Introduction 31

Senator Smoot, himself a monogamist, was correct in his prediction that he, along with the LDS Church, would go on trial when the Senate committee had collected its data. 

Through the summer of 1903, anti-Mormon articles and publications filled the nation’s newspapers. Two incidents in November intensified the committee’s search. First, Heber J. Grant, Helen’s brother-in-law, just returning from his mission to Japan, spoke at a University of Utah fund-raiser. Milton Merrill notes:

Heber J. Grant . . . always a vigorous, outspoken, and enthusiastic man, he was extremely popular with gentiles as well as Mormons. . . . In 1903, however, his exuberance was not appreciated . . . he made statements which brought down a storm of abuse on his head, on Smoot, and on the Church. He was in the process of giving a gift of one hundred fifty dollars; fifty dollars for each of his two wives and fifty dollars for himself. This evoked loud laughter among the students and stimulated the speaker, who added, “yes, I have two wives and the only reason I haven’t got another one is because the government won’t let me.” 

The national public saw this incident as a flaunting of polygamy. Charles Owen, an enthusiastic anti-Mormon from Salt Lake City, charged Grant with cohabitation and issued a warrant for his arrest, but Grant was quickly sent on another mission to Europe before it could be served. Senator Smoot commented on Grant’s unfortunate speech and its dramatic consequences in a letter to John Henry Smith:

You state that Heber’s case has created a stir in Salt Lake City, I can assure you that it is not to be compared to the sensation that it has created in the East. Heber is lost sight of as the person making the comment, and the whole criticism is laid at the door of the Church and myself.

In a letter to his close friend, James Clove, Smoot reveals an even more candid response to Grant’s actions:

Heber J’s little episode . . . has caused an immense amount of unpleasant criticism against myself in particular and against the church in general. . . . I guess Heber is on the water, and we