Arizona republican., 1899-12-02
THE OTHER SIDE
 OF ROBERTS CASE

To the Editor of The Republican, Sir: In view of the fact that you have seen fit to publish much against Hon. B. H. Roberts and the Mormon church in behalf of the enemies of the Nor mon people in general and B. H. Rob-
 erts in particular, We believe and hope that you will have the fairness to pub lish the Mormon side of this cOntro- versy. F. H. Roberts was not elected by the church: neither was he defeated by the church when he ran for the same office two years prior to his elec- ton. for the church is not in politics. The mission of the church is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those that do not know Him by a living faith: to convert those that love and maketh a lie. if we can. We love all mankind and pray for those that despitefuily use us. We want peace on earth and the good will of all of the human fam fly. There are but few. MT. Editor. in q better position than you to know that the statements that are being made by the press in general are false and without foundation. Let me ask you if you can tell the public how many MOrmOns in Arizona of the thou sands that live here have married polygamous wives since they promised the government that they would stop this practice about ten years ago. How many have the grand juries indicted . Certainly the preachers of the various churches whose mission seems to be to act the spy will be able to tell us if there has been any. This applies to Utah as well, for in all this crusade they have not been able to find one single case of Dolygamy that has been contracted since it became unlawful to do so; neither can they. because the Mormon people are a Iaw-abiding peo- pie. Go to the records and tell us the name of one Mormon of all the thou sands that have lived in this territory that has been convicted of murder
 horse or cattle stealing. adultery or any of the crimes which are so numer- ous as to make it a great burden upon the taxpayers to prosecute the outlaws of this territory. And again, just name one non-MOrmon family whose home has been demoralized by coming in contact with the Mormon people. Who is it in this territory that has lived among the Mormons that does not know that no member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will drink strong drinks, not even tea or coffee or use tobacco2 How many Mormons did you ever find living on public charity or tramping up and down through the country? In short, do the county or territorial officers ever have any trouble with the Nor mons? Are they not among the most progressive hOme-makers of this terri tory? Have they not fulfilled the scrip lures by making the desert to blossom as a rose? Do not the best and most Influential people of Phoenix. Tempe and surrounding cot ntry, with their wives, sons and daughters, associate with the Mormon people of Mesa, and can any one point to one single case where harm came to them by so do- ing? If so, let them stand up and tell us who they are. Now this being true
 where is the danger of the purity of the home? What about the consist ency of all of this? Where are the churches, preachers and people that are trying to run this government by dictating to congress what it shall do to Roberts and the Mormon people?