The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-06-25
ELDER TALMAGE RAMPANT.


complain that the press is misrepresent-
ing his church and perscuting his re-
ligious associates and attacking his
faith! The learned professor is lndig
nant that newspapermen hereabouts
are common liars While some expert
ences in the educational career of the
distinguished pedagogue should cause
him to feel a measure of sympathy for
these falsj6ers Che will remember his
removal from the presidency Of the
University we will pass to the matter
of the supposed damage done to Utah
by what Doctor Talmage is pleased to
call ''very black newspapers,
Patriotic publjcists in this State, and
some in other quarters, are conducting
open opposition to that secret condition
which prevails in Mr.. Talmage s
church, designated by him at Wash
ington as being productive of ille~iti
macy among the people. They are cry
ing out against that practice which
drags women down to the level indicat-
ed by Doctor Talmage when he told the
Senate committee that women who had
been plurally married since the mani
festo (of which many cases had been
developed) We're not considered by his
church to be wives at all, and that
their living with polygamous hus-
bands under that condition was
without the pale of legitimacy.
The newspapers here-meauing those
representing the sentiment of civiiza-
tion and the glory of true Amer
icanlSm-are announcing TO the world
that there shall be in this State no in.
reference with governmental functions
by high church officials; that the war
fare is to be continued until this com.
mouwealth shall be brought into the
realm of decency and respect for law.
They are telling the world that here We
have the most productive country in the
world; that Utah possesses the re.
sources requisite for the sustenapce of
an empire, and that the effort TO make
these available is necessarily involved
in The controversy IN behalf Of good
government, patriotism, aud safety for
the people and their rights. To the
everyday citizen, such an occupation as
this would not seem to be very destruc.
tive; but TO the ccclesiasticized mind
of Elder Talmage it appears to be an
unwonted attack upon his sacred be.
lief aud slander of the community.
But with DR.. Talmage, as with the
other high priests with whom he is as
sociated, the great trouble about it all
is that the controversy here disturbs
the long e-established autocracy under
which Mr., Talmage has gathered his
proyender. He feels obligated to rise
In. the defense of crime merely as a
matter of preservation. The CON
elusiou is inevitable in the minds of
people who are aware of the learned
gentleman s capabilities--as is the
other, that Mr., Talmage believes per
haps a tithe of what he breaches, I'M
der the most liberal estimate.
Contrast the work of these every !
black newspapers with the implied
reputation which DR.. Talmage estab-
lished for the Mormon people in his
Washington testimony. He gave TO the |
world the impression that Mormons had
no respect for the word of the Lord:
that they set themselves up as being the |
best judges of the advisability of liv- I
ing IN accord with direct revelation from
the Almighty, This is what he said
upon this subject:
The command written amidst the thun- |
ders Of Sinai was Thou shalt not kill.
but every murderer yetoes that COM
inandment so FAR as IL has application |
To himself, and sets il at defiance.
In that sense the people of the church. |
which bears the name oi Him from whom |
tho revelation Of free agency came have
the right 10 reject any commandment |
or any instruction that the Lord may
give, and then take the consequences.
Leaving the rather sanguipary simjle !
which Mr.. Talmagc here presented. he /
may be said TO have held the saints
up 10 a rather peculiar rule of conduct,
Professedly believing, if we may credit
their personal protestations, that the
word of the Lord to them is dearer
than all else III this world, they still