The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-30
SAY CHURCH
does NOT AID
IMMIGRANTS
Mormon Officials Issue State
ment in Connection With
Boston Incident.
PRACTISE OF ASSISTING
CONVERTS DISCONTINUED
MAJORITY OF PERSONS DE-
TANNED SAID TO HAVE
STARTED WEST.

: g . 9 8 q . 80 = % . . . = a q .
{: The church. has not extended %
(. any help to the immigrants who .
were detained at Boston. The %
Z: church does not pay the passage %
I. of Mormon immigrants or con- e.
:. verts any longer. My advices are -
/. that all save possibly twenty Of .:
:. those detained have left Boston .
{. and are now >on their way west %
{. ward. ! expect the others will fol- o
. low as soon as the examinations /"
4. are Completed; the examinations :.
:. ale very SLOW / presume that -
. the case of the two Roe girls. who ="
:, were driven from home by their G"
. father in England. is Nslat caused %
. all the delay.-Anthon II. Lund. .
:. second counselor in the first pres .
o idency OF The Mormon church. o
g. The church formerly maintained ("
. an immigration fund. which grew -
. from very small beginning 10 an 81
{. institution involving millions. &"
:. About the time of the passage of %
o the Edmunds-Tucker act the .im- -
(. migration fund. which was handled .
{. by a church company called the %
:. Perpetual Immigra ton fund, was o.
. abolished. This fund was start e.
. by donations of people here. %
{. some large and some small, o
. and was used for the pay :.
(. ment of the passage of converts, .
E, the money being advanced. note q"
9 signed by the recipient for its re- o
4. payment in one OF two years. and &"
o "A very low rate of interest charged. %
:, When the money and the interest %
q were paid they were turned into -
Z. immigration fund again. and thus Q,
I. il grew to great proportions. @
@ After the disincorporation OF the %
{. fund the church has not paid the o.
{. passage of any person. save in ex- e,
:. tremely rare cases. say. one i'm ..
(. thousand The church does. how 6.
ever. act as the agent for the in .
o dividual who desires TO send for 1.
(: his relatives in Europe. The sys- g.
. tenn is one adopted merely to sim 9.
| q plify the transmission of money. 4.
| {. The person who desires TO bring 4"
/ 9 his relative 10 Utah deposits the o.
/ {. money with the trustee in trust q"
{: president Joseph F. SMITH. and o
/ I. the head # the foreign missions. @
/ =, which is at Liverpool. is notified .
/ :, that there has been placed to the 9.
/ :: credit or the person TO come hither @
! {. a certain sum This sum is then .,
| :. paid to the person for whose bene- o.
/ {. fit it is intended In this way the %
/ {. church Officers act as. you might o.
/ {. say, a banking concern would. or .
g an express company, or post 90
| {. office The church does not as .
| Z: sist any immigrant. except in the %
o extremely rare cases which I have @
{: mentioned The money transmit %
&. ted by the church offices is that g,
q paid in by the individual for the %
. benefit of the person whom he de- %
| 9, sires shall make use of it-Brig- o.
| . ham H. Roberts. one of the seven O.
| 4. presidents of the seventies Of the :.
q Mormon church %
q e @ @ e 9 D g g @ 9 = 9 9 8 &S%4
In the two preceding condensed
statements the position of he Mormon
church is given with reference TO the
part it takes in bringing converts to its
faith from Europe or other countries.
The matter OF church aid in bringing
converts to America is once again keen
Iy brought TO the attention of the news
paper reading public by reason of the
fact that, on Sunday. los Mormons and
| their converts were detained by the
| immigration officials at the port OF
| Boston. The examination is described
as having been exceedingly close. and
at the end of the first day there re-
manned fifty-fOur of the los still To be
examined. Owing 10 the slow rate OF
! pt6Q WIFI WHICH the lilSicCiOIS NOIhp
there still remain. according to Presi-
dent Lund's advices about twenty in
the detention quarters. Approximate
ly seventy are on their way westward.
SO his telegra phic intelligence runs.
The Foe Girls.
Among the Immigrants who We're de.
tanned are two girls named Roe. On.
is Margaret and the other Catherine
Drac1ai,u ha nf 10 RanF1bIif
the ship which bore the immigrants
across. the father of the Roe girls dis
patched a cablegram from Liverpool.
urging that his daughters be detained,
; saying that they had run away from
home and had been carried off, by
the Mormon missionaries. The father.
in contradiction of his daughters state
ments. declares that the girls could not
have paid their own fares.
Il don't see why we are detained"
Margaret Roe is quoted as having said.
. We did pay our own fares
The Mormon elders accompanying the
party say the Roe girls are % and %
years old respectively. but the immi-
, grafton officials say they do not look
the part by at least four or five years.
| What the final outcome will he re-
mains TO be seen. for no advices are
at hand in Salt Lake that shed light
on the matter
After the Franklin System.
; In pleasant chat Mr.. Roberts. after
he had stated the position of the
church. said: THE idea of helping peo-
pie 10 this country to be with their
families and TO take advantage of the
opportunities offered by the west. I
think was the outgrowth of a famous
system os which Benjamin Franklin
was the author. When Franklin was
in London an American came to him
? in distress Franklin. perhaps more
out of a within of humor than anything
: else. passed to the man a note for his
Continued on Page z.