Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-05-28

i
population In almost any part Of the
country aud there would be nearly the
slme number of bignmous marriages
"The evidence does not warrant the
conclusion that there have been oven
twenty OF these marriages. ! base my
statement rs to the number upon the
contention of the proteetants them
selves but when YOU come to slit the
evidence II absolutely fails, and II tho
law thar governs testimony in actions
dealing with property and lives In tho
courts of our country were 20 be m
voked they could not show I'VE cases or
this kind
That IL what they knew. They also
knew that the number OF families In
the plural marriage relation in the
Church had decreased, since the Mani
festo. from 2i5l to about 500 and that
the overwhelming sentiment In Utah
and the surrounding states favored the
total elimination of that Institution "by
time rather than by the adoption OF
drastic measures And they voted in
| accordance with these facts
The appeal further, asks the women
of Illinois to help defeat this man"
| on the ridiculous plea that If Senator
Hopkins is reelected TO the Senate, the
Apostles OF the Church Will sit in both
houses Of Congress, and the President
of the Church win occupy the White
House, Did idiocy ever make Itself
more conspicuous In the service of big
otry and hatred? Even now" that APP
peal says, Mormon missionaries in the
state of Illinois are quietly. insiduously
working for the reelection OF Senator
Hopkins" How? What missionary in
Illinois. or anywhere else, is engaged
in politics? win the authors Of the
Appeal kindly furnish proof of that
statement. or stand condemned before
the bar OF public opinion?
The appeal" of course reiterates the
falsehood that the Church is n political
organization. and it characterizes the
members as traitors to the government.
We hurl that accusation back. The
Church members have proved their 10y
atty to the United States these many
years, under the assaults of mobs and
the persecution of demagogues. They
have proved their love of American in
stitutions in every possible way, even
in the desert and on the verge of
death. The traitors are the calumniators
OF the I.atter-day Saints. They have
violated every principle of American
government, to further their plans;
they have not hesitated at assassin
tion. They have even appealed to the
United States Senate asking that body
to tear the Constitution TO shreds, so as
to leave them free to trample An in
offending community under their feet.
They are the traitors. The Saints have
always defended the government
against the attacks made upon 1t by
agitators and mobs. Love for the
is deeply imbcddeed in the
hearts of the Jatter-day Saints II is
part of their belief that they are called
by Providence to uphold it when as
sailed.
The climax OF the appeal is reached |
when 1t sanctions the murder of the |
Prophet Joseph and the Patriarch. his
brother. 1t says that before polygamy
was an acknowledged tenet of the
Mormon Church, there was something
in the system which your fathers In
Illinois could not tolerate; rather. they
killed the pretended prophet" and then
it says, mark you;
Senator Hopkins did what he could
to cast opprobrium upon their acts"
If words mean anything. this sem
tence means that those responsible for
the appeal--and we do not believe it is
written by woman at all-are In favor
of assassination as a potent agency OF
anti" Mormonsm. At least, they urga
the Illinois women to punish a distin-
gushed Senator for casting oppro-
bi-ium upon the acts of those who "isill
cd the pretended prophet and drove
the remnant OF the band out naked into
the wilderness"
In this awful climax anti" Mormon
ism" has laid itself bare TO the world.
1t stnl endorses murder and expulsion.
But that II no great wonder, consider
ing its origin.
We have given more attention to this
appeal" than we at first intended to
do, but we may say, in closing that the
trouble in Utah was explained by Sem
ator Sutherland in his address before
the Senate on Jan. %, 1907. In answer
to question by Senator Dubois. he
said
When the ex-senator, my predeces-
sor-and / should not have spoken of
this but for the question of the Senator
from ldaho--when that ex-senator de-
sired To come back To the Senate ac-
coroling to the statements which are
made In Utah, and which / have no
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