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Show G "CHURCH. INFLUENCE." W Some newspapers still continue to H diecuss the question of church influ- 9j ence as affecting elections in Utah. H We entirely agree with the Salt Lake U Tribune in two statements it makes Bl which are that "a majority of the Mor- HjSJ nion votes in the territory were demo- I cratic votes" and that "8J per cent, of 1 the old liberals are republicans" and HI we deduce from these facts the con- R elusion that the Mormon church in a BI body has not gone over to the enemy; HI but we also believe that some promi- 9H nent Mormons who are republicans, 9gj did influence many Mormon voters to 99 vote with them. Bl Oar contention is that men should 9hL not use .any but political influences mww with voters, and that whenever any fi man high or low tries to influence 9uj voters In the exercise of their frun- 91 chise by means of his ecclesiastical pc- 91 sition he is acting outside of bis proper 9K sphere and ought not to be followed 9k by those who recognize his leadership 9E in matters pertaining to the church. 11 We emphatically deny that "church K influence" has been exercised in form, K but are fully satisfied that with some 9E persons the advice or sucgeation of 9W church leaders has produced the same 9Ej effect as a formal church declaration HE would have done, and claim that under H such circumstances a majority of the 91 Mormon voters have good cause to mWw complain of the effect, and to demand 9 that the political consciences of the Kj majority should be respected to the Hh extent that they may be able to main- mU tain precisely the same relation to HH their brethren in church matters as D tbey would if all agreed politically. E We wan1; to make the distinction H squarely and broadly between the two H facts, that the church, as a church, is H not in politics, but that most of its H members as indiyiduals, are in poli- 9j tics, and to lay down the further prop- HH osition that the political sayings and Eh doings of each individual neither gains Hj nor loses weight by the fact that he is E either a lay member, or prominent 91 official. It is the connecting of the Hj sacred prestige of priestly influence H with political work that we object to, HI and whilst we desire to accord to every 9 voter every privilege we claim for any 9 other voter, the majority of the Mor- 9 mon voters protest against two things. Hj One is; Republicans claiming church H influence on their side when we are a H majority of the church; and the other mW is, any attempt to reduce our majority H by meanB of suggestions to the effect H that some church leaders favor repub- H licanism. Both have been done, and H it is high time it ceased, at once and H forever. 9j The suggestion tha Mormons favor H home industry Is true. of both demo- 9j crats and republicans. Mormon dem- H ocrats believe in doing as Brigham H Young and his followers did in start- Hj ing the manufacture of woolen goods, H combining their own means, of their H own volition, and.building factories and m paying for them with their own money. 91 Our republican friends want to sup- H port home industries by the taxes of H the people whether they want to psy H taxes for that purpose or not; but both Hj want home industries supported, and H it is the veriest rot to suggest that the H supporting of home industry has any- 9i thing in the world to do with politics. |