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Show liSttllB Bllff fill H ARE THE PROTESTS WR0NG? IB III IH Whenever anything of criticism of any of the H 11 1 1 1 1 I methods of the Mormon Church is made, the per- H 11 f 1 1 1 B son makinS the criticism is at once put down as Bf li ufl an enemy of the Church. Every, protest that has Bm I Ml I IB been flled aSainst tne seating in the senate ot Bf ' 'IB Apostle Smoot is charged up to an enemy or to B jf' ' li enemies of the Church. B" k tim But suPPse a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic B 8 ? I 1 B Church should announce himself a candidate for B I5 I 1 11 senator of the United States, Avhat Avould happen Blip i ill II then? Would all Avho opposed him be put doAvn Blf i li as the enemies of hIs church? Of course he Avould Biff ' of e unfrocked at once and lose all poAver as an Bll li m I officer of the church; but it Avould not stop there. BUI I'll Tne American people Avould not have a Cardinal BI 1 I of tlie Cuurcn of Rome a senator for very many Bll I la 1 ani most obvious reasons; the chief est vof which B M H 1 Avould be that by the obligations he had taken his B 1 ti m first allegiance was to Rome. The Roman Church H m 1 B long ago reallzed tnis nence it Avill no more per- H If li mit one of its Princes to mix in the politics of BH! ! i 1 other countries than it would permit a man of I jg the Avorld to sit in its own councils. fm But there is a nearer reason why Apostle 1 1 Smoot should be denied a seat in the senate. With r r i him seated and the precedent estaolished, it Bff !HJ 11 Avould be a notice served on every young Mor- Bii sfii mon in utan tnat If tney desIred political honors B I ! j a or preferment in any form they must seek it, not B Hi through ability, not through merit, but through Bf Ijjl unquestioning and unquestioned obedience to Bit 'j li Church counsel, and that, beside its manifest in- BH i justice, is intolerable in a land in Avhich the peo- BB 1 1 li pie govern. Indeed, it makes a burlesque of free Bfl i ill I government; it is a dishonor to the ballot; it is Bill w I in direct defiance of every principle of our free in- Bfi T 1 1 stltutions. Moreover, it has been tried over and BIltiL 1 1 over ky a11 civilized and semi-civilized peoples, Bfi 111 I I anrt nas como to one of tAvo terminations; either Bli'i'l 1 national decay and national destruction or revolu- Bfi . j1 1 1 tion, and it has been the cause of more devastat- Bi I' I 1 ing Avars than all other causes combined since the BfP t birth of Avritten history. HK ' If i I And Avhcn on our sail a power claims this Hi Sir! i BHiiiin i BfflLLl right and further claims the right to drive its people up to the polls and under instructions to vote for one of its high officers for an office Avhich goes directly to the legislation for all the millions of this free land, it is time that protests should be aAvakened. There is still another leason Avhy every exertion exer-tion should be made to have a seat in the senate denied Apostle Smoot. His election Avas a direct violation of tho plighted faith of all the higher officers of-ficers of the Mormon Church. It Avas no ordinary' mendacity. It Avas the breaking of the covenants made by the Church chiefs in order to obtain statehood. They not only promised the Gentiles hei e in order to obtain their help, but they pledged their honor and the honor of the Avho'e Mormon people, that they henceforth Avould bo true and loyal to the full spirit of American institutions. After that, in a brief eight years for one who joined with the others in those pledges to be elected by a coerced vote and then present himself at the door of the senate and to say in effect, "See my credentials, they are all regular. You cannot keep me out," is in truth to test the forbearance of the American people and senate beyond all reasonable limits. |
