The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-06
A DEFENDER OF B1AspHEMY.

uc NEWS CODleS 10 Ine ue-
fense Of the blasphemous wretch who in
the Tabernacle on Sunday last had the
sacrilegious audacity to compare the
Staying of Joseph Smith, the
prophet, with the crucifxion Of the
Savior of Mankind. The Tribune adj
duced some of the contrasts between
the lives Of those so compared the one
going about doing good, the other going
about doing evil; the one gladly re-
oeived and acclaimed by the people,
the other rejected by all, and recognized
as public enemy, with whom it was
not possible to live in neighborly
friendship, This tho church organ
claims to be remarkable admis-
sion" But whether remarkable or
not, it was compelled by the BIAS
phemer who made the horrible and
scandalous comparison.
This contrast is construed by the
church organ as an attack upon the
Mormons and their religion. It is re-
markable, indeed, to see the avidity
with which the News seizes upon any,
thing which it can dishonesty and in.
decently construe as putting the whole
Mormon people in the pillory Of in
fanny in which the Mormon leaders have
voluntarily placed themselves-as law
defers, pledge-breakers, robbers of the
poor, of widows and of orphans; as
repudiators of the very revelations
they seek to impress upon their fol-
lowers; as rebels against the laws of
God and of man. But it won Z do; the
Mormon people as a mass have been
duped, oppressed, and robbed without
conscience or mercy by their leaders
Far be it from us to even think Of
CHASING them in the same category as
those who have deceived and betrayed
them after consuming their substance
and putting the whole community un-
der the weight of their own dishon-
esty and rapacity.
The News further claims that in The
Tribune g "admission that polygamy
was practiced in the days of "the
prophet Joseph" the 'Reorganite
brother is confounded. But as The
Tribune is not a spokesman for ''the
Reorganite BROTHER il is hard to see
how any admission we might make
as to this would affect him. If the
church organ or any of the church
speakers think they can make any head
way against fthe Reorganite brother,''
how is it that they are so reluctant,
not to say afraid, to met him in de-
bate! We hear q good deal of boast
ing by the News and its fellows about
what they can establish against the
contention Of "the Reorganite broth
er,' but nothing is ever known of
their in fact doing anything by way of
confronting him. Why not accept
some Of the numerous challenges that
''the Reorganite brother" throws out,
to debate the points of difference be-
tween them and the lawless, hide
bound autocracy of priestcraft that is
in rule ,here7 If the law breaking
priesthood of Utah is so sure of its
ground, why not come TO the front and
defend it2
In all the discussions which The
Tribune finds it necessary to have with
the law-defying priestcraft which domi-
mates politics, business, social affairs,
and civil rule in Utah, we have studi-
ously kept in mind the difference be-
tween the rulers and the ruled; between
the oppressed and the oppressors; be.
tween the robbers and the robbed. 1t
is not only right and just to do this
from q religious standpoint (and we
attack no mans religion, and no one
for following such religious views as
seem good to him. but it is essential
from the civic standpoint. 1t is quite
to look upon the vulture with
the same sentiment as one regards its
prey. While we commiserate the vic.
Tins Of the lawless and brutal ferocity
which keeps willing and devoted peo-
pie stripped Of the wealth which prop.
erly belongs to them, we can have no
pity for those ruthless and merciless
robbers who strip them. 1t is plain
case; the dividing line is so easy to
trace that one cannot miss it; and our
assault is always directed against those
who, to live lives of luxury and ease,
despoil the people, no matter under
what pretense that spoliation is done.
But our heart goes out in sympathy
and sorrow to those who are made the
victims of this despoilment. blasphem-
ously, in the name Of Almighty God,
and we are content to leave the case
with discerning minds, between us, who
oppose that spoliation and the brutal,
conscienceless robbers with all their
hirolings and compelled service thrown
in, on the other side Of the balances.