Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-08-05
SAY FREE THOUGHT
IS ISSUE BEHIND
BIG Mormon | | FIGHT
Discharged University Profess
sors Say Explosion Was Re-
suit of Exposing Joseph
Smith as Master Faker.
ATTACK HIS REVELATIONS
Egyptologists Charge Church
Founder Mistook Mummy For
Abraham and Embalm-
ing Jars For Gods.
ATTACK HIS REVELATIONS

Salt Lake City. Aug. 5.--That Joseph
Smith, founder of the Mormon church.
was one of the greatest religious fakei.
In history and that the promnlgation o.
the alleged truth of the claim that hin
revelations" were pipe dreams" LED
TO their discharge is the claim of the IL
University of Utah professors VINO
have announced their intention to carry
their fight lor reinstatement up to the
United States courts, IL necessary.
That THE Pearl Of Great Price," one
of Joseph Smiths principal works was
moi even a reconstructed pearl but thc
cheap kind of a glass bubble is
charged by the professors. Smith. they
say, made some mighty wild stabs at
fntersretsng the Egyptian stone age
stuff but he got by with it because al
that time there was nobody knew
enough about it to dispute him.
Now however Egyptian hieroglyphics
are read with ease by hundreds OF
learned students OF Egyptclogy and tits
claimed by them that the orisinai
manuscripts used by Smith were nott.-
ing more than pious epitaphs and fun
eral prayers, addressed TO tile sun
God.
Where Joseph Crossed Wires.
The most grievious mistake made by
Smith, according TO Professor Banks
was in getting Abraham of biblical
mummy and in nlistaking four Jars OF
embaiming fluid for Egyptian gods and
the hawk of Horus for the angel OF the
Lord.
The spread of the alleged facts in
these socaileG exposures of Smiths re-
velations in the University Of Utah
caused great concern among the older
Mormons. Most of the students are
the children of Mormon parents. Nor
mons or men of Mormon sympathies
are said to control, the board of regents
< Of the university.
The explosion in the university is
4 thug Described by Prof Edgar james
AT the last commencement of the
university of Utah" he writes, "a Nor
I mon student. Milton H; Sevey; was
Schosen to represent the graduating
class upon the commencement platform.
The leaders of the church and the Nor
mon regents of the university We're
there is force. Young Sevey took for
the subject of his address Needed Re
FORM. He attacked the conservatism
of the state and the Mormon attitude
toward things in general. The regents
gasped They realized that the old or
der of things had passed away and that
at last freedom of thought had entered
/ the Mormon world The church OF
must be taken to save it. The
regents of the university of Utah are
now making desperate efforts to check
the growth of progress
And So They Canned" EN-.
The first step in this direction was to
expel four of the Gentle professors.
The faculty. was amazed and demanded
an explanation; The regents refused
it and declined to recognize COM
mittee Of alumni appointed to investi-
gate the dismissals.
Whereupon IA professors among
them some of the oldest and most val
liable men--resigned. The students
sympatllies were with their teachers
They held meeting and demanded ex-
plantations. The students were so in
sistent and determined that the regents
issued statement. 1t consisted Of
vague charges of disloyalty and disre-
spect. with the announcement that. ow-
ing to changes in the English depart
nletlt. the services of the professors
would no longer be required
The students ridiculed the explana- :
tions and the dismissed professors plan
to carry their fight for reinstatement
UP to the United States courts, If neccs-
sary. Professor Banks, who has been
lecturing at the university, says the
regents are attempting to replace the
dismissed and resigned professors with
Mormons of the old type. and thus to
check freedom of thought
Angel Got Tablets Back.
When Joseph Smith founded Nor
tnonism 70 years ago he presented to his
followers three books. These were 1.-The
Book cf Mormon" ''The Doctrine ard
Covenants" and THE Pearl of Great
Price" or Book Of Abraham" The first
purDorted to have been copied by him
rom gold tablets brought to him by
an angel. which tablets he said he had
given back to the angel. Three men
'wore they had seen the angel and eight
,thers swore they had seen the tab.
ets The second. according to Smith,
sas dictated to him orally by God.
THE Pearl of Great Price, was based
ipon two or three pieces of papyri re-
;eived by Smith in 1885 with an Egyp-
liam mummy from one Michael H.
Chandler At that time there was not
\ man living who could read the HERO
slyphics in which the ancient Egyptian
vas written. The Rosetta stone had
sot yet been deciphered. Smith. how
ever. published translation of the in
scriptions and drawings on the papyri
He said he had been diyinely inspired
1t was in these translations. Professo,
Banks says. that Smith left himself
open to exposure. Explorers, lie says
have found numerous Egyptian manu-
scripts. plates and disks similar to OF
duplicates of the ones used by Smith
When interpreted. he says. they hav:
an entirely different meaning from the
translations made by the founder OF
Mornonism.