Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], October 11, 1902, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1929

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Goodwin's Weekly .
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Vol. I. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, OCTOBER 11, 1902. No. 22. j ' XjB
C. C. GOODWIN, Editor.
J. T. GOODWIN, - - - - Manager.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.
Subscription Price j onths j in Advance.
Address all communications to Goodwin's Weekly,
P. 0. Boxes 1074 and 1020. 'Phone 301.
217-230-231 Commercial Clud Bldg., - Salt Lake City
IS THERE NO EVANGEL.
There is little doubt that Joseph Smith ob
tained his idea of the government of the people,
whom he drew to him, from the Old Testament.
After the description of the overthrow of the
Egyptians the account proceeds as follows:
And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord
called unto him out of the mountain, saying: Thus
shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
children of Israel:
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought
you unto myself.
Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice in
deed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a
peculiar people, for all the earth is mine;
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,
and an holy nation.
The model of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is too close an imitation of what
is shadowed forth in the foregoing to be a mere
coincidence.
It must have been by design. The same theory
is put forth, that the earth is the Lord's, and that
his chosen priests, as Kings, shall rule it. That
assumption and that determination made first
Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois untenable
ground for the Saints; it wasthat assumption and
the determination to carry it out that culminated
In driving the Saints beyond the limits of civili
zation. As Gentiles came to Utah the old clashings be
gan and were continued up to 1890, and because of
that assumption and the persistence on the part
of the Saints to carry out their plan, unspeakable
sorrows were brought to thousands of them until
at last a measure was Introduced Into Congress
to disfranchise every member of the organization,
od the ground that by the very nature of their
claims, they could give only a secondary fealty to
the Government of the United States.
It was then that President Woodruff issued his
manifesto; a little later he and his chief advisers
gave solemn pledges that the authority of the
church over the people in political matters should
be withdrawn.
On that covenant Statehood was given to Utah.
AH the men and women who were in Utah ten
years ago must remember the change that came
like a benediction to the State. There was the best
feeling between Mormon and Gentile; thou
sands wondered that the call had not sooner been
made that peace might come.
Intrenched by Statehood the high priests of the
kingdom soon began to chafe under the feeling
that they had surrendered a little of their own
Power; they could not bear to see their people exr
ercising their own judgment in voting for whom
they pleased, in exercising their own judgment In
political matters. Gradually they began to usurp
their old authority and the Gentiles who had ac
cepted their solemn promise that they would not
again interfere in politics began to understand
how much such a promise from such a source was
worth. Two years ago all disguises were thrown
off and a United States Senatorship was sold for
money. This year an apostle is a pronounced can
didate for the Senate and in every ward and
county the bishops, presidents of stakes and elders
saw that the men nominated for the Legislature
were favorable to the apostle's candidacy. That
means that the church is in the saddle. It may
mean that for five or ten years the church will
have its way, but it also means if persevered in,
unmeasured trouble again for the Saints, for while
the Saints may for a few years swing things as
they please, really all the organization does not
count for much in numbers and powers when com
pared with the numbers and power of the United
States, and that majority will never brook the
building up in its midst of a despotism hostile in
every tenent to the sovereign power of the United
States.
We have stated the above truths that they may
serve as a basis for an appeal to the younger gen
eration of Mormons to shake off their fear and to
demand of the chiefs that those promises of ten
years ago shall be kept.
Why cannot the Honorable Frank Cannon
stand out and make the demand; not. defiantly, not
rudely, but as an American appealing for his
rights?
He has been in a place next in rank to the ex
alted honor of being President of the United
States, higher indeed for men have been there
who were too great to be President. Why does he
not sound a slogan for young Utah to rally to?
He knows that the millions of the land will
not bear a divided allegiance to their flag. Would
it be impertinent for him to cite the promises
made and, from within the church, to appeal to
the chiefs of the church, for the sake of their own
people, to make good their promises, and as an
earnest of their sincerity and good faith, to com
mand Reed Smoot to either surrender his political
ambition or to resign his religious office? If one
such spirit would make the demand, founding it
on the promises made in order to obtain Statehood,
he would find others to hold up his hands. The
crowd would swell day by day, for the chiefs would
not dare to excommunicate members for making
an appeal to them to keep the agreement they
made with the Government of the United States
in order to obtain Statehood. And they have
abundant cause indeed, for Reed Smott's candi
dacy is a direct notice served on all the young
men of Utah that unless they can reach the high
est offices and honors of the church, they may as
well bid good-bye to any hopes of political honors
or offices for themselves; and, second, that if the
breaking of those covenants is persisted in, it
cannot but, eventually, bring upon the Mormon
people a repetition of the sorrows that finally cul
minated in the killing of their prophet and in
pasting out the Mormon people, stranded and
naked upon the frontier, with nothing but the
wilderness and the savage before them, with only
hostility and hate in their rear.
Some years ago in Boston, a Catholic priest, new
lit ''
to America, met a woman of his flock on the If M
streets and bruskly ordered her to take her chll- j !L j jB
dren from the public schools. The plucky woman, , 'J
good Catholic as she was, entered a complaint and Jm t( fl
had the priest arrested for interfering with her ji L '
personal privileges In this free country, and won j 1 1 j JH
her case. jr J. 1 , , , ;9
Has no scion of the old pioneers of Utah the J s M 'K
courage of an earnest woman? J f ', ', .1i
ft ;
Conference failed this year to bring the con- j )k kjjjH
ferenoe rain and the weather at last account was b" J ' 4iJH
hot in San Francisco and every body was praying if f 41fl
for rain. np Av ilH
In hard winters the rains begin early on the ft!f lliH
coast. The premonitory symptoms all presage v, ih JH
another mild winter without much rain on the j l V$H
west coast, and the conditions there generally gov- I B '' J IJH
ern clear to the Wasatch range. j K' j fH
IT WOULD MAKE TROUBLB. ' j ! ,jfl
The Mormon chiefs should keep in mind if they i '',B
cause or permit the election of Apostle Reed Smoot j ifcM'f, iH
to the Senate of the United States, they will be j fei' JH
dealing directly not with the people of Utah, but I WK 'ftH
with the Government and people of the Republic, ! W' '''JH
and it is quite possible that Mr. Smoot will find P'w-jfl
a different reception in Washington from what j Sif 'J H
he expects. M -.ju 1j
The teachings of the Latter-day Saints are well ; w "j BH
known in Washington: the particular teaching rfj Pf JH
that the Mormon creed covers a claim that the ! M j jy jB
Mormon church is not only a celestial kingdom, M ', ' --'tH
but a kingdom of God on earth; that its claim is I ,t' I ( , jfl
not only a right to religious but to temporal rule I Jf "' H
a something higher than and altogether inde- : Jf . 'fjH
pendent of the Government of the United States. ! w j " SaH
Plenty of Senators and Representatives are per- l HH
fectly familiar with the terms on which Statehood " IH
was granted, one feature being the plighted prom- V jji H
ise of the chiefs of the organization that hence- ' fJfi ol
forth the church would refrain from dictating to ! t jf j H
the people in matters political, that every man M,'r I
and woman in the church should be free to thlnK !j ' I
and to vote as they might think best. But if Apos- H jj Jj H
tie Smoot is elected everyone in Washington I Ijj-'H
as well as in Utah will know that it was because I ' B
the chiefs of the church willed it to be so, or at I F ' i ', H
least permitted it, and that will be a notice to the " , . I j
Senators in Washington that a man is about to 1 -K ', jf '.'fl
come to them claiming equal privileges with them j jf' " u B
who, even after he had taken the oath of office, J r jifM
would, were a command of his chiefs here in Salt j & ' ' Ill
Lake to run counter to a command of the Presi- Sj m 'si
dent of the United States, that command confirmed '' 'H
by Congress and its legality be affirmed by the ) ''f HH
Supreme Court of the Republic, this man would, I iijBH
as higher authority than all three branches of the j '"i!"r:flM
Government combined, obey the First Presidency I j yr ' fM
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-tiay Saints, iy JH
We do not know, but 'we believe if the attempt I l,j MjM
is made and carried through, there will be trouble. : U k mIB
We believe some one will authoritatively question , P H
the right of a Mormon church apostle to a seat in m J WM
that body on the ground that he is in truth an m HH
alien; that the only allegiance he can give to this wMfluH
Republic is at best but a secondary, allegiance, BnlMH
his first and real allegiance being to another tern- flflHfl
poral power. We suggest to Apostle Smoot to HIHW
think what he would do if confronted by a KiHBIH
situation like that. We suggest to the church flflHI
chiefs to consider the matter carefully and see BHHH
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