Arizona republican., 1910-07-30
EXPULSION OF MORMONS
 FROM GERMAN EMPIRE

| formation was of considerable interest ! to the members of the Mormon faith
 of this community. not only on ac- | count of it being a direct attack on their religion but also for the reason
 that few young men from this place are stationed in the German mission field.
 A portion of the dispatch reaching here on the 23d of July is as follows: Berlin, July 22-Herr Dalwitz. | Prussian minister of the interior. on | recommendation of the political police. 1 has signed orders for the expulsion of i twenty-One Mormon missionaries,
 most of whom are Americans or Eng lishmen, and they will be conducted to | the frontier today. The missionaries i had assembled from various parts of | Germany at the Mormon headquarters
 on the east side to meet Superintend-
 ent Mackay. an American resident in | Switzerland. They were holding a service. when an agent of the political police, who was seated in the audience.
 rose and declared the gathering dis solved. At the moment several mem bers of the criminal police appeared
 and virtually took the congregation in custody"
 At the time of the appearance of the article some of the prominent members of the church at this place were ques- | toned as to the status of the case from their standpoint but they were
 unable to give any information. but stated that the official paper would ex- plain the situstion. The Deseret News 1 reaching here yesterday has the fol- ! lowing editorially concerning the mat l ter:
 There is no need of any unneces- sary alarm over the missionary situa- | tion in Germany. From the letter to ! President Joseph F. Smith written by President Thomas F. Mckay of the Swiss and German mission. on the last of May. as quoted in the News of Fri day we gather that the president of the mission had called a conference of elders 10 meet in Berlin, after consul tatiOn with the police authorities. The letter does not state what the final
 answer of the chief of police was. but from the fact that the conference was actually called it would seem safe to
 infer that President Mckay had req
 son to believe that it would not be
 
 lin dispatch the missionaries had as
 sembfed from various parts of Ger
 many and were holding services when police agent appeared and dissolved
 the meeting. whereupOn other police
 agents took the foreigners into custody and later arranged for their expulsion from Germany. While this action of
 the police prevents the missionaries
 that were expelled from travelling in Germany, and more especially in Prus-
 sia, it does not prevent the German saints from meeting. as they have done
 hitherto. and listening to their own elders, or from worshipping in their own assemblies. And our belief is that the intolerance which was shown on this occasion probably at the instiga- tiOn of some Demetrius whose trade seemed to be in danger. will result in benefit to the mission, by calling to the attention of the German people again the church that, like the church of the first centuries, is everywhere the ob- ject of attacks and the adversary. Many Germans. we believe. who have not cared for the gospel, will be led to investigate by that action of the police. and when the honest in heart investigate they will see the truth and believe
 Sometimes it does not take very much to he expelled from Germany As We. remember it, many years ago an eminent Danish writer was expelled from Germany because he had made an uncomplimentary remark about the venerable old emperor. William der Crosse. whose portrait he happened to see in a shop window Somebody had heard him and reported him and he was forthwith invited to leave.
 In the case of the Latter Day Saint elders we have an impression that the erroneous notion prevails in German government circles that they come to Germany to preach emigration and thereby deprive the army of valuable recruits. and the F'atherland Of trained defenders But that is an error Our | elders do not urge anybody to emi- ! gate. In the early days of Utah. when | the question was of settling the region, | was preached and desirable | were aided to come. but | this is no longer the case The saints | abroad are told not to give up good | positions but tO stay and strengthen | the branches to which they belong. | They are not dissuaded from emigrat- | Ing if they make up their minds to do | so. but emigration is no part of the | preaching of the elders. This is fact | that the authorities may ascertain. if | they are willing to do so.
 Nor is it true, as sometimes stated | abroad. on the authority of anti Nor mon defamers at home, that the church | is proselyting preferably among wom- | en, for immoral purposes. This in | fanny can easily be exploded from the | statistics which show tha. | l smaller number of women than men come to Utah in the com panies consisting of Latter Day Saints
 Germany is a great empire. It is one of the standard bearers of civili- zatiOn in the world. But it has not yet | obtained the measure of religious lib- erty it needs. Germany is the home of a particularly perniciOus school of Bible criticism that, in it's ultimate threatens to reduce the reformation of Luther to the farce of | the ages. For if that school prevails. l. what becomes of the foundations of l. the reformation? What becomes of the appeal of the reformers to the written word? If that word is but collection If myths interpOlated by pious frauds md edited by more or less ignorant | ;criheS vyha+ is thera loft of .ha rafOr- |