Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-01-07
MoRMoNs AND NoN-MoRMoNs

evil OmonS has Tor some time p'LSl VIZ
deayorcd to create the false impress
sion that the Lattcr-day saints are
animated by feelings Of hostility TO-
ward all nom Mormons." and ospeci-
ally toward the members OF tho So
called American party. But these ell
forts must necessarily fail, for the
simple reason that they have no
foundation in fact The history OF
the Church and the present attitude
of the people stamp the assertions
of the local champion Of anu~"Mor-
monism" as falsehoods.
Have tho Latter-day Saints ever
antaeonized the immigration into
Utah OF any respectable class of citi-
zens. or any industry that would be
for the material benefit Of the peopieF
Let us see AS early as 1852 President
Brigham Young. then governor OF
Utah, and the Legislature, retiuonea
Congress ITO provide for the estao-
ljshment of national central railroad
from some eligible point on the MIS-
s1ssppi, or the Missouri rivers, 20 san
Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento or
Astoria, or such other point on or near
the Pacific coast, as the wisdom OF
your honorable body may dictate.
The Latter-day Saints were so far
from desiring isolation from the rest
OF the world, that one of their first
concerns was to ask for trnnscon-
tinental railroad
one of the reasons given for the
necessity of this was that 'np less
than 5000 American citizens have per-
ished on the different routes within
the last three years, for the want of
proper means of transportation
That proves what the feelings OF the
"Mormons" were at time when they
stll smarted under the fearful wrongs
they had suffered at the hands OF mpbs
in the States. They further pointed
out in this petition that tho mineral
resources OF California and these
mountains, can never be fully Develop
cd to the benefit OF tho people OF the
United States without the construction
of such road.
Such were the views and sentiments
of the people here at that time. They
We're anxious to have a highway from
coast to coast, with Utah as. one, Of the
pleasant stations on the road The
construction of such road meant the
opening of the doors of Utah to all
the world They were further anxious
to have that road constructed In the
interest OF the mining industry both
in California and here, as they stated
in the petition. That is a sufficient
answer to the silly charge that the
"Mormons' have over been the enc
mics of the minnie indp7tlN. F'r M
stance; In his 'Answers to Ques-
tons q pampnitt esd IN la6" Tor
the purpose Of advertising Utah,
President George \. Smith stated
among other things that the mineral
resources of Utah AFFORD field for
enterprise worthy the attention of cap
italists and scientific men, Does that
sound as hostility to mining and smelt-
ingY
It Is true that the leaders Of the
Church wisely encouraged the carly set
tiers to establish the agricultural and
manufacturing interests first Any
other course would have been suicide.
But they never aptagonl2ed any other
Industries, as has been falsely alleged
by enemies OF the Church.
AS for the observation-disclosures Of the
Latter-day Saints in their intercourse
with people of other denominations, It
was from the beginning the policy OF
the leaders OF the Church to encourage