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Show 1 sorb a majority of both the Republican party and the Democratic party in the state. But in order for such a party to be successful, it must adopt principles .policies and action just the REVERSE to that of the so-called American party in Salt Lake City. We believe a party that would kindly, yc-t emphatically, retire the church officials offi-cials from politics would be received by a majority of the church leaders and the lay members of the dominant church of Utah with satisfaction, and, as a result, bring permanent peace to Utah. The question is, can such a controversy be engendered without accusations being made of crime, prostitution and all the evils the human mind can conjure? We believe it can. We also believe that instead of the Cache county Democrats disfranchising themselves, they should drop party prejudices, adopt a new platform and become ! the progressive party in Utah, and not only make a name and be j successful, but have the glory of granting to Utah real liberty of j conscience and freedom of action. ' . CHARGE CHURCH INFLUENCE. Now comes the information that the Democrats of Cache county will not put up a ticket in the future. The chairman, .Henry G. Hayball, says he will call the Democrats of Cache county together in a short time for the purpose of taking action to abandon the party or to discontinue any further action as Democrats in the county, and this irrespective of what the pemocrats do in other parts of the State of Utah. The Democrats of Cache county allege thnt they have sufficient proof to show that the leaders of the Mormon church have taken such a decided stand against the Democratic party as to insure the election elec-tion of the Republican ticket. If this be true, the Democrats have good cause against the church leaders, but the leaders of the Demo-cratic Demo-cratic party of Cache county make a mistake if they disfranchise-themselves disfranchise-themselves by taking no action as citizens of the nation. Education is what Cache county needs, and we would advise the Cache county Democrats to call a Democratic convention and outline a plan of education, edu-cation, as a result of which the people will be taught that, no matter how high an ecclesiastical position a man may hold, when he dabbles in politics his influence should not be greater than that of any other politician. If any of the Democrats in Cnche county have voted the Republican ticket through solicitation of church leaders, then the Democrats of Cache county have only themselves to blame. They must educate themselves on the rights of citizenship. So long as a Democrat is willing to allow a Republican church official to coax him into voting the Republican ticket, those Democrats who would not be coaxed cannot find sufficient cause in such action to disfranchise dis-franchise the citizenship of a vhole party in a county. If the great Democratic party of the state is opposed to church interference in politics, it should immediately take steps to teach such principles of the party to the rank and file. The idea, however, is good in calling the Democrats of Cache county in convention to learn if the Democratic party of Cache county really opposes church influence in politics. Perhaps it would develop that a majority of the party really favor receiving advice from the leaders of the Mormon church. At any rate, the political situation in Cache county is interesting. This paper took no part in politics this fall. This paper has pronounced pro-nounced progressive views and when the Republican state convention conven-tion brushed aside all progressive measures and took a most pronounced pro-nounced "stand-pat" position, there was no party for this paper to support. Neither the Democratic nor the Republican party represented repre-sented the ideas and policies advocated by thic paper for a year past, and there being no party in the field with the principles advocated by us, we adopted the old Kentucky policy and "sawed wood." In that position we were able to watch the political contest from an impartial im-partial and non-partisan standpoint and our position this fall has caused us to materially change our ideas on Utah politics. In the past, as a partisan Republican, we rather delighted in any support the Mormon leaders might give the Repubticm party and we made fun of the Democratic charge that the Republican party was being benefited by high church officials. But this year we have viewed the situation from a non-partisan and dispassionate viewpoint and we have about concluded that in Utah, as elsewhere in the nation, high church officials thould be excluded from the political field. It ap. pears that, whether intentionally or not, the influence of the high church .official, in politics carries more weight than if such parties did not hold ecclesiastical positions. Now, some will cry, the Standard is ready to join the American party. Let such undeceive themselves immediately. The American party wik Lave to make some material changes, in both its platform ana i : conduct, before the Standard, or even the people of Utah, will take kindly to it. We beliove, however, there is room for a party in f C " v'"1 ave for its reat issue the elimination of church influence in politics. 'We believe such a party would ab- |