The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-05-11
IN DEFENSE OF
MISSIONARIES
Speakers at tabernacle Discuss
German Expulsion.
SAY WORK WILL GO ON
DECLARE 1000 NATIVE NOR
MONS ARE LEFT TO PREACH.

Germany's action in exDeHing Nor
mon elders from Kaiser W1heIm's en-
pire was one of the subjects treated by
returned missionaries at the tabernacle
yesterday. The speakers took the
ground that the action was taken be-
cause Germany was fearful of the re-
1lSlous influence that would be exerted
Dy TINS new doctrine and not through
complaint with the teachings and the
DehdNiOr OF the missionaries. One of
the speakers said that if all the Ameri-
can missionaries were expelled there
are enough natives left to carry on the
WORK Apostle John Henry Smith in
uulged IN mild criticism Of the atti-
tude Of Germany and there was a tinge
OF sarcasm in his remarks
The first speaker was John Alvin
Howard. who has recently returned
from mission in Germany. His work
was confined largely to Brussels Bel
gum and he referred briefly to the
progress made by the church there.
he said;
Though We found some opposition.
the work has prOspered. The conditions
In Germany, however. are not so fav-
ofable as they We're. The ministry there
mas united in concerted effort to drive
our elders from Germany. I attended
one of their meetings in Berlin to learn
what their reasons were for this action.
Fifty of our elders had been banished
from the empire, yet they gave not one
reason for their action compatible with
the laws of Germany. There was no
complaint against the acts and the
characters of the elders The only rea-
son they gave is that they were trouble
some foreigners.
7 am not discouraged at this Opposi-
uOn- think opposition is often neCeS-
y sary for advancement It turns indiffer-
ence into curiosity and then to intere ST
in the work The Saints in Germany
are among the best people in the realm
and they are faithful to the work of the
Lord. There are 1000 Saints in Germany
who will carry on the work if all the
American elders are expelled
Says Protestants Are Losing.
Gray Irving who labored principally
In Switzerland, also put in some time in
the German empire. He told of the
strength Of the MOrmons there and said
that the work was prospecting. The eld-
ers he said are not preaching immigra-
ton any more, but are urging fidelity
TO the land and its laws. The mission
aries come in contact with the best peO-
PIE of the realm The Catholics, who
We're so bitterly fought by Bismarck
are becoming strong again. The Prot
estants. he said, are INDUCING in toe
much fioweTy sermon for the working
man. They don't understand them
There are too many free thinkers in the
Protestant pulpit there, he said, and
the result is the people are growing
lOOseT in their beliefs and are growing
away from the church The speaker
deplOred the fact that the kaiser gave
more attention to the documents eX-
cavated at Babylon than to the discov-
cries of the documents bearing upon the
teachings of Mormon and the history
of the ancestors of the Indians with
which the book of Mormon deals
Teachings, he said, were no longer con-
fined to the lower classes as in the old
days. When these alkaline deserts were
populated it needed the sturdy lower
classes to bear the hardships-
Smith Claims Misrepresentation.
Apostle smith reviewed the work that
IS being done by the missionaries. He
said to the MOrmOns have been restored
communications with angels through
revelations, dreams, visions and prOph,
ecies. Mankind. he said, would know
there was a Christ were il not fOl
spiritual revelation.
Our young men, he said ARE being
banished from parts of the world, bU
II cannot be said that they have done
evil Every newspaper of this and
Mother lands has misIed its readers
TO believe we are taking women anC
young girls from their homes The fac
Is that our missionaries cannot ever
baptize a child without the consent OF
its parents. nor a wife without COnsen
of her husband If any missionary ha!
induced "A woman TO leave her home fOl
the church he has violated the laws o
the church and the sacred covenant
he made with it, II has never been Ou
purpose to break up homes"