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Show B THE SMOOT ANSWER. B Tho answer of Apostle Smoot to the charges B filed In protest against his being seated, as a B United States Senator, is simply appalling in its B mendacity. It is a mixture of technical denials, B according to the forms in use among lawyers, and B which are held as admissible, and of specific de- B nials of facts, the whole intended to confuse Con- B gress, and to deceive the people of the United B States. B The Apostle made a mistake in his choice of B attorneys. Ho engaged two fine lawyers whose in- B stincts are all high and honorable. He should B have retuined the editor of the Deseret News, for B he has been practicing on the kinl of defense B needed by the Apostle, for thirty years. What he B needs are bold assertions that have an honest B look on their face, but which, when analyzed from B the Mormon standpoint, are found to be but B "bound and fury signifying nothing," mere "sound- B ing brass or tinkling symbols." B Tho intention of the whole brief is to deceive; B it is the exact reverse of what should bo expected B from a high churchman, who, by implication, at B least, is a guido for human souls; from a man who B claims to be of right a Senator of the United B States, and by a fiction of custom, if not of law, B is supposed to bo a high-minded, honorable man. B To a resident of Utah who knows all the facts, tho B answer brings a sense of humiliation, that for any B office a man could so degrade himself. He de- B clares that neither tho church nor its high officers K claim or seek control over the Mormon people in B their temporal affairs. By-that, ho belles the B foundation tenet of his faith; he belies the words H of every President of the Mormon Church, from B tho original Joseph Smith down to Joseph F. K Smith; ho holies history; he holies the preaching B aud toacing of all the high officers of tho Mor- H mon Church for fifty-six years in Utah; ho flies in H Jl face of tho experience of every man who has H ed ,n uth any length of time. He says, in ef- H ject, that the people of his creed are free to do as K "oy Pase notwithstanding that their President H in his estimation, tho absolute vicegerent of jB Almighty God on earth. Probably, if pinned down Hj y closo questioning, as did a Mormon Bishop on H anotllor occasion, he would sayr "Every Mormoif is free to do as he pleases ; free to go to Hell, if ho wants to." . j$ We wonder whav ? aorable Moses Thatcher thinks of Smoot's dv Can Mr. Smoot explain ex-plain why the Apostles, ai stricken from Mr. Thatcher, except that he riod the right of an American citizen to think Jor himself in political affairs? Was not the late sterling John Sharp unfrocked as a Bishop, in a ward where he had presided for twenty years, and where he had been the chief contributor in building the ward meeting house, for no reason on earth, except that when arraigned because of his polygamous relations, he had promised to henceforth obey the laws of his country? We wonder what the Honorable B. H. Roberts thinks of the Apostle's defense. What will Mr. Roberts do now with his old sermon, which, as we recall it, ran something like this: "The earth is tho Lord's; He created it; He has a right to rule it; and He does rule it through His priesthood." John Taylor, when President ofthe Church, said the same, and added: "And all other so-called earthly governments are usurpations." Did not Brigham Young repeatedly thunder from the Tabernacle Tab-ernacle altars that "Ours is a celestial kingdom, and a kingdom of God on earth, and this latter extends ex-tends our priestly authority over every transaction transac-tion in the lives of the Saints." Those may not be his exact words, but they convey his exact meaning, mean-ing, and they have been repeated in different form by all high church officials, at stated intervals, inter-vals, from Brigham Young down. What was the . charge against Godbo and Harrison, on which, in The School of the Prophets, they were excommunicated, excom-municated, except that they disobeyed counsel in advocating the opening of the mines in Utah? Did not tho same iron rule control in tho election elec-tion of a clerk for the Board of Education in this city last week, when one member shed tears, because be-cause he had to vote as he had been counseled to vote? That answer of Smoot is the most pitiable exhibition of mendacity over seen. |