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Show in fact a citizen and that he has no place as a law-mater law-mater for the free people of the United States. And' it is for the Mormon leaders to choose whether they will continue to be citizens of the , Mormon kingdom or of the United States, and it is for President Smith and his apostles to consider, first, what they: would do if they were as powerful as the United States is and there was another dominion and organization that defied their government gov-ernment as, they defy the Government pf the United States; and, second, whether it is best for them, to in good faith surrender politically to the rule of the Union, or whether they will keep up this agitation and this wrong against this Nation until all the people of the Nation become as well posted as are the Gentiles of Utah. 1 ' CASE OF APOSTLE SMOOT. ! Commenting on the decision of the Committee 'on Privileges and Elections, the New York Sun says : The committee has" taken much evidence for and against Mr. Smoot. Its decision against him. reached yesterday, must S be accepted as the honest judgment of a majority of the com--mittee's members, who have been convinced of the ineligibility ineligibil-ity of a Mormon -to hold office under the National Govern-. Govern-. . ment. It is incredible that so far-reaching; a principle should 'be solemnly affirmed by such men for mere partisan reasons, or because of the widespread prejudice, largely baed on lg-: lg-: norance and misinformation, which has been shown to exist throughout the Nation against a particular religious sect. The committee did not act on the caae of Burton of Kansas. His case Is of little Importance compared with that of Smoot. - To oust him would simply mean that the Senate did not Intend In-tend to harbor lawbreakers. The Smoot decision means that every member 'of a great and powerful church la under the Senatorial ban.' . Of course that is not fair. There is a Mormon ' member of Congress in Washington. No one has petitioned for '. his dismissal. There has been no ," question of the legality of his position, and the ver-' ver-' diet of the committee in Mr. Smoot's case goes no , "' further than that neither of the fifteen men who ab-i ab-i solutely control the politics of Utah has a right to a seat in the Senate of the United States, because ' they are the chief officers of an organization that claims to be a law unto itself, and men who claim and exercise the right to absolutely rule the Mor- mons in Utah in all political matters. The New York Evening Post takes another ; view. After stating that Mr. Smoot is being made to suffer for the sins of others, the Post says : But Mr. Smoot Is a Mormon. More than that, he is one of the Mormon hierarchy. And against that hierarchy, as a whole, some very damaging evidence has been elicited In the Senate hearings. It has been shown to be not only overween-. overween-. ' lng in Its pretensions of being superior to ,the state, but tricky . in Its policy, untrustworthy in Its promises, and secretly ready to condone, if not encourage, plural marriages. This Is the ; demonstration which has called forth bo strong a demand, from the best people In the country, that Smoot be excluded from the Senate. The feeling Is not directed at him so much as at the system. If it were a question of depriving a man of his , legal rights, or making him personally infamous, we should ' not think a sufficient case had been made out against Mr. Smoot. and should consider the proposed action unjust. But the Senate is the sole Judge of the qualifications of its own '. members. It has a right to say, if It chooses, that It does not think a Mormon apostle fit to be a United States Senator.. , - And it closes its article in these words: i The resolution to exclude the Mormon ' apostle Is obviously ! In response to a strong and Justified public feeling, and will, ' we believe, tend to exalt the power of the Nation over a scheming and defiant hierarchy, and to mark afresh the deter-! deter-! minatlon of this country to stamp out polygamy In Utah. i The Post is in part right, but it does not yet quite understand that polygamy is the lesser sin of f the Mormon church; that the thing in Mormonism , which made it intolerable in Missouri and Illinois, ; and which has kept Utah in a ferment most of the ' time for the past fifty years, is its direct assump-! assump-! tion that it is not bound by the laws of this Repub- ; lie; that it haB a higher claim upon its followers than any allegiance they can give to this Govern- ment, and that it is determined to exercise that " right despite the Government and all its laws. The Mormon leaders . may become impatient when they read in Gentile papers here the criticisms on their lawlessness; but they should keep in mind that, as their organization will not for one hour tol-' tol-' - 1 1 among its own members any opposition to its - ? so the Government of the United States will permit, without perpetual protest, this deter-ion deter-ion on the part of their chiefs to be a law unto . selves and to build up a political kingdom htiv, in the midst of this Republic, which has not "one single attribute of free government in its composition, com-position, and the mission of which is to overthrow free government in the United States. It is a clear case that, were twenty-five more States represented in the Government of the United States as Utah is, this Republic would in an hour . cease to exist, because it would be in the hands of another government that is perfectly organized, ; with its king, its courts, its claim of divine right to rule, its claim to daily communication with God himself, its claim to be the' only legitimate, govern-'.. govern-'.. ment on earth, and which claims were all shadowed forth in the testimony delivered by the president of ' the church before that same Congressional commit- ' - tee.' : ' ' Y And if any member of that system here in Utah, the moment he asserts his personality and his right to think and to act independently, is summoned be- . ,fore a court, and if it is proved before that court that In1 i an independent thinker and he is at once' excoimnuuloated and ostracized, the Mormon lead- era can hardly blame the people of ' the United States when they, having heard fairly the case against-one-of their-apostles, decide that he is not |
