The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1911-08-03
Another Methodist Minister
Writes Highly Of Mormons

Coming to Utah to the pastorate OF
o leading Gentle church OF this city.
coming with the personal knowledge
of conditions 20 years ago, now. af-
| ter some months of personal contact
| With that Chruch and its leaders and
with conditions in Utah. | have come
10 some conclusions, and | feel am
at least in as much position to
speak as magazine writer's who have
spent from two days to month III
the state seeking material to prove
predetermined prejudice.
To understand "Mormon,sm' one
must remember clearly three things
First, that Il is a deeply religious BODY
IAN evangelical Protestant church II
The test of the Federal Council of
Churches is to be true test. BorD
III an age of religious bigGtry and
crude theology and exiled across
wilderness, it has kept these relics
longer than some of the rest of us,
but, tcspte these facts, which linger
longer in its books and out of-way
towns than In real life, Il ig today
church of half a million praying. Bible
reading, law-abiding, thrifty, God-fear-
ing men and women. America has no
llCGe sJrong, genuine. devoted Chris
tians than some of the f'irst prssi
dcnoy, apostles, and leaders Of the
"Mormon' Church.
Second. the Mormon" Church was
lurn of some of the best blood of New
England and the middle west OF ear
ly DAYS. The men and women of Ctah
are the proud kinsGolk OF the heroes
of the Revolution. Her later sons
and daughters are from the same
sturdy Scotch. English and Teutonic
stock which has made America. Utah
today is a distinctly American state.
Third, the Mormon" people are
not peasants or illiterate. Some of
their forefathers may have been, but
they are not. Their leaders are gradu-
ates of Harvard, Cornell, Michigan or
German universities, and some of
their young men lead the world today
in scholarship. Utah has strong
public school and university system;
education and music are her pride.
She has over 5000 college and uni
students.
The chief charges against the
"Mormons" have been polygamy, de-
ception, bigotry, and the seeking of
political power.
Polygamy is dead At the confer.
ence just closed in Salt Lake City,
President j. F. Smith said:
Plural marriages have ceased in
the Church. There is no man who is
authorized to perform a plural mar
riage. No man or woman has the au-
thority to have its ceremony per.
formed for them. We have been doing
all IN our power to stop this. We
hdNC btth dii VIC Gan W u dSr
the men who are performing these
ceremonies. 1t is hard to locate them,
but when we do find them, we will
deal with them.
With respect to the idea proposed
by some to induce the Congress of the
United States to amend the Constitu-
ton SO as to give the federal govern.
ment the authority to regulate plural
marriage, so far as am concerned,
have no objection whatever to such
an amendment. Neither has any 9th.
er Latter-day Saint. Let the states
petition the nation to regulate the
whole subject of marriage in the I'm
tied States, and 1t will be godsend
to the people everywhere"
Goodwin's Weekly Of Salt Lake, a
noted opponent of "Mormonism." ac-
knowledges that this statement is just
and sincere. That is a fair putting of