Show JUDGE ANDERSONS DECISION the full text of the decision of judge thos J Ander sonin the cases of john moore and other applicants for citizenship will be found in this issue of the WEEKLY the conclusions reached by his honor will not greatly disappoint persons of either party who watched the proceedings in court and noted the judges judged repeated rulings in favor of the objectors and the trend of his own interrogations and remarks during the course of the investigation the t so o called liberals will greatly rejoice at this obstruction to the naturalization of alien members of the peoples peopled party their present exultation however is somewhat tempered by their very evident anticipation of the result fruat the begiA beginning ning the cause of which 1 is 14 4 not difficult to surmise the people will see in this decision one more act of gross I 1 injustice nj ustice toward them on account of their adherence cherence ce to an unpopular religion and another liberal obstacle thrown in the path to a full and fair election at the risk of being considered treasonable in having the ter to differ in opinion with a federal official we will briefly review some points in this peculiar judicial decision treason is clearly defined in the constitution of the united states and dissent from official views is not included iu in the definition yet men here who claim to represent the government or who have at any ti time ine represented it officially seem to take the ground that anything uttered by a mormon 11 in criticism of the servants of the people y is treasonable in its character and seditious in its spirit all the treason that either judge andersn or the attorneys whose seasonings he appears to have adopted can charge against the mormon chunh consists simply in ila the denunciation of the conduct of r individuals charged with official duties under the government this is not in any sense treasonable 1 1 unless the term has acquired a new signification judge anderson falls into several errors in his review of the testimony se lie says that among the eleven wit lessee for the objectors several had held eld the position of bishop in the church this was true of only ono ne of these witnesses in speaking of f the garment worn by persons who have ave received the endowment he wrongly describes it and also states elates that near the throat and over the heart and in the region of the abdomen are certain marks or designs g nain F intended to remind the wearer of the penalties that will be inflicted etc no such evide evidence hee was given aud and it is not true the marks are not as the judge states nor are those signs which exist made for any such object everybody who knows anything about the matter will recognize the error and so will any mason who has seen the marks the judge says in regard to the testimony of the witnesses for the applicant that their refusal to state specifically what oaths obligations or covenants are taken or entered into in these ceremonies renders the testimony of but little value and tends to confirm rather than contradict the evidence on this point offered by the objectors Is this fair and conformable to the rules relating to evidence we think not the judge in the opening of the investigation declared emphatically that it should go no farther than to determine whether there was anything in the endowment in the nature of an oath against the government of the united states how well lie he kept his promise the report of the proceedings shows these witnesses swore there was not and that there was no mention of or allusion to the government of the united states in this they were corroborated by all the reputable witnesses for the objectors there was positively no proof offered to the contrary the evident fabri cahors of too willing supporters of the oh objecting acting attorneys or I 1 inferences n ces drawn from halt half for forgotten gotton reminiscences were entirely swamped by the positive testimony on both sides that no such obligation was taken As to an oath it was shown that no oath of any kind is administered in these ceremonies now then suppose a case if a mason were placed on the stand and asked Is there anything in the masonic rites which is hostile to the government of the united states he would answer in the negative if then questioned in regard to obligations ligat ions which he had agreed to keep secret he be would reply 1 I decline cli ne to answer and if he were true to his agreements he would suffer imprisonment and even greater penalties rather than reveal his bis secret covenants the mormon witnesses were on similar ground would it then be fair to infer because a mason would refuse to state specifically what oaths obligations or covenants are taken in masonic v A ceremonies that his objection would tend to confirm any vicious accusation that might rie be made against him the judge says the evidence establishes beyond any reasonable doubt that the endowment ceremonies are incompatible with the obligations and duties of citizens of the united states we say the evidence establishes nothing of the kind nor even any approach to it the judge has not cited any evidence which goes to establish that conclusion the preponderance of evidence actually establishes the contrary the witnesses for the objectors mainly corroborated the testimony for the applicants on this pivotal point and as a matter of fact we know and every man and woman who has received the endowment dowmont nt knows that there is nothing of that character in the ceremony but on the contrary every covenant taken therein and every instruction fm imparted parted is calculated to make the recipients better citizens and better members of society in every sense of the te terms in denying the application of the men seeking citizenship on the ground that they had gone through the endowment ceremonies judge anderson in our opinion goes di erectly against the testimony and i in his bis written decision has not offered any solid ground to support his big position in the case of the applicants who have not received their endowments he is if possible on still more untenable soil take all the pick picked ed and partial extracts he has presented from old sermon sand the paragraphs selected without giving the explanatory context and what do they amount to simply that ever half a century ago under circumstances not related by the judge the prophet joseph joeeph smith received revelations to individuals as to the disposition of their property they having sought for this divide direction as men did in timen of old as related in the bible that in nauvoo over forty five years ago a building was erected under church auspices for the comfort of visiting strangers and a revelation was received in relation to it 0 4 that in bishops courts church members have been tried ecclesiastically for conduct in their busi business relations with their brethren that elders have preached the doctrine that this church is the kingdom of god not fully established and with no king till christ comes prom from this the judge draws the inference that the church claims and exercises the right to control its members in temporal as well as spiritual things but bewails he fails to show where in the least degree this infringes on the liberty of the citizen he also announces the extraordinary decision that one of the doctrines of the church is that for certain offenses the offender shall suffer death as ae the only means of atoning for his transgressions and that any member of the church has the right to shed abed his blood rhe fhe truth is the evidence shows to the exact contrary we unhesitatingly brand as a wicked falsehood the statement that the church teaches or holds or has ever taught or held such an abominable doctrine all the one sided aided utterances of individual opinion which the judge has selected fall fail to bear out his assertion in an unfair and clearly partial manner he injects remarks as to the meaning of those speakers into his com X ments meats conveying ideas that they did not express express or entertain for instance speaking of Jed Jedediah edlah M grants sayings in regard to covenant breakers I 1 he says that is those who leave the mormon church also referring to the right of the church to shed abed the blood of those who apostatized brigham young used the following language s these are the judges judged own fabrications ions and are not the sense of the quotations he makes but are gratuitous misrepresentations of both the language and the intention of the speakers quoting from a discourse by the editor of the DESERET NEWS he gives three isolated paragraphs and carefully suppresses the explanatory context and thus convey a meaning contrary to that acqua actually alty proclaimed 10 and expounded by the lecturer the plain declaration and proofs that blood atonement ly only relates to murderers and adulterers jhc have made spenial covenants not to commit such finsand sin sand that no one except a legal civil officer has the right to execute the death penalty judge anderson andersen omits and thus leaves a false impression the very opposite of that which the discourse convoys conveys comment on this is needless judge anderson says brigham YOU young dg for years fears resisted all attempts of the authorities to inseal the proper officers for carrying on the territorial government he claimed the BASl lh 4 1 right to say who the officers of the territory should be 11 1 1 etc we denounce this as utterly and entirely en false history Is against again t the judge in this particular as published matter is against his bis erroneous assertions on mormon doctrine the repetition of the stale falsehood that the united states flag was trailed in the dust when brother wells was released from prison poison and of the stupid notion that half masting the flag which has ever been viewed as a token of grief was intended as an insult to the government shows the bias of the judge and his eagerness to father and sanction the vain imaginations and bald absurdities of anti mormon fanatics the rhe editorial opinions of the DESERET NEWS fur for which this paper alone is responsible he distorts into pressure brought to bear by the mormon leaders to prevent members when convicted convict eu ea of violating the laws from promising obedience they had nothing to do with the utterances of this journal and what we have said on this matter related not to obeying the law a w but agreeing to be governed by the lawless and conflicting constructions of the law by the courts which involved promises dishi to any man placed in the position referred to judge anderson has suppressed from hits his opinion the documentary evidence of the patriotic sentiments entertained by the leaders of the mormon church which was introduced trod ir ia profusion he has done the same with the proofs of devotion to the institutions of this republic on the martof part of the imor mormon people presented by counsel tor for the applicants he has drawn conclusions utterly unwarranted by the premises he has done all that the conspirators to capture this city desired he should do so he has denied citizenship to men proven to be of good moral character sober industrious honest peaceable and thoroughly desirous of the perpetuity of Ameri americans cals republicanism and this because they are mormons cormons Mor mons while liberals whose very faces and manners proclaim their vices and who have had to confess con feiss their can be welcomed as citizens and viewed as of good moral character we do not know what further steps can or will be taken in this matter but we do not propose to let it rest here the opinion of judge anderson andersen is not an exposition of mormon doctrine but an echo of the misrepresentations of its unscrupulous adversaries the truth may have a hard bard struggle against the errors official and ewt un facial which are massed against lt it but thank god it will ulti alti prevail and there is a d day appointed when all things and all al men shall be tried and to ahe sul exeme reme judge on high we appeal for final and eternal justice il |