MATTERS IN MEXICO Interest ilic by court courtesy assy of I iton ion P D cich arda ards wo we arc tire enabled enable to publish tho following extract from a letter to him from apostle moses thatcher Thatch cr the correspondence was written at the city of mexico on july cali CO CONDITION OF THE tur PEOPLE the venerable mother and her Ili harlot daughters have us as you truly remark bound in strong f fetters et the souls of men nien and in 31 mexico clico if nowhere else on earth the former has certainly made them an article of merchandise often pure purchasable abdol ata at a very low price the condition of the people here as to their spiritual bonda bondage cannot bo be understood b by y those who have not witnessed sed it except through the revelations of the almighty sorrowful reflections upon the fallen state in which we find fina the remnants of jacob in this land have often searched our hearts most keenly but we have been able at tit other times to look beyond their wretchedly immoral spiritless condition to the tile faint lines of light and hope fore foreshadower shadowed by the vre predictions dictions of holy prop prophets liets to bring them up fo a realization ot of what they should be will certainly require a labor of patient endurance a love born of beaven and nurtured by never failing charity the elders of israel having wan manifested if under the bles blessings sitio s of tine the lord that they possess posses all tb these m qualifications I have no doubt whatever regarding the tho final fulfillment of the prophecies referring to the remnants scattered upon the face of the north and south amari american continents most of those whom we baptized lie horein rein november 1879 and shorty thereafter have proven by their acts or by their lack of works that the they I biad ad in view so something m t besides a tov love c of the truth a and nd a desire for eternal salvation temporal aid for themselves and families and the free use of money in in pi propagating the gospel was and ifil stilt is their gramme pro these ideas with numerous efforts on their part to enforce them have subjected me to very many pretty annoyances and perhaps at times to feelings of discouragement for they leset me in in so many ways today to day vr wanting to borrow some money to help them out of peculiar and unforeseen distress tomorrow to morrow wanting to go and preach for the tile protestants w who rio had offered to pay them liberally then soliciting for free schools food al and id clothing for their children why says our branch president t one dollar per head from the S saints in in utah would give us or more which would give us a nice start and so on and then publications over boms de plume phate containing these film same chinin whining complaints P pla faints ints it have ave brought to bear bea i upon us a E accles of petty trials the like of which we had never before experienced perien ri e l cod ced the money which I pd advanced a n eed to relieve cases of distress which did not exist lias has never in a single instance been returned and find I have no reason to expect it ever will be publications AND HOW THEY AKE TREATED since opening the mission we 11 have five published it in tile spanish sli language 1500 copies of the voice of fage warning Var V ning 2000 copies of a 40 page ID pamphlet on 15 mormon formon po polygamy and christian Cli ristian monogamy compared compiled and written by myself and copies of other pamphlets besides newspaper articles these publications we ire find it utterly imposible impossible impo sible to sell and after gratuitously dis distributing many we found that they were too apt to be disposed of as wrapping ing paper so we now give them to our brethren who lend them to such as they arc satish satisfied led will read and return them in ill this manner we have reason for believing the truth is gradually but surely extending buring during the past seven even months we have baptized twenty eight persons who we trust will prove more faithful faithful than most of those C tl thirty rt in in number who joined the church previously nearly all of the those e recently baptized live at some distance some as far as miles from this city thus you bee N we ve have hopes that the gospel will be spread byruch by lucli aid as we NYC may be able to induce our new now members to extend to others but we cannot of course depend upon their help as we would upon an ail equal or very much less number of american or E european european converts the mission will vill without doubt continue for sometime yet an expensive one but personally I do not mind tb this so long ng as I can feel that the does not object to su support port the elders here who are anane unable b to draw supplies from home or others who may come hereafter in like circumstances contagious DISEASES elder stewart has bee been rl released eased by action of the presidency and would return at once were the routes tia via new orleans or new york at all safe but they are not owing to the t prevalence of yellow and black blac smallpox at vcra cruz the f fatality from front these diseases is unusually severe at that dreaded place where the death rate is now so great as to create a panic yanic even among ft apathetic aphetic afe mexicans ca ns who are le leaving abing yat that fated cit city y by hundreds daily should elder S not return home via acapulco and san F francisco anci aco soon he lie will remain until the quarantine regulations at new orleans arc are withdrawn and the steamers a again r ill PI ply regularly between that city and mexican ports I tit eliat A lie is thus unavoidably detained f for or the dimion doca does not now and will not I think foursome for some time probably a year or two require tit labors olinore of more tilt tonii two good effi cicet hoino home elders familiar with the si spanish anish lang language tinge more yore than that number would in my yb opinion p n n for the present at tit lea least S t bo b but t a waste of billic and alil means for all rill that can lie be done now is to carp fully watch the progress of the truth visit the members circulate our publications direct the efforts such of our local brethren as wo we can induce to labor in the cause and baptize and confirm those who I may nay yield obedience to the requirements of the gospel until tile time arrives arrives when through the blessings of god and the development american enterprises RELIGIOUS LIBERTY diall become an ail e established fact in this priest bound coun country t 71 practically as well as constitution constitutionally a I and theoretically eti cally so that catho catholic me i ra fanatics I katics shall no longer kill with impunity and without punishment people a advocating vo other religious beliefs as the they have done one in a number of instances during the past few months and that within a few miles of tin this s na national t ional scat cat r of government the I last as t act of cold blooded murder of a protestant was committed in a it hall of so called justice I u stice in broad day lay light the officials of the hour urging on oil the brutal attack of a furious mob composed of bothman bogli man and women who used pistol pistols knives and stones until life was extinct and the poor defens defenseless elem man mail fell In mangled angled and crus lied at their feet the poor frantic wife odthe of the in murdered man sought redress and the punishment of those who committed tho the horrible crime but at last accounts they th c were not arrested anh aw I the probability rZ ability is they never will be at least not for so small a crime aa as depriving a human being of life especially esti p choily ally if the victim happen aa as in ti this case to be only a heretic there are not many places in mexico exico 11 where we can preach with safety but wo we have made a start and the work of god will surely go forward and all the people will be finally warned MALIGNANT FAME FATSE hamons ETC me some of the newspapers hero here arc are publishing rumors to the effect that it was a 11 mormon formon who photon the 2nd and alt president garfield with what delight our enemies enemies seem to accuse our people of every conceivable crime we ave arc are now in n the midst of the wet season and i it t rains daily you doubtless will have seen an account of the fearful railroad accident which launched some people into the other world on the alt criminal was the cause MOSES