| OCR Text |
Show i I J 'j the Hl ill e 81 J Priesthood Graft and Vxthlic l&obhery. J IS ! Verily, we nro a peculiar people! Time was K j 'V when all tho saints were on one side of the poli- n I $ tical fence and all the non-Mormons on the other, 9 I u save for the few exceptions that marked tho rule, m I , and these few were euphoniously designated as I "Jack-Mormons." Then the "brethren" wearied '' of the "one-ness" they had so long held to be a I' cardinal doctrine among all members of the faith, i 1 , and consented that "our people" should be divided iS p politically. So we separated as to politics on na- V' j tional party lines and when we separated the Gen- l If tiles did likewise and, behold, the result was i ; i'l good. For was it not shown that the priesthood j i , still held a firm hand on the laymen when it came in. I h to voting and no man might gain office who was ijBj k objectionable to those high in ecclesiastical coun- wm w cils- And for eight years this division continued, fH 1 I . Gentiles crooking "the pregnant hinges of tho jHf - ltnee lnat tnrlft might follow fawning"; and ffiRjjlt : the church authorities calling at various times, diBl iff and as occasions demanded, their disciples to vote HBlrJI ! as directed by them. nBi m And what is the result? For all practical pur- IflBjl Sj I-,, poses the Mormon vote is as much a unit as ever, lHcj m ' while their whilom opponents are divided beyond sHEl !i! v the possibility of unification, and must be content jpj m " to take such political crumbs as the church leaders 'IgHiy I j ; see fit to throw to them or to pay handsomely in HKi j ! plain cash for the gratification of mere exalted as- tilllH'l i i ' pirations. EH;w( : Permit me a seeming digression. In the Tab- iH ernacle last Sunday, Joshua H. Paul, president of IjfBflf the Latter-day Saints college, staunch Democrat HHlS at the time of the aforesaid division, a whilom ajHlf stalwart of tariff reformers and one of the im- nBlJil I pregnable bastions against church interference in It politics, among other things called attention to I the iniquitous and immoral conditions of this city of the Saints. He asked, ingeniously, indeed, and ;f not without a fair show of truth, if the surrender j I of political control to the outsiders had made the mBiHI 1 1'' lnn(1 aljout us more industrious, sober or virtu- ffjB$! ous? But one response could arise in the hearts IBb m nnd minds of his hearers. And the conclusion f "Kb m, was lnevitable that a return to more peaceful, in- M&Bral : SK dustrious ways might be had only through a re- I1S1 m. sumption of political power by leaders of the Mor- Iffftwi j Wt mon People. This conclusion is based upon the fit) jtJBYa ff ; ffv assumption that tho Mormon leaders do not now control politically in this city or State. And this brings me back to the point of departure de-parture whence I started the digression. Have the Mormon leaders lost political control? Any office-seeking Gentile will howl "No" in "Senato-rian" "Senato-rian" tones as Tom would say. The church authorities au-thorities will quietly laugh at the ridiculous suggestion, sug-gestion, but the plodding, faithful, honest, tithe-paying tithe-paying laymen will charge all the sins so vividly portrayed by Elder Paul and so repeatedly told in the public prints to the domination of an ungodly political force which has always opposed the church. Let us see where the control lies. Frank J. Cannon was originally elected Representative Repre-sentative to Congress on a church document signed by Bishop Stevens and endorsed by the present president of the Mormon church. Moses Thatcher was defeated for and J. L. Rawlins elected to the United States Senatorship by the influence of the church leaders. They did not want Rawlins, but they would not have Thatcher. (And this suggests that the recent interview in-terview with President Joseph F. Smith anent the candidacy of Apostle Reed Smoot containn every element that goes to make a deliberate falsehood. He declares that Smoot "had the rieht that any other American citizen enjoys to accept any office to which his fellow-citizens may elect him to occupy." oc-cupy." Besides being bad grammar, the statement state-ment is false because an American citizen exercises exer-cises his personal free will in seeking, accepting or re' oting office. This Smoot can not do. If every man, woman and child in Utah should cry aloud for Smoot's election he dare not accept until un-til he had first been given permission by President Presi-dent Joseph F. Smith. This every Mormon and every Gentile knows. This necessity was the basis of the manifesto which defeated Thatcher and Roberts in their aspirations they had not asked permission to run of their leaders. If Joseph Jo-seph F. Smith should tell Smoot to resign he would resign, no matter what the people of tho State or Smoot himself might desire no matter how great the need of the State. Whatever way President Smith tells Apostle Smoot to vote on any proposition that is the way Apostle Smoot will vote. Every Mormon knows this, every Gentile knows it. Smith knows it and no one knows it better than Smoot.) lin' Senator Kearns had to buy the consent of tho nl church to secure his election. This everybody knows; and no one knows it better than Senator Kearns. He has not denied it. How can he? The church elected Joseph Howell as Repre- sentative to Congress and it now proposes to carry c' out the agreement of the late President Snow and elect Apostle Smoot to the United States Senate. sUE The declaration of President Smith that Smoot sor was not put forward by the church really begs the am question. If he does not want Smoot elected why sat rush to Smoot's defense? Who can in reason de- al)( clare that Mormon leaders do not control the Stato politically? In the election for school trustees in this city cJn last Wednesday, Mormons secured control of the ha city schools. No amount of denial will convince wb anyone that this result has not been sought for by the church authorities for years. That the Mormon people control the city coun- cil of Salt Lake has been demonstrated on re- ar peated occasions. al It is shown every time an attempt is made to an make the electric lighting monopoly of this city I an respect its contract with the people and observe W the ordinance that makes the continual vomiting I of soot punishable. No penalty is or can be im- I posed on that institution for breaking its contract B rei or violating the municipal ordinance. Why? Be- I cause the church authorities control the electric I aJ lighting monopoly and they also control the City I tG Council. ge Their control of the City Council was shown I g when nearly every business interest in the city I m' protested against granting a right of way to the I PJ Oregon Short Line on Fourth West street to the I J injury of the Rio Grande Western. I do not I V blame the O. S. L. nor do I commiserate with the I tb Rio Grande. That is part of the railroad ven- I b detta. The O. S. L. got what it wanted and the I church got its price. It rented the upper half of I its building for ten years to the victor. But it I ft showed that the church owned those who are in I t a majority in the City Council. I 6 Again. A week ago last Monday night the tb Council railroaded a franchise for a telephone at company through the Council because Apostle I tb John Henry Smith and Gov. Wells wanted it. If 8 . there was any other reason it was because many members of that body were directly or indirectly to bo benefited by the result. Had it been a meritorious meri-torious proposition what need of such unseeming haste? If, as that demagogue, Gov. Wells would have us believe, it was for the public good, it might have been well to have given the public 10 timo to learn what was for its good. Then the ly Mayor vetoed it. On last Monday night, the or Mayor's veto Was overridden and an analysis of the votes of those who supported the graft discloses dis-closes that Avithout the influence of Apostle John y Henry Smith the Mayor's veto would have been sustained. Whatever motives may have swayed e" some of those who endorsed the graft, I am convinced there were men there who will never 16 satisfy themselves that they have not aided and ly abetted another robbery of the public and done so because of high church influence. 0 So it would seem that in State and city the church does control politically. I should like to y have Elder Paul tell these truths to the people le when he draws his next parallel between times as Ce they were when "our people" controlled and as ,y they exist now that we have yielded control to others, and in that he put it rightly. If others a" are in control the leaders of the church are at e" fault. They have shown their power in State and city. They can take control when they will, and if drunkenness and gambling and vice are y rampant their is the blame if it can be stopped 'e at all. s Nor is this the only aspect of the affair. The l" recent course of Apostle John Henry Smith in be- traying the people for a personal advantage is but ?" a typical case. I do not propose to insult the in- lc telligence of anyone by treating seriously the sug- "J gestion that Smith and Wells are in this telephone graft for the public good any more than the inti-n inti-n mation that they go into any other graft for the 1 public welfare. I liave no care for the Bell Tele-16 Tele-16 phone company. It is in war itself and for itself; 16 but as a citizen I cannot express my contempt for an apostle of the church or for the Governor of ie the State when they will degrade themselves and l" become stool pigeons for and grafters with others e to take from the people of the city a franchise of undoubted value, giving in return notning, and then striving to hide their infamy behind the rot-n rot-n ten proclamation that they are seeking the public good. And to this end Apostle Smith has become ie the associate of those whom Elder Paul describes 16 as having brought Salt Lake City the "City of . le the Saints" to a condition where, as a leading f educator, he is constrained to call her the "modern "mod-ern Sodom." So with the electric light monopoly. The church leaders, with their spiritual command over members of the Council, permit the citizens of Salt Lake, including their own brethren and tithe-payers, tithe-payers, to be robbed and annoyed and wronged so that they may share (with those same outside influences in-fluences which have made of the City of the Saints the "modern Sodom") the profits of a monopoly endorsed en-dorsed and supported by religious leaders. So with the sugar industry of Utah its stock watered and still watered and yet rising in value even as the price of sugar is raised to the consumer. con-sumer. All by the "annointed of the Lord," who divide the usurious and infamous profits with outsiders whose political control has made the City of the Saints the "modern Sodom" if Elder Paul is to be accepted as an inspired speaker in the Tabernacle. So with the salt trust so with but why go on? "Whom the gods would destroy they first make na! mad," and these leaders of the blind Mormons , w; must surely be as mad as their followers are m j jflj blind. Swift flies time to the individual, but she , til droops with leaden wings to a race; and if the j k cause these self-respecting leaders seem to repre- 9 sent is not ground to dust by th unscrupulous , B gredo of those in whom a good and honest people j H blindly trust, then the teachings of history are jK vain. Gods, what an awakening there will be! J 9 DENNIS B. ' 3 |
