Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-03-15
WHAT HAPPENED At
PROTEST MEETING.
Document Prepared and Adopted
At Anti Mormon Gathering
Last Night,
TO Be SENT TO WASHINGTON.
Session Notable for the Absence of the
Old Anti. Mormon" Leaders An.
other Meeting to be Held.

Here Is the protest adopted last night
by upwards of l75 representative nom
"Mormons' at the meeting IN Bamberg-
err hall. 1t will be circulated for sigma
lures OF Gentiles generally, and sent to
Congress:
TO the Congress and People OF the
United States
The law-abiding people OF Utah have
read with amazement, Indignation and
disgust the declaration Of President Jo-
seph f. Smith of the Mormon Church
that they are broadmlnded enough TO
consent to the shocking violations Of
law and public decency which he con-
fesses TO have committed,
We protest that we are not deserving
Of this sort Of praise; on the contrary
we most emphatlCally repudIate and re-
pei the statement which, In fact, is an
allegation that we, knowing Of his de-
iiant lawlessness, are accessories to his
crimes.
We declare, on the contrary, that he
and the other polyg Jmlsts have sur
rounded themselves with an impenetra-
bic wall of secrecy In their perpetra-
ton OF the mlsdeeds testified to, have
systematically suppressed the record Of
births required by law, and II has been
impossible through court process or
otherwise to obtain any exact knowl-
edge OF what was being done, much less
legal evidence of the offenses; that the
public isntlment OF the law-abidng
people here has al all times been zeal
Gus for the punishment OF polygamv
and polygamous practlses, as we'll as OF
other crimes.
Owing to the power and control OF the
polygamist hierarchy over their people
and the pressure they have constantly
brought TO bear upon them In support of
the special crime TO which they are
prone, II has become matter of disci-
plIne with all who are under that dom-
nance to refrain from talking about
polygamous relations and TO deny
knowledge Of the same on all occasions
The one who would reveal his knowl-
edge OF these matters has been stigma
ti2ed as traitor, spy and an informer
and among the deyOtees OF the Mormon
Church Is held TO be Infamous. Who
ever betrays the polygamist Is subject
TO ostracism, abuse, deprivation Of bust
ness and TO every penalty which un-
bridled INSCRIPTIONS power can innict.
II has therefore been impossible TO
know what was being done In this re-
gard, Notwithstanding strong suspicious
OF the facts entertained by many per-
sons The veil has been lifted In part
for the first time In the testimony that
has Just been given by the Church lead
ers In Washington. and nowhere In the
whole country did this testimony oooa.
sion 50 much establishment and humill-
alton as In Utah. The Investigation
thus far has been so fruitful that we
call for It's rigid continuance, confident
that further disclosures, equally start
ling. may be expected, as there are GER
tainly deeper depths than have yet been
sounded.
We therefore denounce President
Smiths statement that the people IN
Utah palllate or condone his and like
ofienses as a libel upon their citizenship
and conscienoes We repudlate the
abatement as one wholly untrue. AMI
protest against being classed with those
whose minds are dead to the enormIty
Of the offense OF which these self-con.
ffssed law breakers have been and con-
tlnue TO be guilty,
We also most earnestly protest
against the continuance OF the state OF
degradation and immoral living the
testimony referred TO dlscloses, and de-
mand that the laws against this crime
shall be enforced with such vlgor as to
compel the defiant transgressors to
come within the law and keep good