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Show HEBER J. fiRANT DECLARES MORMON DOCTRINE IS !N FAVOR OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS ; SALT LAKE, Sept 22 'The posi tinn of the Church nf Jesus Christ ! Latter-day Saints Is that the standard works of the church are not opposed to the league of nations." declared I President Heber J. Grant, in a stirrint address delivered at the afternoon sea sion of the Salt Lake stake Quarterly conference held yesterday in the tabernacle. tab-ernacle. President Grant urged the ratification ratifica-tion of the peace treaty and the league of nations without reservations. He said it could not he chanced without submitting it again to Germany, and. lo his mind, thnt would be a calamity Among those present on, the rostrum ros-trum were President Charles W. Penrose, Pen-rose, Bishop Charles W N'ible . An-hon An-hon W. Ivins and Melvin J Ballard of the council of twelve; President Nephi L. Morris and counselors and high councillors of the Salt Lake stake "Before speaking today on matters pertaining to our faith, I desire to make a little statement," President Grant said. I have been requested b; word of mouth and by letter, on more than one occasion, to state my opinion regarding regard-ing the league of nations I received a telegram asking me io join ex-Presl-denl Taft ex Attorney General Wick ersham, President Lowell of Harvard and othc r leading Americans in signing sign-ing the following manifesto In the senate at Washington, now thai the committee on torein rcla-i rcla-i am - has reported th.. treats hi line. an Sharply drawn between the immediate imme-diate ratification of the treaty of peaer with Germany, and its amend men! with a re-assemblint of the conference con-ference and a reopening of negotiations negotia-tions that would bring great delay and prolonged uncertainty in settling th" sreat issues of the peace. No parti-1 parti-1 san plea can be made. Party 1 i n J are alredy broken Ratification as Immediate Need. "'Standing at a distance from the conflict in the senate chamber, we plead for immediate ratification without with-out delay Our land requires i' A state rd nervous strain, tension and unrest exists, manifesting itsetf in disturbances which in some cases have no self evident connection with, the war but which are in fact its af termath. The world is put in Imminent Immi-nent peril of new wars by the lapse, ot each day. Dissensions between us' and our former allies are being sown,; We firmly believe and solemnly de-' clare that the states and cities in which we dwell desire immediate peace ' 'The waging nf war steadied and united the Americ an people. Peace I will bring prosperity, and prosoerit content. Delay in the senate postponing postpon-ing ratification in this uncertatin, period of neither peace nor war has resulted in indecision and doubt, bred strifn and quickened the cupidity of those who sell the dail) necessities of life and the fears of those whose daily wage no longer fills the daily 1 market basket. " We beseech the senate to give the land nMM and pprlainlv hv a rat-1 Iflcation w huh will not keep us longer in the shadows of possible war, but give the whole world the light of peace. Reservations in the nature of -lari jflcatlons in the meaning of the treaty, 'not inconsistent with its terms, will not require the reopening of the negotiations nego-tiations with Germany and with our : associates in the war. which we all and each united to win " But there Is no possibility of doubt ihat amendment of the treats as Is now proposed b the senate committee com-mittee on foreign relations, would re ( quire negotiation and a reopening of 'all the questions decided at Paris .Months of dola would follow. The perils of the present would become the 'deadly dangers of the near future AH the doubt engendered would aid the i plots for violent revolution in this and other lands The issues here and elsewhere betwei n capital and labor, the conspiracy of speculator and prof Iteer. would all grow, and be ome more perilous. " This cannot be. The American people cannot, after a victorious war, nermit its government to petition Germany, Ger-many, which has accepted the treaty, 'for its consent to changes in t'.u treaty Vet if the United States : hould amend the treaty tor its own purpose ami policy, Germany would ,have full right to ask for concessions. Germany lias agreed to make no claim in regard to enemv property seized in this country to an amount of (700,000,-'000. (700,000,-'000. Our recent foe could ask fo.- a reopening of this issue and of the Lu<ania claims I could raise every jquestlon open before hostilities in re- igard to BUbmarlnt warfare and the treatment of its nationals in this country. coun-try. All the provisions for our trade in Germany raised by the economic 'clauses of the treaty, many of them vital to our industries and our farms. I ps in dye patents, dye supplies and fertilizers, fer-tilizers, the working of the reparation commission which superintends U H j trade of all with Germany could all be brought up by Berlin foj readjustment by our negotiators, acting for the l ulled States alone and no longer associated as-sociated with other victorious powers or supported b a victorious Ame:l-can Ame:l-can army on the German border " 'Peace itself, the peace of the world. Is delayed until ralifica'iou come.-: And any amendment postpones post-pones peace. Germany and England Ldone o the principal powers hae ratified. The other principals nece sarll await our action, Influential and I powerful as we are today in the world's affairs. The ravages of war on more than a score of fighting fronts are continued b an) needless delay. Lei the senate pive the world peace by latlflcatlon without amendment. Sbantung Clause Defended. " Even the amendment lor which most can be said, the provision in rc gard to Shantung will secure nothing which cannot be gained it t'hiua.J backed by the powerful advocacy of the United States, addresses itself to the machinery for righting interna-! tional wrongs and meeting just claims I Created by the league between nations china, after 80 years of oppressive treaties and despoiled right.-. b which all ihe great powers have profited directly di-rectly or indirectly, has for the first time, in this covenant and treaty, the means and method to secure justice and the removal of the oppressive )i onomlc interference of stronger na-Ions na-Ions whose citizens are within her 'ates, protected by a long succession f international agreements More-ver, More-ver, it should be remembered that !he clause regarding Shantung was mn.; upon the statement M Japan that she-will she-will return the territor to Qhina, and therefore upon that condition; eomr.l'-. eomr.l'-. nee with which promise the league can require The peace of the present and the righteousness of the future can be best tsecuied by the ratification of the co e j nam and treaty w ithout amendment Let the Benal take no action that will give any party to the treaty, and especially espe-cially Germany, ground lor maintaining maintain-ing that the ratification of the United ! States is not complete and th..t changes requiring a resumption of conference and negotiations have ben made in i! . Church Works Not Opposed. President Grant said that he replied as follows- " 'I have pleasure in joining ex-Prrs-Ident Taft and other leading Americana Ameri-cana in signing manifesto as outllr.ed In your telegram of yesterday.' "The sentiments contained in the I above manifesto express m personal position with regard to the league of Inations and since signing the telegram tele-gram I have neither heard nor rad of I anything thai has in any degree changed my position on this very i:n I portant quest ion i regret exceedingly that the stand-lard stand-lard works of the Church of Jesus I Christ of Latter Day Saints have been I brought into controversy which has I now become practically a partisan con tTOVersy. It Is m opinion that this j important question ought to have been kept absolutely out of politics. "On one important matter I deirc to place the position of the Church of h sua Christ of l atter Day Saints f ir ly before the people An Illustrated handbill has been circulated and has been widely republished in newspaper under the heading: 'Mormon bible prophecies become issue in opposition to league of nations ' The position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is that the standard works uf the church are not opposed to the league of nations. "As stated in what I have read to, ou I regret exceedingly that this! great and important question has be-' come a political Issue and I desire to ash each and all of the members of i the church that I have the honor to I I'm Ide over, in all controversy in connection con-nection with this great issue, that they express themselves as to their! irjews with due deference to the opinions opin-ions of others. "I regret exceedingly ihat in politi i al controversies men seem to lack that courtesy and that respect for their opponents Ihat I believe all Latter-day Saints ought to have, I hae neer yet heard a Democrat make al political speech that I felt was fair lo the Republii an.- Being a I ' mo crat, I won't say anything of what I think of the speeches of Republicans ' regarding Democrats. Now It is aj : blind, and some people have added, 'and cannot smell.' And I have some times thought that both statements were true, and from my own personal 'contact with Republicans and Democrats Demo-crats I have not been able to dis- j cover that, what you might call char-it char-it if you like, for the opinions of others, that oppose them politically, that I see existing among our people. I am a thorough convert my&elf to the idea that it is not possible for all men to see alike, knowing the remark re-mark that was made b a man once, He said, "It is :i splendid thing that we don't all see alike, because if we did everybody would want to marrj my Sally Ann,' and the other man remarked, re-marked, 'Yes. thank the Lord, if everybody every-body saw your Sally Ann as I sec her nobody on earth would have her and she would die an old maid.' League Means Peace. "I am a thorough convert in my feelings feel-ings that the great nations of England, Eng-land, France and the United States have common aims common desires and common objects, and that a league in which those three nations are combined means peace as far as we weak mortals can gain it for the benefit of mankind The C000 miles of border between the United States and Canada, maintained for over a hundred jears without the sligntest trouble, without any great forts such as thev have had to have between Germany and France and other European Euro-pean countries, gives me absolute as surance in my heart that Great Brit- Io i u iiuu nil ouijri-ia uaic :i . aiu1 desires for the welfare of mankind .and for the liberty of mankind that jwe here in the United States have. ' 1 believe that but for the fact of! 'our joining in the controversy !n the great war Germany would have con-i quered France and Great Britain, and immediately thereafter would hve I picked a quarrel with the United j States and tried to conquer tliis eoun- try. In a little speech of ten minutes, the limit given to me. when, as chair-(man chair-(man representing you for the state of I tah in selling Liberty bonds, I i was attending a banquet in San Fran j Cisco. 1 announced that we were sure: to win the war, that tnere was no1 doubt of It in my mind, absolutely; none, because I accepted the etate- ment of an inspired prophet of the living liv-ing God that resided hundreds of years ago on this continent; that if. was a land choice above all other lands, and that no king should ru'.e in this land. Changes Mean Calamity. "Therefore. I had no fear of Ger many or any other country conquering these United States of America, none whatever But if Germany had con quered France and England, which I j believe she would have done but for our help, instead of less than a hun dred thousand of our boys slain, there would have been hundreds and hun-dreds hun-dreds of thousnds who would have I M 'fl fallen before we had won the victory j I believe in mv heart that it is our dut to stand by those nations that J stood the brunt of the battle and that saved the lives, perhaps, of millions of our boys. "I am not saying that I would not be delighted if the terms o fthe league ll of nations, this covenant of peace, could be changed some; but they can- not be changed without submitting it again to Germany, and, to my mind, i that would be a calamity." |
