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Show To the Morrno x Joseph F. Smith, president of the Mormon church, has issued this voting order ' to the Democratic Mormons of the .church: '. ' 1 r ' ; "Just now thera is a tendency among some of the thoughtless young men to' sympathize sym-pathize with the fight against the church authorities waged by the assassins of virtue, . the'supporters of vice, and riot'and wine and iewd women, gambling, - robbery and general corruption. It is a senseless tendency, and they. who. follow it wilLdo so to their own destruction.-- At'the present time we are about; to make'ioice of some po-" litical leaders. - It is scarcely necessary to say that a man - who has the interest of r himself and his people at heart,:, will choose his friends. , Who are our friends? lien . who have kept informed on the trend of affairs in the Nation for the past' two years . or more may easily surmise; To vote any other way would be ungracious, against our , own best interests, and would show a spirit of ungraciousness such as this people do i not naturally possess. 'Wherefore, by their fruits ye: shall know. them. ; ' ; ; "ijv . ... - V JOSEPH P. S1IITH.' . -President Smith until now. has maintained that church leaders are not mixing in poUtics. DOES THIS VOTING ORDER MEAN THAT PRESIDENT SMTH; HAS THROWN OFF THE MASK AND IS NOW DOING POLITICS IN THE open?. . : -: ::, -:. '-yr- ; It is known that when an interviewer, wishes to obtain 'President Smith's opinion for publication on any subject, he is invited to see Apostle -Smoot; This means that Smoot is in the saddle, not" only in the so-called -Republican- organization organiza-tion but.in the church organization asVvvell ; .. y. ' " ' r - r , . v From . President Smith downr the church leaders are invoking the aid of heaven v and earth to run the Democratic Xlormon voters into the Smoot ranks: Already the Democratic Uormohs are in revolt.; ' ' - ' ' ; ' ::" The letter instructing the Mormons, to .vote for, the Smoot' .Republican ticket : is , an insult to the intelbgepeeof everyIormon,in the State "Congressman . Juttlefield. ? v-- -YTe;m Hvmgitody TmderUhe Constitution of the United States, and "so are the people of Utah under that Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Utah. If I-understand it aright, every person in Utah, male or female, 21 YEARS OP AGE, EITHER IN OR OUT OP ANY CHURCH, IS A CITIZEN OP THE UNITED STATES AND IS ENTITLED TO THE FREE, FAIR, INTELLIGENT AND ' UNTRAMMELED EXERCISE OF THE RIGHTS OF AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. "AND I SHOULD DEGRADE MYSELF IF I MADE ANY APPEAL FROM . THIS PLATFORM TO -ANY CITIZEN OP THIS STATE THAT SHALL IMPOSE IM-POSE ANY PREJUDICE, POLITICAL, RACIAL, RELIGIOUS OR OTHER-WISE," OTHER-WISE," , If Mr. Littlefield is right, then President Smith, through his letter of instruction, instruc-tion, simply brands the lay members of his church as serfs. Thousands of Democratic Demo-cratic Mormons will not brook this insult, and they would not be men if they did. Suppose, Mr. Sutherland, that you were a member of Bishop Scanlan's church, and that you were a Democrat. What would you do if Bishop Scanlan should issue such a voting order to the members of his flock as President Smith has issued to his churchmen? ' 7 . Suppose, Mr. Salisbury, that you were an Episcopalian, and Bishop Spalding were to give you an order, similar to that of President Smith's, to vote the Democratic Demo-cratic ticket? "Would you follow that order? Would you not feel that the greatest insult that man could perpetrate had been thrown in your face? If you were a man you would feel that way. That's the way Mr. Littlefield would feel. ' Then, put yourself in the place of the Democratic Mormon. How he must feel if he is a free American citizen. Just think this over, Mr. Democratic Mormon. |