The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-27

{ But little over one hundred thousand
I strong perhaps twenty thousand of their
members coming from all parts of the
/ United States and from all quarters OF
| the globe. viii be on hand to attend the
/ conference.
Great separations have been made for
I their accommodation. 4 huge tabernacle
7 with A seating capacity of about Boo,
I dining rooms where thousands can be FED
at a single sitting, lunch counters hun
I dreds OF feet long, and many other struc-
/ lures have been erected especially for the
/ occasion. The conference conducts all
/ these places itself the profits derived
/ therefrop going into the general fund OF
/ the church.
/ The Dunkers are, as they term them
| selves, a peculiar people Their strait
/ laced views are as rigid were those Of
I the Purltans- This Will be shown in a
/ question that viii be brought up before
I the conference as TO whether the students
I Of the church schools have a right to
take part in intercollegiate baseball con-
I tests. Already the church has expressed
itself against its members going to fairs,
lawn parties and similar places. The roll
ing of tenpins has been regarded as con-
trary to the spirit OF the church. even
though the alleys on which the bowling
Is done are free, and the bowlers do not
even bowl for the sugar
The annual conference is a Femarka bic
organization Its dictum is final in all
things. II is as powerful in the affairs
OF the bunker church as the Council OF
D
Gene creed, was powerful in its day. The
government Of the church is well planned
for representative control. The Congre-
cation is the lowest body. 1t may en-
brace three or four churches, but il is
still the congregation. The district is
second in rank. 1t is made up of dozen
OF more congregations. II acts upon those
matters passed on to il by the congre-
cations, and i'm turn passes matters of
general interest on to the annual confer
ence. When that body speaks, the last
word has been said.
One of the hardest questions confront
ing the church is the matter Of dress. For
years it has been trying to stem the tide
of growing inclination on the part of its
younger members to depart from its
teachings in the matter of personal adOrn-
ment. Especially Is this tendency marked
in the cities and towns The rules of the
| church are positive against the women
wearing hats. The wearing of a hat If
persisted in, will bring the wearer be-
fore the council meeting, and if full re-
pentance is not there manifested, eX-
communication viii follow. Likewise il
is absolutely commanded that the sisters
shall wear the little bObbinet cap. known
as the prayer covering The male APP
piicant for church membership who wears
mOustache is promptly told that he can
not become a member until he shaves IL
off OF grows a full beard. The wearing
of gold, either in the form of watch
chain or ring Is prohibited among the
/ members. the ground for this being the
scriptural passage which admOnishes
Christians not to be given to the wear
ing Of gold. the braiding of the hair or to
following the vain fashions of the world.
Refusal to hear the church on these mat
ters is sufficient ground for excommu-
nicatiOn.
This matter has often been brought be
lore the annual conference. and that body
has taken some action in connection
Herewith, but it has not yet found the
way effectively to curb the tendency Of
| the younger element in the church to
cross the line Of cemarcation in matters
of dress. II is claimed that many of
/ their members forget that the world ad-
mires the man or woman who displays
the courage Of conviction, and Ras most
respect Tor those who stay closest 10 the
/ principles of their church. The little
straw bonnets of the city sister and the
/ necktie of the city brother are frOWned
/ upon by the rural member. and he is
vastly in the majority, the church hav-
/ ing gained but little fOOthOld in the cities
In doctrinal matters the bunker church
[ is more closely connected with the Greek
/ church than any other. They practice
/ feet washing, believing that those who
neglect this have no promise of saliva
/ ton; they practice trine immersion. be
/ levlng that there must be a separate
[ immersion for each of the persons of the
/ trinity. they have as their love feast
what others believe to be the passover.
holding that the Savior instituted the
supper as well as the bread and the wine
! neg are ElElQ dQnEEelIS OF the doctrine
/ Of non-resistaRce. and absolutely refused
I to bear arms on either side during the
civil war. although they we're. with the
t QUakers, the original opponents of slay-
/ cry.
/ The south did not understand them as
we'll as the north, and sought to compel
I them to fight. Some OF them were ar
/ rested. taken to the front. and the at
/ tempt made to force them to become SOL
diers. But they replied, uniformly. that
/ they would prefer TO be shot for refusing
/ arms rather than TO bear them Their
B intrepid bravery in facing desther rather
/ than violate q principle won high regard
I from the southern cavaliers, and they
were sent back home. An effort was
! then made to secure their exemption from
/ service. Pending this. some hundred of
I the Dunkers and Mennonites started
! from the very county in which the an
I nUal conference is now being held to
I go TO "YankeedOm. as they called H.
where they hoped TO be free from lie bill
J ity 10 cOnscriptiOn.
/ When in the Businesses Of the Allegheny
/ mountains they were accosted by a sin
] gle Confederate scout and by him
/ marched to stanton without a hand be
/ ing raised in an attempt to escape They
/ were thence taken to Richmond and i'm
prisOned in Thunder Castle" Some of
/ the members of the Confederate congress
argued that they would not fight be
! cause they were on the wrong side Their
champion replied that he who had lived
( among them all his life needed no evil
| dence that they would not fight no mat
/ ter what the circumstances. but that II
| others did need such evidence they had
| IL in the fact that a single scout had
! turned back enough men TO make two
! fun companies without any effort being
/ made to oppose him. They were finally
7 exempted from military service on the
| payment Of a fine of $500 per man The
/ well-t0-do paid for themselves and for
I their poorer brethren.
/ 1t may not be generally known but
there are perhaps 100000 able-bcdied men
I exempted from membership in the unor-
ganized militia OF the United States
/ Among them are the Dunkers When
I the bin was pending for the reorganiza-
I ton of the militia. some six years ago
/ il provided that all abie-bOdied men should
/ be members Of the unOrganized militia
{ At the instance OF Senators Martin and
/ Beverage, all members Of churches which
profess the principle OF non-resistance
/ were exempted from military service II
was feared by some that this would
serve as a cloak for those who wanted TO
] escape military service. but the expert
'ence of the Civil war was that the man
VINO was too much of coward 10 20
I 10 the front was too much of a moral
. coward to identify himself with these
7 churches
I The Dunkers had a hard time during
the Revolution The coloniSts did not u1-
derstand them. and they we're unpopular
{ because every man was needed in the eff
I fort to establish independence. Christie
pher Saur, who printed the first English
bi0ie on American soil. was one of their
members His printing office was ruined