Arizona weekly miner., 1875-05-07
CAN'T STAND THE LIGHT.

George Q. Cannon, the many -wifed Dele
 Deseret News, one of the Twelve Apostles
 and reputed choice of the Mormon Church
 for the Presidency to succeed Brigham
 Young indicated the policy of that benight-
 ed people lately by preaching a sermon
 against public schools, free education and,
 in fact, education in any shape except it be
 by the sanction of the Church.
 If Elder Cannon had owned up and told
 his people plainly that they must be kept in
 ignorance in order to render them subservient
 to the will of the priesthood, it would have
 been no better proof of the fact than he has
 afforded in this sermon. Nobody cares
 what the Mormons preach, practice or be-
 lieve so long as their teachings do not out
 rage the decencies of society, tend to immo-
 rality or stand in the way of the progress
 and happiness of the people; but when they
 do this, then they partake of the character
 of public enemy, and ought to be held in
 check by wholesome laws. It was bad
 enough to allow them to bring up genera
 ticn of bastards by their plural wife system,
 in direct opposition to the spirit and enlight- enment ofthe age we live in, but now for one of tie chief promoters of this great wrong to stand up in the pulpit and insist upon keeping the unfortunate offspring of their bigamous system in utter ignorance of every thing except their own nefarious Church doctrines, thus entailing upon the world community of ignorant bigots to curse society for ages to come, seems entirely too much to c endured much longer.
 The law does not allow the Indian to stand in the way of material advancement by driv- ing the plowmen from the fields, nor outlaws to place Obstructions on railroad tracks or tear down telegraph lines. |. is against the law to scuttle the ships that bear the com merce of the world to and from cur shores. and yet We allow incendiaries, so to speak. to carry the torch of ignorance under the cloak Of freligion for the purpose of preventing the l acquisition of and destroying that which is of far more importance 10 those who are to come after us than all of these combined.
 If children want an education" says this | Apostle, " let them strive for it." and yet he | and his lecherous horde of coadjutors offer | no incentive to such strife, but on the con l trary withhold the means that would render | 1t possible for them to obtain the object of | their struggle. MT. Cannon avowed that he 1 could see no justice in "compelling the rich to educate the children of the poor" and asks "why not as well require them to feed and clothe them ?" Yet he recognizes the justice of taxing the rich and poor alike tenth of their income to support an nstitu- ton upon which he and .he other leaders have grown rich, and are enabled to send their own children to Europe to be educated and fitted to lord it over the ignorant off spring of their poor dupes as they are now doing with their deluded parents.
 We write only in s temporal sense, and disclaim any intention to meddIc with mat fers of religious belief or practice, except so lar as such practice interferes with the good order of society and material prosperity of the country, end when it does that it be- comes matter of political policy and ought O be dealt with as any other evil that threatens the we'll being of the people.
 The Mormon Church has the right to ,laim the same favorable recognition in this country that IS accorded to any and all other societies of worshipers so long as it is in l harmony with the enlightenment of the age md within the law of the land, but when it's teachings become subvcrsive of right and promoters of palpable wrong, it, or any other whether secular or religious. 'ught to be curbed and compelled by the ( proper authority to conform to the regula- { ions and enactments of those who are cho- { en to represent the great body of the peo- ( lie ot this country who have right to ob- ect to having population worse than sava- l es turned loose among them in utter igno- t ance of all the amenities of civilization. t This opposition to free education is relic T tarbarism and the chief weapon with c Thich priestcraft hopes to hold its sway [ yer the minds of the ignorant masses, but | he world is too far advanced to turn back a ard now in the direction of the dark ages. s nd the Apostle of Brigham may as we'll rec V ynZe 1t at once as 10 have to acknowledge [ after bitter experience. t nr-r.. D. n.l