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Show H Hopeful Signs T HE two most hopeful signs of the spring thus far, to our mind have been V flrfcfc,, thie swift and, unexpected i ad- H joumment of tho last semi-annual confer- H ence, and, second, the agreement to sell HI the old Deseret corner for a hotel. To us they Hf seem a certain sign that the church has reached H a point where it fears the untrammeled thoughts H of the people, that is, it fears to exert its old H dominance .over, them, and second, that the con- H elusion has been reached that the church broom H may no longer attempt to sweep back the In- H: coming sea of Mormon free thought. "We exult Hi over this, not because we think it a blow to H the church, but as something which will event- H' ually make it stronger by Americanizing it Sup- H' pose that the church, thirty years ago, had done H this. Suppose its chiefs had said to its people: H'i "We want to strengthen here our celestial kingdom, H we want to build up our kingdom of God on earth, Hi but in doing this wo do not want to antagonize H the government of the Republic nor violate its m laws, and we waive forever any claim to a right H to interfere with tho political views of the mem- H bers of this organization. Rather we wish our H people would study tho history of the government, H compare it with other governments, then decide H each for himself, what his duty is to the gov- H ernment, which party best represents his views H and support that party and be in all respects H an American. Our church is a higher thing; it H deals witn your souls and our llope Is to lead you H up to that higher life into which this life finally B . merges." B Suppose that had been done and faithfully M carried out, would not the church have been H richer and stronger and infinitely more respected H today? And what suffering, humilltation and H anxiety would have been saved. We hope the M signs we have noted are a beginning of the eman- B cipation of the Mormon people from that kind of m servitude to their ecclesiastical chiefs which is H degrading for them to submit to and degrading m on the part of those chiefs to demand. H And believing that the begining of the great m change Is here, it is a joy to contemplate what B Utah will be when it shall be all American; when B there shall no longer be creed nor party heart- m burnings, when all shall be interested in the M building up of the city and state in good-fellow- H ship, when every man shall be able to proclaim m his political sentiments and no string shall hold HI m loasu either his sentiments or his vote; when B the old hates shall all have died, the suspicions m shall all have been laid, and the old distrust shall Wm all have vanished, and when Utah shall in truth K9 bo an American slate and a real bulwark of the VM Republic. Hj And until the chiefs of the Mormon church H make this chango, they and their church stand m dishonored before the world. HI So lonS as they give their fealty to a political !'' government of their own, while professing to be H citizens of the United States, they are committing a crime which Is known only in law as treason. And If they are so limited in numbers and In power that the great government of the United States does not hold it as worth while to exact an accounting from them, that does not change their status, does not reduce in the least theSr responsibility. The. state compells every member mem-ber of the Legislature to take an oath to sustain sus-tain and support the Constitution of the sate. When a man who is violating that constitution daily takes that oath, in what position does he place himself? In the same way before a man can enter Congress he must subscribe to an oath to support and sustain the Constitution of the Republic. When a member from Utah takes that oath knowing that at the moment ho holds a command from Joseph F. Smith of more binding force upon: him than the Constitution and all the laws of the United States, what should be his status among honest men? Then all the honor and dignity that a citizen can carry with him to Washington or to any other spot on earth, is the honor that comes of the knowledge that where-ever where-ever he is, the arms of the government of the Republic are around him to protect him. Thin beingi true is it much" for the citizens to give to such a government his honest and full fealty? We believe that nearly every Mormon would be glad to give full allegiance to the government of the United States, but they never can until those who control their church shall make the distinction, claiming their faith, in religious matters mat-ters and in church government but absolving them when the sovereign government of the Republic Re-public is involved. To make that distinction would not reduce the dignity of the church or the binding force of the church upon its members in religious matters. It would only make them real citizens and would add yastly to their self-respect self-respect and the respect of the world for them. But it will have to be an honest change; after that there could be no priestly orders to men how to vote; no orders to surrender their political polit-ical convictions at the behest of a priest. Had this been done when the pioneers came here and had it become the rule, Utah now would have had a million of souls and the Mormon church would have had a "vastly increased membership mem-bership and power. Now is a good time to begin; it is dangerous to much longer put it off, for young Utah is thinking more rapidly and more earnestly than ever before, and the events of the past few months make it clear that to try to impose the old political slavery upon this people will be more and more dangerous until, if persisted in, it will some morning culminate In an explosion. |