Graham guardian., 1920-10-29


we defy Mr.. Morton to- cite q
single instance where a man has
been coerced in his franchise,
1t cannot be done.
With regard to the Industrial
School: 1t is a new one on us, but
it is true. A Mr.. Moody, a Nor
mon, had charge of it under Gov
ernor Hunt and he made splen-
did success. When Governor
Campbell came in, several appli-
cations were made for the place
by citizens of the southeastern
part of the State. but the COVER
nor asked us, the Board of Edu-
cation of the Gila Academy, to
let him have j. H. Larson, who
was a teacher in the Gila Acad-
emy, We finally agreed to let
him go. but this was a long time
after the election and not be-
fore. Governor Campbell, in
one of his speeches, made the
statement that the Industrial
School was in ths best condition
now it had ever been in and that
money appropriated for expenses
had been returned by Mr.. Larson
as being more than needed. This
shows the honor and integrity of
a Mormon. Is that the way crImi-
mails act? For Mr. Morton would
have it that we are all criminals,
We defy Mr.. Morton to point
out where any Mormon leaders
have said anything regarding the
attack on A. c. Peterson. We
did not have too. People. not of
our faith, who were liberty-lov-
ing, said it for us We hold out an
open invitation for all people to
visit our meetings and see what
we are doing. Besides we have
two thousand missionaries in the
world begging people to investi-
gate what we are doing.
We doubt very much his state
ment about putting that Relig-
ious Liberty Clause in the Con-
stitution, because it seems he is
trying to deny it to other people.
If they did, we are glad and
stand by it and demand that he
do also. :
From our church records, Pres
ident Kimball did not speak in
Thatcher, August 28th, but he
was in Pima and spoke at the
funeral of Mrs. Shrewsbury,
where he commented on her be-
ing the mother of two children
and having being an invalid. He
said nothing about her being a
slave in the next world for it is
not a part of the Mormon belief
and never has been. Mr.. Nor
TONS informant from the Gila
valley is very unreliable to say
the least.
With regard TO polygamy; That
is a dead issue. Not even the
Federal government takes any
notice of the ranting of the So
called religious bigots. The old
polygamists were told by the
government to go their way and
sin no more, but care for the
families that had come to them,
which they have done. Members
in the church have been handled
for the violation of this law by
the church and our records show
it. We can give the specific
cases if anyone desires to in
quire. We can say this with
pride, that we have fewer vio-
lations of the marriage law than
any other denomination, the
Baptists, Notwithstanding.
With regard to religious in
structlon. We have what are
called religious classes that take
Mormon children after their dis
missial from school and teaches
them twenty minutes along re-
ligious lines. Never has there
been council to take any part of
the regular school time for this
work. This is one of the ad-
vanced educational ideas and is
praticed in Berkeley, Oakland
and other cities by all religious
denominations. Mr.. Morton is
behind the times. If on this, why
not on all? Why don't you know
that in four out of the eleven
school districts. the Mormon peo-
pie are furnishing their churches
for school rooms.
With regard to the Gila Acad-
emy: Mr.. Morton is again mis-
informed. 1t is not State High
School and has never attempted
to become one, but there is one
thing of which we are proud il
is one of the seven accredited
High Schools in the State of Ari-
zona; this because of its teach
ing standard. Does that look
like degradation, when all of
the foremost educational institu-
tions accept its credits without
question. Incidentally, this has
been the work of A. G. Peterson.
This school was built while
Graham county was too poor to
sustain a High School, and the
Church has been supporting il tc
the tune of about sixty dollars
per student per annum for the
lnrt fmnntu.fNn NparS DINING