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Show Democrats Misrepresent Misrepre-sent Views of Church In a manner which they consider clever the Democratic leaders attempted at-tempted to capitalize certain remarks made by the church authorities in the spring of 1919 regarding world peace and the proposed League of Nations. At that time the league covenant had not been completed. A tentative draft had been submitted to the American people and had been discussed with interest throughout the nation. At this year's conference the church authorities avoided the subject sub-ject of the league covenant because it had become a political issue. The Democratic leaders, however, were not willing to let well enough alone ' and consequence is that they have met with a deserved rebuke. They took occasion to send out a widely distributed free paper in which they declared that the views of the church authorities, as expressed eighteen or twenty months ago, on the general plan of a League of Nations should be accepted as the definite views of the heads of the church. The final draft of the covenant of the league was quite different from the tentative draft, and meantime the opinion of the country had been undergoing a rapid change as the study of the general plan of a "league to enforce peace" continued. It became apparent to students of the completed covenant that it contained many perils to our country and threatened to subvert our constitution. One consequence of this study of the revised plan was a very clear and powerful pronouncement by the First Presidency of the L. D. S church in the last Christmas edition of the Deseret News. We do not remember to have read, during the entire course of the controversy, a more concise or trenchant statement of the American view of the league covenant than that quoted by Senator Smoot from the Chrfstias greetings of the First Presidency, and we take pleasure in presenting pre-senting the statement herewith: "IX PROMOTING THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS, SELF-PRESERVATION OVGHT TO BE PARAMOUNT. THIS APPLIES TO NATIONS AS WELL AS INDIVIDUOIJS. THEREFORE IN EXTENDING THE FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS SI MI I .Alt LIBERTIES TO THOSE EX JOYED UNDER OUR HEAVEN-INSPIRED CONSTITUTION, CARE MUST BE TAKEN THAT THE POWERS EXECUTED AND THE RIGHTS SECURED TO US BY THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND ARE NOT INVADED OR ABRIDGED OR WEAKENED IN ANY DEGREE. WE SHOULD NOT FORFEIT A SINGLE NATIONAL PREROGATIVE OR PRINCIPLE IN ENDEAVORING TO BREAK DOWN RAMPANT MILITARISM AND OVRETHROW TYRANNICAL MOXARCHISM. LET US HAVE PEACE, BUT NOT AT THE PRICE OF OUR COUNTRY'S FREEDOM." -.We have said that it expressed the American view. We believe that it expresses the view o Democrats as well as Republicans. We believe ! that the vote in the United States senate showed that the Democrats, who j placed country above party, were for reservations which would protect 1 our constitution and our institutions from a super-sovereignty created in the name of peace to wage war on behalf of Eurojean imperialism. And among the senators to whom we allude we wish to place Senator King, who is now going about the state pleading equivocally for a covenant which he condemned by his votes in the senate. The pronouncement of the First Presidency is simply common sense. -In' promoting the benefit of others, self-preservation ought to be paramount para-mount " We cannot help Europe by destroying ourselves. We can help Europe and the peace of the world by preserving our constitution and our ideals of liberty and justice which are enlightening the world. ! In a word, you cannot save the heart of the world by destroying the goul of America. THE CITIZEN. 'i |