The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-04-13
THEN AND NOW, A CONTRAST.

dent Lorenzo Snow OF the Mormon
church wrote letter to the people Of
his organization. defining the attitude
Of the church with respect to polyg-
amous living. This letter was pub
lished in the Deseret News, and it is
now interesting to recall what the
venerable president had to say, and to
compare his statement with the practice
of the present head of the church. In
that letter Mr.. Snow said:
Nor does the church advise or encour.
age unlawful cohabitatlon on the part OF
any OF It's members: IT, therefore any
| lygamy or unlawful coha bItation. he must
bear his own burden; or, In other words,
be answeraole TO the tribunals of the land
for his own action pertaining thereto
When he testified before the Senate
committee at Washington. Joseph T.
Smith expressed very different view
from this-a view which he has been
rehgiously living up to in the practice
of his daily life. His opinion was de-
livercd in these words:
There Is a great difference, in our iudg-
ment In our feelings between the law
prohibiting plural marriages and the law
| prohibiting what Is termed IN the law un-
lawful coha oitation-a very great diff
| ference.
These two pronouncements only serve
| TO emphasize what is fact: That Off
! Gals Of the Mormon church have all
! ways made their statements fit their de-
! sireS, rather than to answer any need
for consistency At another point in
| his testimony before the committee Mr..
Smith made the assertion that the
! church did not expect him TO obey the
laws forbidding unlawful cohabita~
| tion; that all citizens Of the State Of
Utah-Gentlle, jew, and Mormon-con-
doned his offenses against the laws
Of the commonwealth. He brazenly at
tempted to fasten upon the aw"abid
ing inhabitants of this city, who are
not of his faith, the odium Of winking
at his unlawful manner of living, in
order to impress the minds of Senators
with the supposition that there was
justification for his defiance of the law
and the alleged revelation Of his
church.
And this is the man who char.
acteTizes Gentiles IN this community
as unvlrtuous, stepped in vice and
crime, and altogether unworthy the as.
sociation Of the Mormon people. Not
long ago ne was fined in court for
immortality, and yet he will rise in
his high place in the tabernacle and
denounce decent American citizenship
as wicked and impure, solely because
Americans refuse to contribute to the
support of his spurious claims and i'm
moral practices.
By every means at their command
in court, through the press, and in
speech-the predecessors of the present
president of the Mormon church have
declared that the manifesto of Wilford
Woodruff not only inhibited the solem-
nization of further plural marriages.,
but that it forbade, In spirit, if not
in direct words, the practice of
polygamous living, In fact, Joseph F.
Smith so interpreted that document
when he gave his testimony before the
master In chancery-when he desired
TO have returned to the church the
property which the Government had
escheated to its own custody, pending
a settlement of the controversy which
the church had continued to wage
against law. In Washington this man
Smith admitted that he had so con-
strued the manifesto; and then he in
consistently stated that the church did
not require him to obey its own
mandates. The manifesto of Wilford
Woodruff was issued in answer to a de.
mand of the Nation; it was pledge to
the whole country. But to indicate
what the pretended prophet thinks of
the country. so far as his own lechery is
concerned, his own words, as defantly
given to the Senate committee, will
suffice:
The courts of my State have competent
jurisdiction TO deal with me In my Of
lenses against. the. law, and the Con
gress of the United States has no bust
ness with my private conduct.
Notwithstanding the recent assertion
of self-righteousness which the hier-
archs put forth under the procured
approval of the conference, there is
now no more intention on the part Of
the polygamists to abide within the
law than there ever was. What is
true of Joseph F. Smith is that, in his
heart of hearts, he would like nothing
better than to see every man in the
church take as many wives as he could
get-law or no law. The only thing
that prevents himself and others from
adding to their conlugal cousorts is the
fear that even the Mormon people
would then repudiate them. But in view
of the secrecy with which new polygamy
has been surrounded, it can not be
said with any degree of certainty that
the prophet has given information of
the exact and full extent Of his marital
acquisitions,
LIES GAME.
Play the game, the biggest winners
often are the mere beginners,
Make your game. No hesirating
| ,1I he r6