[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
The following letter was received from President Thomas E. Bassett:
Rexburg, Idaho, June 8th, 1904.
President Joseph F. Smith and Counselors,
Dear Brethren: --
I have just returned from the Democratic State Convention held at Weiser, Idaho, last Monday, where I went in the hopes of doing what I could in rallying enough democratic support to kill the resolution aimed at our people, and although on the ground the day before the convention we found that a terrible strength had been developed by the [Fred T.] Dubois forces and our hopes of success vanished. I was very pleased indeed to note that among the democratic party we still had a few staunch and loyal supporters such as ex-governor [Frank] Steunenberg and his following, delegation from Pocatello and others, but such men were so sadly in the minority that all they said as bearing on the subject was
hooted down as from a lot of hungry wolves. Ex-governor Steunenberg had been thrown off his guard by a promise made him by Dubois that nothing of this nature should come up in this convention, and consequently did not concern himself about anything of the kind until Dubois's plans were all consummated.
One very regrettable feature is that every newspaper reporter in the convention was anti "Mormon"; and the reports as given breath the same nasty disposition toward us as was manifested at Weiser.
When we saw there was no hopes of defeating the resolution we tried to amend it by inserting the words, "to regulate marriages and divorces, and provide for the suppression of adultery, fornication and all kindred vices,["] but the amendment was cried down with the expression from some that it was the "Mormons" we are after.
We found an intense feeling existing in all factions of the party (with Governor Steunenberg and his friends as well as with the other factions) against such men as apostles and presidents of foreign missions coming into Southeastern Idaho, among our people and taking sides in politics, they add, "why don't they go into other countries of the state on their political tours as well as into `Mormon' counties if it is not for the fact that they can do more in these counties by reason of their ecclesiastical positions."
While I do not believe the effect is nearly as great as the anti-Mormons make it out to be, they make intense capital of it and cause extreme unpleasantness to those who would be our friends as well as those who are our bitterest enemies, and since my trip there I am ore than ever convinced that whatever steps are taken by prominent men in ecclesiastical positions in an ecclesiastical way should be extremely well guarded.
Dubois's plans are to get both national parties to endorse the resolutions in their national conventions, get the states at home to endorse the national platforms and disfranchise the "Mormon" people in Idaho before the election two years hence when he hopes to work his way back into the U.S. Senate, at least this is the view taken by leading politicians in Idaho. ...
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
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