Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-08-13

plnulng upon inc Sthte as tney Hre
upon the incorporators and the corr
porntion itself. The act OF inoorpora-
ton brings about legal relations which
even the state cannot alter ct Wilt
for Il cannot alter tho Constitution
of tho United states. which declares
that no State shalt impair tho ohliga-
lions Of a contract, Thus o State cor
poratlon acquires certain rights under
the federal Constitution: and these
rights imply also an agreement on tho
part of the state that Il will not alter
or repeal those rules OF law which
Il has enacted In the charter or mr.
ticles OF tho corporation.
For the protection OF what tho
courts havo aptly formed tho vested
interests" OF corporations. their con-
stltutions or charters are construed as
laws which the States cannot change
SO as to adversely affect funds invest
ed under them, Thus II Is that the
call of tho anarchist for tho disruption
OF organized institutions and the divid-
ing up of their property and the
demand of the Tribune for such reg
ulation" of Church property by Con-
gress as would result in spoliation and
robbery. remain UNDECIDED, except by
the deluded victims of anarchists on
the one hand and the beguiled inno-
cents or predaceous fanatics misled
by the Tribune on the other.
If any corporation should be hon
estly accused of violating its charter,
a mandamus will issue at the suit
of the people OF the State; as, for In
stance, to compel a railroad to oper-
ate its road. or to erect suitable sta
lions. or to build drawbridge pro-
vlded in it's charter, etc.
These proceedings have been taken
In the case OF quasi-public corpora
lions, the objects of whose creation
are largely different from those of orr
binary private and trading corpora
lions. Still further removed from
these cases are the ecclesiastical corr
porations. in whose business anairs
the public is generally as little con-
cerned as in the affairs OF an indi-
vidual
Whose business is it, for example,
whether an Incorporated church builds
a new Westinghouse with its funds,
or whether 1t invests those funds SO
az to produce yearly revenue for the
care and maintenance of meeting
house already built7 Instigated by
the Tribune, certain meddlesome
enemies here recently imagined that
it. was their business to dictate to the
Church in this matter but soon found
out their error when they undertook
to do 80 by legal process.
Applying, now, the Tribune's own
method of argument to its own editors,
in the light OF the profound and orig
inal discovery 1t has made as to what
constitutes engaging in interstate
commerce. and it will follow that when
a contributor to that sheet buys a Ha-
vana cigar or a glass of Kentucky
whisky, no engages in Interstate COM
merce, And since, as the organ must
admit. the smoking OF cigars and the
drinking of whisky are actions that
Congress ought to deal with the in
dividual referred to. conflscate his pro-
perty. put him in prison, cut off part
of his ears, etc. etc, because (and
here is the point) some enemy of his
has asserted that one editor, while
another while processing to be
Democrat both voted the american
ticket By the organs own logic they
are both unfit for American citizen
ship, unfit to vote, unfit to live In
America. unfit, in fact to live at all
And this. literally reversed. Is the sum
and substance of the Tribunes daily
argument against the Church
For observe, that 1t makes no pre-
tense that the Church" has violated
any statute. State or federal; nor that
1t is actually public carrier and so
engaged, in the legal sense, in inter-
state commerce.; nor that 1t Is in any
way culpable except in one particular
that the Tribune believes II viii
make no effort to induce It's members
~ WV AVi SuSAl men ana
as that organ commonly stands for.
What the organ is really suggesting.
Of course. is that the laws should be
summarily broken and the Church
piundered. by the stealing of its pro-
perry. the confiscation of it's vested in
forests, the suspension of it's charit-
able, religious. and educational work.
etc; and all this for what reason :?
Simply because the organ processes to
imagine that these religious worship
ers. associated into an organization as
required by law are too much inilu-
enced in their voting by the argu-
ments of their friends and are too
little Influenced by the arguments Of
those who are seeking the destruction
of the institution which embodies their
religious faith and ideals.
That is all there is 10 II. The organ
is disappointed that the people callee
Ihtter-day Saints pay so little real at
tcntion TO it's rawlings. and give so little
aid TO its schemes Of public plumber.