The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-02
THE LAW-DEFYING MEDDLERS.

During the exile OF President Taylor
and others. the saints had been required
TO think for themselves and assume more
OF the responsibilities of their course !:
and he likeucd the experience Of the
church In this regard To the growth of
',, man who. having discarded the swad-
away tho pinaforc of his childhood be-
gan 10 use his reasoning faculties. and TO
exercise his moro manly powers in the
spheres OF usefulness.--Dcserct Ncws Yo-
port or address by Orson j.. Whitney be-
fore Twentieth Ward Mutual Improve
mcnt associations. January 10. 1855.
That is confession Of fact whose
logic should hold good at the present
time.
The Tribune has repeatedly asserted
that if the Mormon people were left
TO themselves, their natural worthiness
would soon prove 10 be the healer of
all their troubles. The difficulty has
always been that few men have as.
sumed extraordinary virtues over the
remainder Of mankind; that they have
succeeded in inducing tho rank and file
Of The Mormon people TO credit their
claims; and that consequently they
were able To obtain from the unthinll-
ing mass such approval of their vicious
plans as to keep the church continu-
ally embroiled with the citizenship of
this country upon ono account or an
other.
Bishop (now Apostlc) Whitney ac.
knowlcdgcs that tho saints began to
be better or, and to become of stronger
and more progressive character. when
their lawbrcaking leaders were out of
the way and unable to so pcrsistcntIy
interfere with them as when perfectly
free TO intrudc their mcddlcsomcncss
into general affairs. Tho simile which
Mr.. Whitney employed to illustrate his
point could scarcely have been better
selected, and il 6t the case to nicety.
IT. would not he necessary. particu.
larly, for the present leaders to 90
into exile in order 10 produce the re-
suits; but why would it not be IL good
idea today for them to keep their
hands of for n while and give the Nor
mon people an opportunity to become
moro self reliant? Why not permit the
rank and file to ''discard the swaddling
clothes Of infancy, and put away the
pinaforc Of chIldhood,p that the man.
hood of the men and the womanhood Of
the women should have full play in
working out their own salvation1 We
feel satisfied, as we have always been.
that course of this kind would be Of
immense benefit TO the Mormon mass,
and consequently to the commonwealth
in which they dwell,
1t cannot be denied that from the
very beginning of the church the lead.
ers have been the init,ators of the poll
cics, processes and practices that have
brought trouble upon the people. As
this proposition cannot he
rctuted, because these chief priests
claim for themselves the right of mi.
tiatlrc in all things concerning the |
and the fact that turmoil, ycx. |
ation, sorrow, privation, and even
have followed. close upon the |
heels of tho organization in all its |
wanderings inevitably sets the rcspon.
sibility upon these mon. That no such |
have pursued religious or
CARNATIONS submitting to civil law is |
proof positive that the Mormon lead |
ers have mapped out an unlawful |
course for themselves and their fol
lowers. a splendid example Of the sit.
uation IN this respect is seen in the
Rcorganized branch of the church The
leaders and members of that organiza.
ton have respected the law and have
honored the authority Of the Nation
and the State, AS result they have
lived at peace with their neiphbors
and have experienced no such troubles
as those which have attended the
course OF the Utah branch. 1t is all
nonsense TO endeavor TO take refuge
IN the bald assertion that the Nor
mons have been "persecuted simply
because they possessed the only true
and everlasting gospel on the earth -
That is merely the gibberish Of the re-