Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-04-13

/ western tcllitnfiAl h'NNtvpm'nt postthlct
shall be ialSen into full social, political
and religious compauionship Aud thoro
- no doubt thu, ,ho special plea made by
the president OF tho foremost institution
81 learning in the New World will go far
toward realizing that great object"
The Boston Transcript has these cou.
rageous editorial sentences.
"lIowcvor siuch the masses Of people
who think In grooves cry out against
such wrench 90 their prep5ssessions,
however iudiscfeer MIR. Eliops Language
really was from tho worldly standpoint,
such an ac, Of a Courageous man IL never
lost. Il brings things forward To their
issue. Because President Eliot has spols-
on out tho truth a, ho secs itrbout the
1 good there IL In Alormonism toisc thoy
were monsters and not moni, everybody Is
bound to read aud think about these peo-
pie and their relations to the rest Of our
country. In worry different way. Air.
Eliot believes the, polymmy il no longer
to be rcckonud with as formerly, and he
daros say 50. ~ course thgre will be
doublors to declare that the Mormons are
foxy, and II thcy once get a star for Utah
on tho flag OF the Union We shall find
that we have admitted u state that In
tendz 10 permit poyramy after all. That
Ia certainly Judging human nature by it,
lowest qualities rather than by ~ power
Of rising 10 cope with responsibility. II
i no, likely that educated young Nor
mons are going 10 belitilo their own fu-
tirc IN any such way, and the lcavon Of
education u making itsolf felt In tho Ter
ritorios. Its power was never better
shown than whgna man like President
Eliot, cNompliyug the liberation and
the foresight aud the wisdom of broad cul-
,urc, said that tho Mormons have the
Same right to freedom Of thought that IL
accorded tho Roman Catholics and the
Jewa and the Methodis,s. Ito might
have added aud che Quakors and tho uni-
tarians. Freedom VI thought j. not
license Of action. The recognition Of the
good Is by no mean. praise Of tho evil.
Mr.. Ellors action will prove to be liz own
bcs, defense In u. educational result upon
tho young men u Utah"
This is sD excerpt from an editorial
In the Brooklyn, n. Y, Times
1.-THE Mormous, like all other scots
which claim To be actuatcd by religious
Inspiration, have been entitled TO tho
bonoht Of certain olomeut " doubi as
to the validity OF their claims 10 religious
Qualifications and at the present day this
sect Processes, and Is generally believed,
TO have wholly abandoned polygamy.
| Meanwhile the sec, has founded ono OF
the most admirable communities in tho
| United Sta,ei. Salt Lake City has boon
repeatedly called model city In IL civic
organization, IT, municipal management,
it, cleanliness. orler aud respect for
those elements Of tho social code which
every other large city in,hc United States
moro or less ifagnntly violates. Prosi-
dent Eliot comes among these modern
| Mormons, recalls their struggles
In tho face Of tho most bitter
opposition ever directed against
religious see, In this country, aud,
taciily assiming tia, polygamy Is at an
ond, encourages the continuance Of the
battle for tho ideal Of absolute civil and
religious equality.
II President Eliot committed an error
II was Ia too great a candor. This islnot
yet u world In which man may speak
tho whole truth. Tho free statement Of
certain truths Is likely to bring about
revolutions, and revolutions arc uncom-
Portable. This Is because truths do not
always appear for what they actually
are, and until truth can be- Understood
/ II should not be stated TO ears that cannot
i understand. President Eliot Is al the
| head OF a conservative institution, and ho
has unques,ionably committed radical
error OF saying things that are seriously
open to diverse Interpretation. The as
| sumption contained In the things ho did
not say 10 bis Mormon audience will not
! save him from dangerous misinterpro.a-
ton In the popular IN ind. He will not
DO forgiven for seeming to justly all that
Is implied In the odious word Mormon.
ism.
The Cambridge, Mass, Post, after
discussing the matter lengthlly,
arrives at this conclusion:
zone can respect peoples devotion to
an idea without approving tho idea.
Thorc Is a good deal OF humbug about
this pother over Ellot's speech. II comes
with au III grace from people forever
pratlng about free speech. It smacks Of
tho days when Phillips and Garrison
were mobbed in Boston In the cause OF
slavery"
The Boston Common weaM thus
briefly dismisses the controversy:
"Reporis OF a recent address by Prosl.
dent Eliot in the Mormon Tabernacle a,
Salt Lake City have just reached Boston,
and the Sensational PROS is engaged In an
attempt to mako Ii appear that Mr.. Ellors
praise OF religious liberation was intend.
cd to imply approval Of polygamy. Its
no. very duh season for news, but the
suggestion that tho president OF Harvard
College has embraced Mormonism is
perhaps the llyeliest absurdity yet
brought forh.n
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