Show ROOSEVELT AND THE MORMONS in last weeks issus of colliers weekly the following letter from ex president theodore roosevelt to a correspondent of ono one of the big new new york dallies dailies appeared the letter was written in reply to the charges that while president of the united states mr roosevelt entered into a deal with the mormon church for political reasons it is intensely interesting and for that reason we give it to readers of the news ed my dear mr russell Rus seil I 1 thank you for your letter calling my attention to the charges made against me in connection with nn an alleged bargain with the mormon church of utah the letter you enclosed contains a quotation bioni a magazine which states that theodore roosevelt himself made the bargain with the mormon church which exists to this day it then continues that th church agreed to deliver to roosevelt the electoral votes of utah iVy wyoming oming and idaho in exchange for three c i things 1 A cessation of the movement and within the republic ran can party for an amendment to the federal constitution giving to congress the power to legislate concerning plural marriage and polygamous living 2 a defense ot of reed smoot apostle and representative of oc the mormon hierarchy as a senator of the united states and for his retention of liis ills seat in the senate and 3 a disposition of federal patronage in utah and surrounding states iii obedience to the wish of the mormon hierarchy express expressed ad to the federal administration through smoot it is a little difficult to know how to deal with a story like this which is not merely an outrageous lie but one so infamous so absolutely without the smallest parade of foundation that it is utterly impossible that the men making the charge should ie be ignorant of the fact that they ire are lying I 1 never heard of this magazine article and do not know who wrote it but whoever did knew perfectly well that he was lying I 1 have never heard of the writer whose letter you quote but b he e also must know that he is repeating baseless falsehoods the other two ma articles you quote I 1 have not seen but if they in any shape or way resemble the one from which you quote they are equally falser false the accusation is not merely falso but so ludicrous that it is difficult to discuss it seriously of course it is always pos possible to find creatures vile enough to make accusations of this kind the important thin thing to remember is that the men who give currency to the charge whether editors of magazines or the presidents of colleges show themselves in their turn unfit tor for association with decent men J when a they secure the repetition and eft encouragement coil of such scandals scandals bals dals which they perfectly will know to ba be false ot only was no such bargain made 1 by me but equally ot of course no such bargain was made by president taft or by any one who could speak tor for any portion of the republican national organization no such bargain was ever in any way directly or indirectly suggested to or considered by me it I 1 Is not merely an atrocious falsehood but it could by no possibility be anything athing but a falsehood neither the church nor any one on behalf of 0 the I 1 church evor agreed io ilo ael deliver iVr io to me the votes of the states mentioned 0 ailed noi nor to try to do so BO nor r was any allusion to tho the matter ever made to me neither senator smoot nor any other citizen ot of utah was as far as I 1 know j over so much as consulted about the patronage in the states surrounding utah nor did the mormon hierarchy senator smoot or any one else ever express a single wish in connection with that patronage the P appointments were ware made in wyoming and idaho precis precisely ely on the same system as they were made in new jersey and massachusetts and no more a attention was paid to any candidates religious qualifications in one set of states than in another moreover the sahib same policy precisely was followed in utah one senator was a gentile t ile and one a mormon I 1 consulted both generally I 1 found senator smoot more favorable to the cause of conservation than the majority of his colleagues in the senate and on this thise matter I 1 consulted him more freely than I 1 did mos most t other senators although there were some I 1 consulted even more freely than I 1 did him As to there being a cessation of the movement for federal control of marriage including divorce and polygamy so far as I 1 know there never was such cessation personally I 1 have always favored such control there was a strong agitation to give the national government complete control over marriage and divorce this was strongly opposed by a majority of the representatives in the two houses house S of ol 01 congress from the different states and in but two or three instances is it p poss oss t those opposing it whether dew republicans could have been influenced by any thought whatever concerning the mor mon mons personally I 1 then favored the proposal and have always favored t since because I 1 believed and still believe that this Is one of several directions in which the power of the general government could with wath advantage be increased whether or not it is especially needed as reg regards ards polygamous marriages in utah I 1 am not able to say on oil one occasion a number ot of charges were made to the adminis administration while I 1 was president alo about ut these polygamous marriages in idaho and Wyoming as well as utah it being asserted that a num number berol of our federal officials had been po ly married A very thorough and careful investigator was made by the best men in the service into these charges and they were proved to be without so much as the smallest basis in fact it was finally found that a fourth class postmistress whose earnings a year were about ive dollars and who was an old woman had been ardly married some thirty years previously sly but h had ad long ceased living with her husband not only was it found that there was no basis for the accusation as regards the government officials but incidentally it developed that the investigators were unable to find a single case of polygamous marriage entered into since the practice had been sedly abandoned I 1 can note not of course on this point speak generally there may or may not be foundations for the charge of which I 1 know nothing but I 1 can speak as fo n aida anad by thoroughly comp competent at t and government Offic officials lais tv in wyoming idaho to and utah my memory la Is that of another occasion either in arizona or new mexico or both our attention was called caled to cases where there had been polygamous marriages and that the offenders were promptly prosecuted no man ever suggested to me not to prosecute any offender in such a case and I 1 may add that every mormon with whom I 1 I 1 spoke assured me that since the public renunciation of polygamy tho the law had been observed in this re just as in others and no one of them ever so much as hinted to me any desire to plead on behalf of any possible offender of the type I 1 am of mcburse course speaking of oc marriages entered into since the church in question it if it were ever shown to be true that such marriages have been entered into I 1 should even more strenuously than hitherto urge giving the federal government power to deal effectively with polygamy As for the case of senator smoot himself ha came to me of his own accord and not only assured mo me that he was not a polygamist but I 1 may add assured me that lie he had never had any relations with any woman excepting his own wife and I 1 may also add that it was the universal testimony of all who knew anything of his domestic life that it was try in every way ile he also assured me that lie he had always done everything he could to have the law about polygamy obeyed and most strongly uphold upheld the position that the church had taken in its public elation of polygamy and that he would ac as quickly against any mormon who nowadays made a plural marriage as against a gentile who committed big amy I 1 looked into the facts very thoroughly lly became convinced that senator smoot had told me the truth and treated him exactly as I 1 did all other senators that is strictly on ills his merits as a public servant I 1 did not interfere in any way as to his retention in the senate save that where senators came up to speak to me on the subject J act I 1 spoke to them freely along the lines I 1 havo have here outlined taking the view which I 1 1 only vla which ali an american can consistently take namely it if mr smoot or any one else had disobeyed the law he should of course be turned out but it he had obeyed the law and was an upright and reputable man in his public and private relations it would be an outrage to turn him out because of his religious belief I 1 have thus gone over point by point the infamous accusations made by the writer who ever he was whom you quoted accusations which brand with infamy the man who nho made them and also the magazine editor who published them and any one who quotes them there is a peculiar infamy in this species of slander and the men engaged in it do not stand one whit above any men who have really taken part in the practises practices which they affect to denounce so much for these slanderers slander ers now a word to the mormon people themselves it if the accusations made against the cormons mormons are is as false as the accusations upon which I 1 have touched above there Is no need of me saying anything but let me most earnestly insist on the vital needs if there is the slightest truth in any of those these accusations cusat ions of the mormon people people them elves acting with prompt thoroughness in tho the matter any effort openly or covertly to reintroduce introduce ro polygamy in the mormon church would merely mean that that church had bad set its face ace cowards awards destruction the people of the united states will not tolerate polygamy and if it were found that with the sanction and approval or connivance of the mormon church people polygamous marriages are now being entered into among mormons cormons Mor mons or if 11 into or treated on any other tooting than bigamous marriages mar rages are treated or treated everywhere in the country then the united states government would unquestionably itself in the end nd take control of the whole question of polygamy and there could be but one outcome to the struggle in such event ane mormon church would be doomed and if thero there be any mor mons who advocate ad vocata in any shape or way disobedience to or canceling of or evading of the manifesto forbidding all further plural marriages that mormon Is doing his best to secure the destruction of the church those mormons cormons Mor mons on the other hand who occupy the position you uphold in your letter and who insist that the mormon church shall turn its face toward the future take a position which it if generally taken will mean that the church will vill be treated precisely on quality equality with all other churches the mormon has the same right to his reli religious ious belief that tha J w and the chr christian istian have to theirs but like the jew and tho the christian lie he must not practice conduct which is in contravention of we tue law of the land I 1 haap known monogamous cormons mormons whose standard of domestic life and morality and whose attitude toward the relations of of men and women was as high as that of the best citizens of any ether ed d among M cormons mormons armons th standard ard of sexual morality was w s uti unusually usually high there children were numerous hal healthy ht althy thy and well brought up their young men were less apt than their neighbors to indulge in that course of vicious sexual dissipation so degrading to manhood and so brutal in the degradation it inflicts on women and they were tree free from that vice moro more destructive to civilization than any other can possibly be the artificial restriction of families the practise of st rilo rile marriage and which ultimately means destruction of the nation the loss of the paternal and maternal instincts among men and women the delf deification leation of a cold calculating cu s the failure to understand der stand that there are no other joys and no other duties as great as the joys and the duties connected with the happy family life of father mother and children all this represents a far worse evil than oven even the worst of purely political evils can bo be the evil of divorce and all kindred ei evils uru are merely subsidiary in wickedness and evil results to this great and central c evil if the average man is not most anxious to bo be a good father performing his full duty to his wife and children it if the average woman is not most anxious to bo be a good and happy wife and mother the mother of plenty of healthy and happy and well train ed cd children then not only have the average man and the average woman missed what is infinitely the highest happiness of life but they are bad citizens of the worst type and the nation in which they represent the average type of citizen Is doomed to u undergo n the hopeless disaster which it deserves in ro far as the mormons cormons will stand against all hideous and da grading ct s of this kind hind they will set a gooe example of citizenship if on the other hand band the mormon church openly or secretly endeavors to reintroduce polygamy then it has marked itself for destruction and has become an ally of the forces of evil so potent as aa to oblige all decent citizens to join against it the mormons cormons who realizes this fact and stand as you do and as I 1 have every reason to believe senator smoot does on these matters are koebly no tonly lighting fighting forthe tor the best interests of the mormon church but are performing well the highest duties of american citizenship very truly yours signed THEODORE ROOSEVELT |