affairs of or this state That this is true is known and understood by all classes of men men Mormon Mormon Jew and Gentile who Gentile who have havo given either eithol cursory or thorough study to tho political developments of or tho the past ten or more years and as keenly understood by mon who vho will 11 not admit it as by tho the mon men of the American party To support this assault upon the thc political integrity of the tho Republican and Democratic parties of Utah it is necessary to but briefly call attention to the thc fact that the thc courso course of events has s amply proven the Republican Re Re- Republican publican party of or Utah to havo been boon tho the pet creation of or President Joseph F. F Smith who ia is ace accepted opted as 38 a divine guido guide by tho the Mormon people In temporal as well as spiritual affairs from tho the time of his early sensational statement statement statement state state- ment In a speech at Salt Lake to tho the effect that he did not blame blamo the Republican congresses for withholding statehood statehood statehood state state- hood from Utah owing to the supposed fa ta facet Jt t that all Mormons were Democrats Democrat down to his hio last equally sensational sensational sensa utterance at the taberna tabernacle le at Salt Lake during the recent semi annual conference thanking God that we were wore now properly represented in congress by Reed Peed Smoot Mormon apostle Republican by Joseph Howell Mormon high Republican priest-Republican and by George Sutherland pliant Republican Jack while the thc Democratic party at tho outset of its career declaring for the absolute separation of church and state and getting that principle incorporated incorporated incorporated Into the tho constitution of Utah has been surely and inconsistently at nt each succeeding state convention receding receding receding re re- re- re ceding from its original attitude on this question until at Its recent state convention held at Logan it refused to re-declare re itself in any manner whatsoever on this vital principle thus proving Its complete completo apostasy from the organic law of our stat And we ask what more complete domination of a state by a church could bo afforded than that a n. church after a a. decade of stubborn resistance on the part of the Democratic party has forced that party to silence on tho the ono one Issue wJ which ch all intelligent and minded honest men mon of or all creeds and parties know to be paramount and without whose I successful solution along the lines of tho the American idea Utah can never nevor become an American state as an American state is understood to bo be by the tho country at largo and by all tho the peoples of tho earth The Tho American party of Weber county therefore hereby declares its purpose to bo one and singular that is to make mako of Weber Vebor county a normal American community dominated not by what has bas been confessed by itself to tobe tobo tobo bo be a dominant church but by the great social metal civil and moral impulses which have havo always been and are aro characteristic characteristic characteristic charac charac- of or tho the people of the tho United States and which have given to them the distinctiveness universally understood to be bo described by the word American as differentiating them from any other people Tho American party of Weber county therefore declares that it will wage a political warfare in behalf of American principles of government until the voice voice of the people shall not longer be suppressed by the tho ipso dixit of ofa ofa ofa a hierarchy but shall be effectively and freely expressed in the government of Weber county and of the thc state of Utah without let or hindrance from any priesthood or on earth Mormon or otherwise The solo sole purpose of tho the American party is to make mako of or county a a. normal American community and as tho the dominance of the state by the church with its flood lood of evils flowing lowing is the solo condition which makes of or Weber count county an un American un-American community the only principle for which tho the American party stands Is tho the real roal separation of church and state as contemplated In the constitution for tor with that separation and the thc loss of political autocracy by tho chiefs of the Mormon church will surely fall the evils of ot polygamy and polygamous polygamous moua living the multiplication of children without rights within the social convention of mankind the tyranny of commerce practiced by moans of extorted tithes the tho persecution of or Individuals for exorcising their God-given God and constitutional right of free speech and the other innumerable monstrous coercions of ot a which preys upon the superstitious fears of its adherents Tho The appeal therefore of or the American party Is to all classes and creeds and as ItS the b benefits of or its mi mission on If possible aro are more vital to the individual Mormon American than to the non non Mormon American it appeals especially and forcibly to the Mormon American for support until the things which stain alike the church and the state shall havo have been removed and become only a 1 reminiscence of history while our beloved Utah shall be known as a commonwealth commonwealth commonwealth com com- where individual freedom Is a sanctity and where a people dwell who stand as adamant against the thc withering hand of oppression In whatsoever guise it may appear Wo We declare our solemn purpose to be not to make war upon the Mormon people but to protect them thorn In the rights vouchsafed to them by constitution and by law that they may be participants to the full to n the splendor of or American Institutions and not the serfs of ot ecclesiastical cc masters who boast upon oath before the world that they live in defiance of the tho laws of or God and man We indorse the state platform of the American party |