The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-08-19

/ of the First Presidency, apostles and
leaders of the Mormon Church.
Second, the Mormon Church was
born of some of the best blood of New
England and the Middle West of the
early days. The men and women of
Utah are the proud kinsfolk of the he
roes of the Revolution. Her later sons
and daughters are from the same stur-
dy Scotch, English and Teutonic stock
which has made America. Utah today
is 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 graduates
of Harvard, Cornell, Michigan or Ger
man universities, and some of their
young men lead the world today in!
scholarship. Utah has a strong pub
lie school and university system; edu-
cation and music are her Iride. She
has more than 5000 college and uni
yersity students.
THE chief charges against the Nor
mons have been polygamy, deception,
bigotry, and the seeking of political
power.
"Polygamy is dead. AT the confer
ence just closed in Salt Lake City,
President ]. f. Smith said:
Plural marriages have ceased inl
the church. There is no man who is
authorized to perform a plural mar
riage. No man or woman has the
authority to have this ceremony per-
formed for them. We have been do
ing all in our power to stop this. We
have been doing all we can to trace
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 prof. Osed
by some to induce the Congress Of the
United States to amend the Constitu-
zion so as to give the federal govern
ment the authority to regulate plural
marriage, so far as l am concerned, |
have no objection whatever to such
ana amendment. Neither has any
other Latter-Day Saint Let the
states petition the nation to regulate
the whole subject OF marriage in the
United States and it will be a godsend
to the people everywhere.
Goodwins Weekly of Salt, Lake City,
noted opponent of Mormonism, ac-
knowledges that this statement is
just and sincere. That is a fair put
ting of the whole case, despite some
current articles to the contrary. 1t is
dead issue in Utah. More than that,
polygamy to most of the MoVmOn peo-
lie, practiced as religious duty, was
not sensual and was infinitely better
than tandem polygamy in the East.
The young men of the Mormon
Church are clean young men, clear
eyed, brainy and manly. The records
. Oh lnt ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DSSSlSI - IL
nasium of the Mormon Church in Salt
Lake show that of the hundreds of
young men examined there, there is
: yet to be found one tainted with I'M
clean diseases-a record unparalleled
ir most American cities.
The statements circulated in Eng
land which caused the riotous acts
elected the following cablegram from
President Smith: Charges absolutely
' and totally false. Polygamy is forbid
den by Mormon Church as well as by
Utah laws Mr.. Fisher says that not
only were the charges false, but that
they seem positively absurd to any
one who lives in Utah and has any
l knowledge of the Mormon people as
D they now are. Whatever of deception
= there may have been in the old and
% hostile days there is now, he says, no
D excuse for bitterness based on misin
e formation; and it IS downright
5 criminal act TO charge the stalwart
Il Christian men of Utah Of being a race
u of deceivers.' no man who work,
side by side with them he adds, 10
d clean cities, for the right training OF
3 youth and for temperance, could pos
G sibly believe the SANDERS As TO big