Evening star., 1898-11-22

cret meeting in Logan, Utah. the report of
| which has been shown 10 be correct. Mr..
| Roberts, after being avoided for some time
was approached By the high church officials
| with whom he had been associated for
| years. They made ''protracted effort to
show him that he had been wrong. but he
| combated them at every point, and at last
| they gave him two weeks in which to
think it over" He was then met again.
but in the quoted language of Apostle He
Der ]. Grant, they found his heart like
stone though they prayed and wept over
| him,
Apostles Bring Pressure on Roberts.
| All his associates went 10 him in turn to
| move him. and when they found he still
| combated them, a committee of two apos-
lies, Heber ]. Grant and T. NJ. Lyman, was
| appointed to labor with him. They did
this diligently.
| They wept and prayed with him, and he
| Wept and prayed, too; and after the COM
mittee had brought all the pressure of the
| church on him fer nine weeks 'one morn
| ing he appeared before the authorities"
| the story reads, 'and told them he was
| ready to acknowledge his wrong, and would
| sign any paper they might ask him 20
sign, or do any thing they might tell him TO
| do. His dead relatives, he said-those who
| rad died outside the church-had appeared
| to him in a vision, and asked him to bow
| to the will of the authorities and retain his
standing in the church, in order to do tenn
| pie work for their salvation"
| He did sign a paper, for at the April con-
| ference of the church his name appeared on
| the new manifesto issued by the high
| ecclesiastical officers, upholding the very
| action which the democratic convention had
| condemned.
| The liberal elements saw in this eGict the
| means whereby the church leaders could
| unerringly indicate their wishes to the peo-
| pie. Moses Thatcher refused to sign Il, de-
| claring It enunciated the principle that the
| l., I,,I rfrrb,+ Int
| citizens exercise of his sovereign authority
and was deprived of his office as apostle for
| doing
Open Fight on the Church.
| Mr. Roberts was compelled to resign his
| editorship because the newspaper on which
| he was employed announced that il would
| rot concede to any church or the leaders
| thereof in this free state admitted under
! the solemn pledge that it should remain
| free) that it or they may dictate or advise
who of all its members may or may not
| engage in politics or become candidates for
| office for the acknowledgment Of such
right and the liberation of its existence
| would sap the foundations of the free
| state make it the tool of the church, and
| in the end turn it into the instrument of its
| propaganda. 4.
Upon this bold declaration the democrats
| of Utah rallied for the campaign OF 1895,
| casting Mr.. Roberts aside as a. traitor. Ihe
| silver canvass aided the opponents of the
| hierarchy, and they swept the state with
the greatest plurality in its history. They
| congratulated themselves that they had
| crushed the church and state idea. they
| execrated Mr.. Roberts and exalted Mr.
| Thatcher, but when the Legislature met
they were faced again by the old influence,
and 1t proved powerful enough In their own
| ranks to defeat Mr.. Thatcher for the sem
| atorship.
| Mr.. Thatcher found that those who had
promised to uphold him quailed before the
| agents of the presidency. He lost heart,
| therefore, and last year abandoned his
fight submitted to a trial by the church
| authorities and acknowledged their right
| to exact his political obedience. Thus the
priesthood eliminated the only remaining
| leader of their own people who could have
| successfully opposed their advance.
| Prophet Calls for Mormon Union.
| Only the democratic party remained to be
conquered to give the presidency absolute
supremacy. decisive blow was dealt to it
when its municipal ticket was defeated in
Salt Lake City last year. The principal
| cause Of the disaster was an address in the
| Tabernacle in Salt Lake City by the late
! Prophet Woodruff, in which he declared
| to the thousands of Mormons assembled in
| the big Salt Lake Tabernacle:
| God Almighty requires you to unite to-
| gether; to unite in your temple work and
unite in your politics. The day has come
| when you must put aside your democracy
| and republicanisIn and as the Latter Day
| Saints unite, and you will not be taxed to
DEATH
| This defeat shattered the last remaining
| force opposed to the church. and the con-
| elusive triumph was easy of accomplish
| ment. Whispers went out through the
| state early this year that B. H. Roberts
| was to get his reward for his obedience to
! counsel. Then from regions where Nor
| monism is strong came demand" for his
| nomination to Congress. w, H King, the
| present representative, who found time last
winter to leave his duties in Washington
| and preach Mormonism in Brooklyn, with
drew from the race. One by one such lead
ers of the party as were known to be good
| churchmen took up Mr.. Roberts cause,
| and, despite last desperate rally of those
| who had led the fight for political freedom,
| he was nominated Overwhelmingly.
| Immediately it was openly charged that
| he was defiant polygamist, who not only
| had not obeyed the law against living with
| the three wives he possessed already but
| had married another after the anti-poyga-
| my manifesto was issued. AS proofs of
| these charges ii was declaSed that one of
| his plural wives had borne him twins after
| statehood was granted and that DR.. Maggie
| c. Shipp, woman physician of Salt Lake
| City, had changed her name to Roberts,
and he lived al her house when in the state
capital These things We're not denied by
| himself or his mana gers.
| This revelation came at a most unfortu-
nate time for the church leaders, for they
were =vidently totally unprepared either to
| enforce their own rule against polygamy or
to attempt to justify its practice 1t
brought to the front facts which showed
that there had been no cessation of the
practice in the church. Mr. Roberts parti-
sans replied to the attack on him by saying
that he was no worse than some of the
candidates on the republican ticket, nor
than the leading church authorities
Moreover, 1t was boldly charged that
| President Mckinley had sanctioned the
practice by appointing men to federal Of
| flee despite protests that they were still
| defying the law.
| Still Believe in PoIyIamy.
Probing desper. IT was learned that in a
quiet way polygamy was again being
taught to the young people of the church
| through the Improvement Era, the organ
of the young mems organizations. 1t was
also remembered that Angus NJ. Cannon,
president OF Salt Lake stake in the church
-one of whose plural wives is now a state
| senator-had declared:
| 1--WE still believe in the principle cf plural
! YnarriaQe4 aS wa balipye the r-a II