Churchill standard. (Fallon, Nev) 1903-1908, 1904-03-12
EDITORIAL COMMENT
THE MORMON CHURCH.

THE REED SHOOT INVESTIGATION is bringing to light many
facts regarding affairs in Utah not hitherto known to the Ameri
can people. If the investigation is pushed to a conclusion with
the same vigor that has characterized the examination of Presi-
dent Smith, it is sure to arouse public opinion to such a pitch that
it will demand the disfranchsement ofevery member who owes
or claims allegiance to the Mormon Church. How the matter is
viewed by those who are posted in the inquity of the leaders of
that church is told in the following, from the pen of Judge c. c.
Goodwin. editor ofGoodwinis Weekly:
Il told you So are not welcome words to those in trouble,
but for almost a quarter oa century the writer of this has been
begging the Mormon chiefs to put themselves and their church in
accord with the Government of the United States, and has repeat
eddy warned them of the danger they were in; telling them if the
people of the United States understood their practices and pur
poses the last one of them would be DISTINGUISHED.
"When the testimony delivered by the head of the church on
Thursday shall be supplemented, as it surely will be, by absolute
statements of the temporal and political rule which these chiefs
exercise over their subjects, it will come dangerously near causing
Congress to disfranchise every member of the organization, for it
will be made clear that this organization is a direct menace to
free government.
!. 1.-The fact that to gain amnesty and statehood these men, claim
ing to be doing Gods worA. deliberately made promises 10 the
Government and people of the United States which they intended
to break and which they have sham1eesly broken, the cause
against them will be all the stronger.
I'VE tiled to prevent Mr.. Roberts from running for Congress,
we besought Apostle Smoot not to press his claims for the Senate
telling both that it would be the worse for them and their people,
but they needed no advice and, though it was offered in the inter
est of peace and the honor ofUtah, they each treated it as coming
from an enemy. Mr.. Roberts butted his head against a stone
wall. The wall did not suffer, and Mr.. Smoot is not far away
from that same wall. The American Government is a most sacred
institution; the hope of the world, and while the American peo-
pie r most patient. still if they once take up the idea that there
is a purpose to build up a temporal kingdom on this evil, vx
populi will come very near being vox Del"
In Is TO BE sincerely hoped that the Western Pacific will make
the city of Reno a freight terminal. BY so doing it will lift a bur-
den from the shoulders of the people of Nevada that has weighed
them down for years Reno will, in that event, become one of the
greatest wholesale centers on the Pacific coast, and the thousands
upon thousands of dollars that annually leave this State for the
upbuilding of Sacramento and San Francisco will be left within
our own boundaries. The destiny of Reno is undetermin able, yet
it is within the bounds of conservatism to predict that the present
metropolis of Nevada is a strong favorite in the race for leadership
among the interior cities of the western slope.
THE REPORT of the State Controller shows that Churchill
County has an assessed valuation of 81, PAP, 1O1 90, being seventh
in the list of counties. Considering the fact that this county has
the smallest population. it is truly a remarkable showing. Where
will Churchill be when the big canal lis in active operation?