raculous
"overruling" of God to prosper his chosen people. No matter what occurs,
the Prophets, by applying either one of these formulae, can translate
the incident into a new proof of grace; and their followers submissively
accept the interpretation.

On the night of April 18, 1905, Joseph F. Smith and some eight of his
sons sat in his official box at the Salt Lake theatre to watch a
prize fight that lasted for twenty gory rounds. The Salt Lake Tribune
published the fact that the Prophet of God, and vicegerent of Christ,
had given the approval of his "holy presence" to this clumsy barbarity.
A devout old lady, who had been with the Church since the days of
Nauvoo, rebuked us bitterly for publishing such a falsehood about
President Smith. "How dare you tell such wicked lies about God's
servants?" she scolded. "President Smith wouldn't do such a wicked thing
as attend a prize fight. And you know that no man with any sense of
decency would take his young sons to look at such a dreadful thing!"
Some time later, when the facts in the case had come to her, in her
retirement, from her friends, the editor called upon her to quiz her
about the incident. She said: "I'm sure I don't see what business it is
of the outside world anyhow what President Smith does. He has a right
to go to the theatre if he wants to. I don't believe they would have
anything but what's good in the Salt Lake theatre. It was built by our
people and they own it. And if it wasn't good, President Smith wouldn't
have taken his boys there."

And this was not merely the absurdity of an old woman. It is the logic
of all the faithful. The leaders cannot do wrong--because it is not
wrong, if they do it. No criticism of them can be effective. No act of
theirs can be proven an error. If they do not do a thing, it was right
not to do it; and it would have been a sin if it had been done. But if
they do that thing, then it was right to do it; and it would have been a
sin if it had not been done.

This reliance upon the almighty power and prophetic infallibility of the
leaders prevents the Mormon people from truly appreciating the dangers
that threaten them. It keeps them ignorant of outside sentiment. It
makes them despise even a national hostility. And it has left them
without gratitude, too, for a national grace. Before these people can be
roused to any independence of responsible thought, it will be necessary
to break their trust in the ability of their leaders t