The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-03-18
CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE.

A conspiracy of silence appears to
have been entered into between the
evening church organ and the morning
church organ Of this city, with re-
spect to the protest Of the students OF
the B. Y. University at Provo. The
students protested against the attempt
made by the head of the church edu-
cationnl board to suppress the teach
ings of science, particularly of evolu-
ton, On this account, and because
of an alleged teaching of some Of the
results Of higher criticism Of the Bible,
some of the instructors in that institu-
tion have been called upon the carpet,
and have public official notice either
to quit their teachings or quit the
school, But since the teaching has
been highly acceptable to the students,
has in no way been complained of by
the parents of those students, and
since 1T does not appear to have In the
least disturbed the faith Of any one
in the religion which is incucated in
that school, there would appear to be no
reasonable ground for objection to the
teachings.
The students protested against the
restrictions which were being imposed,
and asked that the scientific instruc
tion should be continued as heretofore.
This, it appears, was either denied
by the head of the church school board,
or was so long held up, that ono of the
professors resigned, and it is now
stated that two or perhaps three 9th
ers will either be asked to recant or
will be ousted This the students OBJ
iected to. They do not wish to lose
their instructors, being fond of them,
and being fully in accord with their
teachings.
This protest of the students was
sent TO the three daily papers in Salt
Lake City, but the two church organs
referred to above refused to print it.
The Tribune printed it fully and fair
ly, and to the acceptance Of the stu
dents, and of all candid minded per
sons in Provo, Nevertheless, the even
ing church organ on Thursday evening
printed a silly sort Of an editorial on
evolution, trying to smooth over the
disturbances which it had been instru
mental in creating, and while refusing
itself to print the statement Of the
students, made the direct charge that
The Tribune had falsifed that pro-
test, and arraigned the students for
k,, "a. -. D,I
the students treated all the papers i'm
partially; they were fair. They for
warded their statements alike to ali.
That The Tribune was the only paper
which printed it, is surely no ground
for arraignlng the students And the
evening church organ puts itself in an
indefensible position when it arraigns
the students for that cause. The TACT
that it refused to print the protest is
no reason why The Tribune should re-
fuse to print it. Nor does it offer any
proper reason for the censure of the
students by the president of the B.
Y. u. While the fair, candid way in
which The Tribune gave the news is
commended by all unbiased people.
1t is very likely that the evening
church organ supposed that the stu
dents did not send a copy of their pro.
test to The Tribune, and hoped to be
successful in keeping it from the pub
lie, That this did not turn out as
expected was, however, a matter Of
its own chagrin, for which it is en-
tirely unjust to arraign the students
or The Tribune. Nor does 1T afford
any reason for the indecency that the
church organ either concocts a false
arraignment of The Tribune, or prints
an anonymous arraignment, both in
correct and malicious, against this pa
per, which simply pursued in this case
its usual practice of giving the news
| fully and fairly. That the church or
gan shows its fanatical and implacable
hate against this paper on this occa.
sion is sign Of its own weakness and
of its envy at the splendid position
which The Tribune occupies before the
people Of this State, Of being impair
tlal, giving matters Of interest fully
and fairly, and according just hear
ing to everyone who wishes to discuss
any question of current Importance.
The fact that The Tribune is the only
paper IN Utah that does this is what
gives it its strength before the peo-
pie, and it's honorable position as an
impartial, fair-minded journal IN
which everyone whose interest is af.
fected, is assured from the first of
Just recognition and fair treatment.